Honouring a road safety campaigner

I WAS delighted to learn from Eoin English’s article that CIT Students Union had launched a week of activities dealing with many aspects of safety, particularly road safety (The Irish Examiner, March 6).

I was particularly pleased to see the week is dedicated to the memory of the late lecturer, author and road safety campaigner, Mr Vivian Foley. Vivian was a good friend of mine and an energetic road safety activist. He died suddenly while taking part in a live radio telephone interview on the morning of June 30, 2003. He carried out the first indoor demonstration of the deployment of two airbags in Carlow in 2002.

As a result of his winning the Prince Michael Award for Road Safety for his book, the first Royal visit to Cork for many decades was arranged when Prince Michael visited CIT. Vivian was a giant in the Irish road safety promotion field and his loss is deeply felt by many of us working in that area. His book, entitled Is your Car Safe? Prevent Your Road Accident, is available in libraries and is a great read for any road user.