AFTER a weekend of devastation and heartbreak in Donegal where four young men were killed in a car crash, Fermanagh drivers have been urged to keep vigilant and remember the main causes of almost every crash.
Between Thursday and Sunday a total of ten people lost their lives on the country’s roads, including four young men in a single vehicle collision in west Donegal. Daniel Scott, Shaun Harkin, John Harley and Micheal Roarty, who were all in their 20s and from the local area, were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash on the road between Gweedore and Gortahork on Sunday night.
Speaking to the Herald, police road education officer Trevor Kirke emphasised nothing was yet known about the cause or circumstances of the Donegal crash, but generally there were several main factors, known as the “fatal four”, that were found “in about 95 percent of all collision investigations.”
“First is inattention, such as using your mobile phone, having your friends in the car, being distracted by the baby in the back seat, changing your sat nav, and that sort of thing,” he said.
“Excess speed continues to be a factor, as does driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”
He said the fourth factor was wearing your seatbelt: “The first three things that can potentially cause collision, but if you’re not wearing your seatbelt when the collision happens obviously that’s going to reduce your changes of surviving it, so the seatbelt is another factor we keep hammering away at.”
Officer Kirke added there was another factor to remember, not part of the “fatal four” but important nonetheless, vehicle maintenance and modifications.
“If you are going to modify make sure it’s done properly by a proper mechanic and it’s not done in a bit of a hash job,” he said. “Again, that’s not exclusively young drivers and not exclusively male, I wouldn’t want to pigeonhole people.”
Finally, officer Kirke urged newly qualified drivers and their families to remember that passing your test did not instantly turn you into a competent driver and was “just a first step.”
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