UL-led student road safety initiative highlights dangers of drug driving

A new road safety initiative led by University of Limerick and An Garda Siochana has seen students highlight the dangers of drug driving.

More than 800 students across Ireland have engaged in a potentially lifesaving project as part of the Road Safety Reimagined initiative.

Thirty percent of people killed on Irish roads in the first three months of the year were aged between 16 and 25, according to the Road Safety Authority.

With drink driving, drug driving and speeding continuing to be some of the primary causes of serious collisions on Irish roads, students from UL, South East Technological University, and Maynooth University were tasked with reimagining road safety through contemporary marketing concepts and developing solutions to positively affect driving behaviour.

This year the initiative focused on the dangers of drug driving, channeling the collective power of students to devise a campaign that would resonate with their peers.

A showcase of posters of the students’ work was unveiled at UL this Tuesday with winning teams presented with Lifesaver Awards from An Garda Síochána, while prize money worth €8,000, sponsored by ESB, was awarded to the successful students.

Dr Christina O'Connor, Associate Professor in Marketing at UL, co-founded the Road Safety Reimagined initiative with Sergeant Tony Miniter, Limerick Roads Policing, in 2023.

“The Road Safety Reimagined initiative engaged with over 800 students in an intensive, semester-long project across three universities. We are working with students who are at the cusp of learning to drive or have just passed their driving test. This is the right time to address the serious issue of drug-driving with our key target market which hopefully will generate some positive behaviour,” said Dr O’Connor.

The overall winning concept by students from Maynooth University, ‘Chances of you getting home safe aren’t as high as you are’, uses an image of a dice to stress the unpredictability of drug driving.

The winning students, Klaudia Pasternak, Victory Omorodion, Saoirse Smith, Eamonn Kane, and Elizabeth Imole, will now work with An Garda Síochána’s marketing team to create a campaign incorporating their idea.

Member of the winning team, Victory Omorodion, explained: “We tried to emphasise the serious and potentially life-threatening implications of reckless driving by juxtaposing the concept of being ‘high’ with the sombre reality of drug driving. We hope it will act as a warning to make responsible decisions for your own safety and the well-being of others.”

Gillian Moran, Lecturer from Maynooth University said: “My students were delighted to be involved in this national campaign, where their creative ideas may ultimately have an impact on saving lives. They, along with their friends and peers, are in the target market of 18- to 25-year-olds so this campaign connected with them in a very real way.”

A special ESB Inspiration Award was presented to road safety campaigners Gillian and Ronan Treacy, whose four-year-old son Ciarán was killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver in April 2014. Gillian, who was also seriously injured in the collision, her husband Ronan, the emergency services who attended the collision and the medical team who fought to save Ciarán’s life all featured in the Road Safety Authority’s (RSA) ‘Crashed Lives’ ad campaign in 2016. Mrs Treacy was also appointed as a Board Director with the RSA in 2018.

Speaking to the hundreds of students in attendance, Chief Superintendent Derek Smart said: “I would ask you to focus on two people here today, Gillian and Ronan Treacy, who tomorrow will mark the 10^th anniversary of the loss of their son in a road traffic collision with a drunk driver. Their bravery for getting the message out there is something that we’re asking you now to take on and to keep the conversation going.”

Road Safety Reimagined is a collaborative project between University of Limerick, An Garda Síochána, South East Technological University, Maynooth University and Limerick City and Council.

Attending the event were Councillor Gerald Mitchell, Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Chief Superintendent Derek Smart, and Professor Nigel Healey, Vice President Global and Community Engagement at University of Limerick.

In total seven groups won in categories including ‘most visually appealing’ and ‘outside the box’. The successful students will all benefit from the expertise of An Garda Síochána in the final execution of their ideas for national campaigns. Last year all winning concepts were used for Garda press events.