‘I didn’t stay within the speed limit and now I’m paying the price for it’

ALAN QUINN sat in his wheelchair looking at the faces of hundreds of tomorrow’s young drivers and told them he’s paying the price for speeding.

The 39-year-old from Glanworth, Co Cork, suffered brain damage in an horrific accident a few miles from his home in August 1995. The labourer described how he had been socialising the night before.

He “staggered into bed” at 1.30am and had to be up five hours later to drop a friend to Shannon Airport.

The accident happened as, according to himself, he was “driving like a madman” to get back to north Cork in time for work.

“I took a bend and lost control of the car which hit a pillar. Four months later, I woke up in CUH (Cork University Hospital) and I didn’t have a clue what happened. I had been on a life-support machine,” he said.

Alan spent a further 22 months in CUH before being transferred to the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghaire. “They taught me how to talk, how to eat and how to drink again. These are all the things you would take for granted,” he said.

Alan was helped by Headway, an organisation which assists people who have suffered from brain trauma.

He now manages to use a walking frame to get around his house, but for the rest of the time he is confined to a wheelchair.

Despite his horrific injuries, Alan now works one day a week as a litter warden.

“Every Friday I go to the gym and the swimming pool. I’m also doing weights. I’m getting there.” he said. He told the teenagers they should never speed, like he did.

“I didn’t stay within the speed limit and now I’m paying the price for it.”

“Always wear a seatbelt. I had none on. I was fired around the car like a catapult,” Alan said.