Oideachas agus Tionscnaimh
Keeping our roads safe begins with educating people and raising awareness about the various dangers facing motorists, cyclists and pedestrians. The Road Safety Office takes very seriously its role as a leader and educator in this area and we run a number of annual campaigns that have successfully raised awareness and increased education about road safety throughout the county.
Every primary school in Mayo is offered a Cycle Skills Course, aimed at students aged 10 years and above and delivered by a trained instructor. These courses are not just a great way to give the children the skills and confidence to cycle safely on the road but are also great at teaching them about personal responsibility, the rules of the road, and how to respect all road users. It is a great introduction on how to navigate our road networks as a successful and responsible road user and is key to improving our overall road safety standards.
We also support campaigns that are targeted at a slightly older audience. For example, in 2019 the council supported the #Andshecycles campaign which sought to encourage more secondary school girls to cycle on the road and provided them with the skills and knowledge to do so safely.
The legal age for driving a car in Ireland is 17, and Mayo County Council aims to target young drivers who are in secondary school in order to assist them in becoming safe and responsible drivers. We run many campaigns to this end, one of which is the annual AXA Road Safety Road Show.
Last year, over 1,700 pupils from transition year and 5th year attended this conference in Breaffy House to hear from crash victims and their families, doctors, members of emergency services and Gardaí who told their stories of dealing with road accidents in Mayo throughout the years. The students are given advice and an opportunity to see how the emergency services operate with close-up demonstrations. It is an invaluable experience for future drivers and one that could have a very powerful and positive influence on their driving habits.
Mayo County Council runs campaigns throughout the year which seek to highlight the issues of road safety in Mayo.
Many of our campaigns have received national and international attention, such as our ‘Go on, Go on, Take a Break’ campaign, which saw signs of the Father Ted character Mrs. Doyle being erected around the county with an important message for drivers to pull over and take a nap if fatigued. Initiatives such as this help spread the word about how drivers should react to certain situations in order to maximize safety.
We constantly update our social media with information about new campaigns as well as road conditions and road closures around the county (see our social media links under ‘Road Safety in Mayo’). Follow us online to keep up to date about what is going on in the world of road safety in Mayo!