Parents of boy, 4, killed by drunk driver make emotional call for road safety on school curriculum

The parents of a four year old boy killed by a drunk driver have called for drivers education and road safety to be part of the secondary and primary school education curriculums, in order to help tackle Ireland’s annual road death scourge.

Speaking today, on the eve of the tenth anniversary of the death of their son Ciarán, Gillian and Ronan Treacy said road safety and responsible driving should be taught and encouraged in schools from an early age.

“Young people are the demographic we are targeting with this message, they are the ones that are heading out on the roads and if you catch them young, it will sow a positive seed in them and hopefully carry it through their driving life,” said Ronan Treacy.

Gillian Treacy, who was seriously injured in the collision which claimed Ciarán’s life, said that a combination of theory and practical road safety and driver training should be taught in schools: “There definitely should be both (theory and practical), it is one thing knowing the theory but putting it into practice is another thing.”

Ms Treacy said their eldest son, Sean, who turns 18 this year, and who was traveling with his mother and brother Ciarán when the fatal collision occurred, “is going to be thinking about driving soon, so it is a huge worry for us after everything that happened in our house”.

“All we can do is instil a title bit of sense into him, and remind him that it’s not just about him and us, it’s about other road users, and not to bring that heartache on another family,” added Ms Treacy, who for the past six years was a former board director at the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

Ronan, Gillian, Ciaran, Sean and Caoimhe Treacy

“We really want to make it be a part of everyday thinking that drink-driving, drug-driving is completely unacceptable,” Ms Treacy said.

The couple from Portarlington, Co Laois, who along with members of the emergency services that fought to save Ciarán’s life, bravely fronted the RSA’s ‘Crashed Lives’ television advertising campaign in 2016, were today honoured with the Oisín Crotty Road Safety Award 2024 at University of Limerick (UL), led by An Garda Siochana, the University, and funded by ESB.

After presenting Mr and Mrs Treacy with the award, Sean Crotty, whose 19-year old son and ESB apprentice Oisín Crotty, from Ballynunnery, The Rower, Co Kilkenny, lost his life in a road collision in 2013, said: “I wanted to be here on behalf of Oisin to support his memory and to do what I could with getting a message out about road safety.”

Reminding people of the wider impact of road deaths, Mr Crotty said: “The aftermath is absolutely horrible. Oisin is gone, we love him to bits, but the cross left behind for the family is incredible, sometimes unbearable.”

At today’s event, students from UL, South East Technological University (SETU), Maynooth University (MU), showcased road safety projects which they designed to hit home the dangers posed by drug-driving.

The winning design from MU, including Klaudia Pasternak, Victory Omorodion, Saoirse Smith, Eamonnn Kane, and Elizabeth Imole, which will be used as part of Garda road-safety campaign, involved the image of a dice entitled, ‘Chances of you getting home safe aren’t as high as you are’, to stress the unpredictability of drug-driving.

Sergeant Tony Miniter, Limerick Roads Policing Unit, who spearheaded the initiative, said he has had to attend the homes of five families and inform them that their loved one has been killed in a road traffic collisions.

Sergeant Miniter said the impact of drink and drug-driving is “catastrophic” on those left behind and told students: “This is about generating a conversation around not wanting to take drugs and drive — not just because the guards might catch you, but because you don’t want to.”

Chief Superintendent Derek Smart, Limerick Garda Division, told those gathered: “I would ask you to focus on two people here today, Gillian and Ronan Treacy, who tomorrow will be (marking) the tenth anniversary of the loss of their son, in a road traffic collision with a drunk driver.”

“Their bravery for getting the message out is something we are asking you now to take on, you have started the conversation, so keep the conversation going,” added Chief Smart.

Afterwards, Gillian Treacy broke down as she described how her late son Ciarán was “just four and full of beans”. Ronan Treacy said his son “was brilliant, way ahead of his years, he was brilliant with words and wit, he was just an amazing human being”.

“He just lit up the room when he was in it, he was an amazing character,” Mr Treacy added.

Gardaí said they hoped the student road safety initiative will be rolled out at colleges and universities across the country.

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