On Tuesday,the 11th of October, our TY group attended the RSA Road Safety Road Show in the Aura Leisure Centre in Letterkenny. This show raises awareness for young drivers starting to drive and being safe on our roads. This show was extremely heart-breaking and very hard to listen to. This show is run by the Donegal County Council annually and is award winning for its realistic and upsetting message.
We were first brought into a huge theatre in the leisure centre with flashing, colorful lights and loud music putting every one into a happy mood. The theme of the show was nothing like the upbeat music, it quickly changed our moods as we begin to see the shocking reality of a car crash throughout the show.
The show was based around the story of a young man called Sean, who had just got his drivers license and a new car. At the start of the show, we met Sean, played by an actor who is extremely happy, as anyone would be after they passed their driving test. He just got his license, a new car and is planning to take his girlfriend for a night out. We are then showed a video of Sean crashing into a tree and the awful horrors of the crash. The video was extremely difficult to watch, I was not able to look at the screen.
The results of the car crash isn’t played out to us but told from the point of view of a guard, paramedic, a fire officer and an emergency consultant who were at the scene of the crash. A mother of a car crash victim told us her story. An actual victim of a crash, Richard Alcorn who had to get an arm amputated and is paralysed as a result of a car crash 10 years ago, also told us his story. I soon came to realise that this was definitely not an imaginary story, it was a very realistic one. It was heartbreaking listening to the talks coming from the different speakers and how badly they were affected after witnessing the crash even though its their jobs, on a personal level they are traumatized by what they see. Paramedics sometimes even need to get professional councilors after as they are so traumatized by what they see. We also learnt the emotional aftermath of a car crash as we met a mother who’s young daughter died in a car crash, quickly putting more than half of the audience into tears. Also, seeing Richard Alcorn in the wheelchair and seeing how much his life changed as a result of the accident was very eye opening and heart-wrenching. The show ended with the important message of “next time it could be you” as you never know what is around the corner.
I would highly recommend this show to future TY students.
Lana Branley 