People might be forgiven for thinking that Halloween had arrived early this June bank holiday as road safety campaigns move up a gear to drive the “safe driving” message home.
In an unusual move, Mayo County Council placed an ad for a Subaru Impreza car on sale at a super low price on popular trading site Done Deal. When over 5000 callers rang to inquire, they were subjected to a sobering voice mail message.
The message purported to be from a “boy racer” called John Murphy who describes how the car he was driving recklessly killed a six-year old girl. “If you’re calling about the car, yes I still have it for sale. It’s quick, so quick I didn’t even see her,” the message said.
Then distressingly, John Murphy says, “Make me an offer and take it away. I can’t stand looking at it any more,” Before delivering the message, “Just don’t drive like I did.”
Although the publicity stunt was a thinly designed alert about safe driving, incredibly, nearly 170 callers left a message asking for a callback about the sale.
One potential customer even remarked “He didn’t crash the car, he just hit a girl.” It’s a pity not every body’s driving is as slow as their uptake.
Some have described the advertisement as deceptive and false, others have praised it as innovative and “excellent”. It remains to be seen if it will have any effect on the abnormally high level of road fatalities this holiday weekend.
June bank holiday is usually the time of year with the most fatalities on Irish roads. A caller to popular radio call-in show Liveline on RTE Radio 1 on Friday, points out that in the past 50 years there have been nearly 23,000 fatalities on Irish roads.
He goes on to describe a photographic project he is creating for his college thesis with fatal road traffic incidents as his theme.
His goal is to capture the aftermath of a car crash by going, with permission, to a centre where vehicles are brought for examination after a fatal accident. There, they are tested for brakes, steering and other mechanical faults.
In unsanitised condition, the cars contain traces of the people who died in them. It could be a gift card, a CD, some clothing, a child’s toy or some other factor that serves as a reminder that this is not just a statistic, it’s a human being.
He describes one photograph of a car in which a brother and sister died. Following the investigation, it is being recycled in a crusher which forms it into a cube, with all the remnants of CDs, clothes and other personal touches trapped inside. To his photographer’s eye, it seems like a tomb.
Speed is a major factor in road fatalities and the Gardai are asking people to restrain themselves because even if it takes a few minutes longer, it's better to finish your Bank Holiday weekend journey in one piece.
