Committee hosts road safety event at Parliament Buildings

The Committee for Infrastructure hosted an event last night to raise awareness of the importance of improving road safety and to contribute to the debate on the best way to lower road fatalities.

The event, which took place in Parliament Buildings, brought together representatives from the Department for Infrastructure and the PSNI, and personal testimony from the family of a fatal road traffic accident victim.

Chairperson William Humphrey MLA said: "My Committee agreed that Road Safety would be one of our priorities and that we would do all we can to assist in the debate on the best way to lower road fatalities.

"We brought together, as part of this event, those who are tasked with implementing policies aimed at improving our road safety. As well, we were privileged to hear about the impact of road accidents from one who family was devastated by such an accident.

"We all agree that something must be done—this year we have seen an upsurge in road fatalities. While these stark statistics are bad enough, we also need to look behind them, at the devastation that each road fatality represents."

Mr Humphrey continued: "We were privileged to hear from one man, whose father died in a fatal road collision, about the impact this tragic event had on his and his family's life. This testimony only emphasises the urgency of improving road safety and it is something that will stay with all of us for a long time.

"This event was not designed to be just a 'talking shop'. We intend to produce a report of the discussions which will form the basis of a Committee motion that we will bring to the Assembly. We intend that this motion, and the ideas put forward by participants tonight, will assist in developing the policy on road safety."

Mr Humphrey concluded: "It is not too dramatic to say that a road collision, a road traffic accident has far reaching consequences—on those involved in it, on family members and the wider community. It is up to us—politicians, the police, ambulance service, road safety officials, and all road users—to put road safety policy at the forefront of our priorities."

ENDS.

Notes to Editors:

The Road Safety event took place on 23 November 2016 in Parliament Buildings with presentations from:

• Liz Loughran, Director, Road Safety and Vehicle Regulation Division Department for Infrastructure
• Greg McClelland, Road Safety Policy Manager, Transport NI Department for Infrastructure
• Inspector Gary McComb, PSNI

The PSNI, Fire and Rescue Service and the Ambulance Service also provided a mock-up of a crash site to illustrate the issues being discussed in the event.

Crash scene 1: Members of the Assembly’s Committee for Infrastructure view a mock-up of a crash scene for the Committee sponsored road safety event at Parliament Buildings.

Committee and Sherrard at Crash: Members of the Committee for Infrastructure with Christopher Sherrard, Road Safety Campaigner at a mock-up crash scene at Parliament Buildings. Left to right: Fra McCann MLA; Daniel McCrossan MLA; Justin McNulty MLA; Christopher Sherrard, Road Safety Campaigner; George Robinson, Deputy Chairperson; and Kellie Armstrong MLA.