The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has begun rolling out new awareness campaigns in recent weeks with graphic re-enactments of crashes in a bid to prevent more lives being lost.
It follows two deaths yesterday which brought the number of people who have died on Irish roads this year to 79.
That figure is an increase of 16 on the same period last year, when 63 died in collisions on the roads.
A motorcyclist in his 50s died in a collision in Co Wicklow yesterday while a man in his 30s died following a crash near Edenderry in Co Offaly last night.
The RSA campaign has prompted two sisters from Co Donegal to speak about their ordeal of being in a collision that claimed the lives of their mother Racheal – alongside two other women – as they returned from a holiday in Turkey.
Danni and Ellie Cassidy Battles took part in a Transition Year (TY) project at St Catherine’s school in Killybegs, aimed at getting the road safety message out to young people.
The sisters, who are now aged 13 and 16, lost their mother in a head on collision that claimed three lives on 21 July 2017.
The family were returning to Donegal from a summer break in Turkey when the crash happened near Ardee in Co Louth. The other driver was on the wrong side of the road.
Danni Cassidy Battles, 13, said she was speaking incident publicly for the first time as she sat close to her older sister.
“I was six years old, and I was just turning seven. We were on our way back from a holiday and we got in a bad car crash. We had collided really badly because the man was drinking and driving,” she said.
“I just remember lights coming at me and then I remember waking it up and there was lots of guards around me.”
Heartbroken and anger
Danni was taken to hospital at Children’s Health Ireland at Crumlin where she was treated for her injuries. In the aftermath of the collision, she described feeling heartbroken and anger at the loss of her mother.
“It was just so hard for a long while. I felt like I didn’t fit in, and I felt jealous that my friends were having mums and I just felt like it wasn’t fair that I lost my mum and everyone else had their mums.”
She added: “It hurts because it happened to me, and I’m scared that it might happen again to a family member or friend.”
The girls have two brothers as well and Ellie is described by school staff as “mature beyond her years” and a tower of strength to her Dad and siblings.
On the evening of the crash Ellie Cassidy Battles was travelling in the car ahead with her father Martin.
“We kind of skidded off the road a little bit. But then we heard a big bang, and we turned around, and I just remember a lot of screaming and crying.
“And when I looked over, the other car was basically flat. It had rolled that many times that it looked like a squashed can. It was terrifying.
“As the night went on, I just remember that feeling of hopelessness, even at the age of nine,” she said.
Ellie recalled praying and hoping following the collision but said that after a while “it just seemed useless”.
“I think it was a couple of weeks after the funerals that my Dad sat me down and he let me know why the accident had occurred. And I felt very angry and upset but I was so young that I didn’t comprehend that this accident was so preventable.”
She described losing her mother, Racheal, as heartbreaking and said she was “so warm” and “one of the most lovely people you could have met”.
“She was so funny as well. I feel we lost one of the biggest people in our lives because a child without a mother … I felt displaced and very hurt that this could have been stopped,” Ellie said, her voice wavering.
“Every time I hear about another collision on our roads, I think about the fact that these people are dying senselessly because of other drivers or because of themselves and it makes me just so upset.
“Because as I said before, these deaths could be prevented by simply putting on a seatbelt or getting a taxi.”
Ellie said that she is happy to be able to get the safety message across because her classmates are starting to drive, and she wants them to be safe and have “senseless deaths eradicated”.
Seven years on from the collision, the sisters are speaking out publicly for the first time.
They are involved in a project at their school in Killybegs to reinforce the message of staying safe on the roads and driving without distractions. TY students made a video with the backing of the RSA.
Lasting impact
The principal of St Catherine’s, Anne Marie Luby, said the 2017 collision has had a lasting impact on both the Cassidy Battles family and the school community.
“When the accident happened, we had older siblings of the girls in the school. So as a community, we really felt the damage done by this road traffic collision,” Ms Luby said.
She added: “And we continue to see the hardship that it brings and the loss that it has caused for our students. I’m so proud of the way the pupils wanted to help in some way. Making the video was a practical way of trying to get the message out there to make a change.”
Racheal Cassidy Battles was a close friend of Ms Luby, whose eyes filled with tears as she spoke about her.
“I knew their mum so well. She was so involved in their education and so caring about her family. And I just know the loss of her is huge. I’m very proud of the two girls for speaking out about their mum,” she said.
“I feel the most difficult thing is that everyday people still make bad decisions around their driving that causes this hurt this message. And I feel that there’s so many young people driving now.”
Ms Luby added: “I know within our own school and community a lot of students would have cars at an earlier stage in their lives. And I think it’s young people speaking to young people. So, if you could just stop and think.
“Think about the phone, think about the drinking, think about the overcrowding in cars. And please just remember the devastation that has been caused to this family and this community and think twice.”
Two Leaving Certificate students at the school, Joe Conneely and Michaela Murphy, have begun driving this year and praised the “great video” made by the TY students.
“It really opens your eyes to the dangers at every turn and the responsibility you have for the passengers you are carrying in the car.
“I’m only starting out, and don’t get me wrong I love driving, but you have to put safety first.
Sometimes people are influenced by peer pressure and they become reckless. But you have to think where does it all end up?” Joe said.
Michaela said that the video made her realised the consequences of speeding while driving.
“It really makes you take a step back and see how your actions have consequences when you’re speeding. At the end of the day, it’s better to arrive late than not at all,” she said.
Give something back
Ellie Cassidy Battles said she and her siblings have very good support at school and at home and that she was ready to give something back and promote the school’s video in the hope it saves lives.
“I find it so comforting to know that less people could be affected in the same way that we have and less children could be losing their parents because of us speaking out and it just makes me happy to know that we’re helping, even if it’s only one person,” she said.
Road Safety Officer with Donegal County Council Pamela Smullen praised the message that the students want to draw attention to.
“I would liaise closely with the RSA and the projects that are rolling out. The video that the young people here in school have created really reinforces the message of staying safe on the roads and driving without distractions,” Ms Smullen said.
While Louise McGeever from the RSA said getting these messages into schools was vital.
“We have to do all we can to keep those safety messages out there and getting them to the schools is an important part of rolling out these education programs. We have to keep reinforcing messages and videos like this.”
