Northern Ireland Assembly’s Road Safety Event

Northern Ireland Assembly’s Road Safety Event

The Northern Ireland Assembly’s 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 at Parliament Buildings in East Belfast, 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.”



Photo Caption: 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.



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