Tralee students focus on drivers

A CAMPAIGN by a group of Kerry teenagers to highlight the dangers of speeding was launched yesterday.

Transition year students at Tralee CBS hosted a road safety awareness day and distributed information to the public.

The 22 students also played out a drama which they filmed and uploaded to YouTube, a popular website for teenagers and young adults.

They also highlighted dangers facing young drivers and boy racers, in particular, and displayed boards showing road death statistics, including 19 deaths on the roads of Kerry last year.

The boys’ teacher, Helen Hayes, said many of the deaths were the direct result of speeding and they wanted to create awareness of that.

The project is part of the Young Innovators Project, with the students claiming organised meetings of boy racers occur regularly and pose dangers on the roads.

Many adults are “overwhelmingly naive” about that situation, according to Ms Hayes.

She claimed “for sale” signs were being placed on modified cars to advertise a number for racing rather than selling the vehicle.

“The aim of this project is to highlight the danger this activity poses to safety on our roads. Our overall objective is to have a bye-law passed in our area banning these ‘for sale’ signs on non-stationery cars,” Ms Hayes added.

She quoted statistics to show a 17-year-old male is seven times more likely to be involved in an accident than a middle-aged man and speeding is the cause of a quarter of all fatal crashes each year.

Results of a survey carried out by the students have been presented to Kerry County Council.