Guildhall Square hosts Annual RoadSafe Saturday event

This year’s RoadSafe Saturday message is clear: every road user has a part to play in preventing further tragedies.

By coming together as a community, organisers hope to promote safer habits and reduce the number of devastating collisions across the North West.

Co-organised by the North West Road Safety Partnership (NWRSP) and local charity, Life After, RoadSafe Saturday will take place on Saturday November 7, from 11.00am until 3.00pm.

Speaking to The Derry News at the event launch, Christopher Sherrard, project co-ordinator of Life After, said the aim of RoadSafe Saturday was to “promote safer road practices, reduce collisions across the region and provide education and awareness for all road users”.

Life After was founded by individuals who have first-hand experience of losing loved ones in road collisions.

“In the Guildhall on Saturday we will have Life Cycles who will be doing bike maintenance and giving advice about how to ride a bicycle safely. We will also have two car crash cut out scenarios, which will be overseen by the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, St John’s Ambulance and the PSNI Traffic Branch,” added Mr Sherrard.

“We will also have the Red Cross present showing the vehicle they use for emergency response, and Finan Opticians, who are bringing along their eye test machine so people can check and see what their vision is like.

“In addition, we will have Mental Health Motorbike there, run by Ashley Knowles.

“Life After will have its stall there explaining what we do as a charity. North West Road Safety Partnership will be giving out road safety fliers, and we will have Sandy Arthur Training Services Limited. Sandy is bringing his George Best lorry.

“I would also like to mention that on International Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, on Sunday, November 15, Life After is holding a vigil on Derry’s Walls, at 6 o’clock. outside First Derry Church. We will then be coming inside for a short service and lighting candles in memory of our loved ones, whose photographs will be on the table. This event is open to everyone,” said Mr Sherrard.

Sandy Arthur, Chair of the North West Road Safety Partnership, said: “Road safety is something we all share, whether we are behind the wheel, on a bike or on foot.

“RoadSafe Saturday will give people the chance to see for themselves what a collision means for families, for emergency crews and for the wider community.

“We are grateful to Life After for their continued partnership and to everyone who helps us keep this conversation going.”

Laura Radcliffe, chairperson of Life After, said behind every collision was “a family whose life had been changed for good”.

“Our members know that pain first-hand, and they share their stories so that others are spared it,” she added.

“We hope everyone who comes along on Saturday will leave with a clearer sense of how quickly things can change, and of what each of us can do to prevent it.”

Also speaking at the RoadSafe Saturday launch, Emily O’Brien from Life Cycles, which is based at the Waterside Railway Station, said: “Cycling safety on the roads is huge for us, which means firstly ensuring all of the bikes we sell are roadworthy and safe, and promoting cycling safety to everyone who comes through our doors.

“On Saturday we will be launching our Be Safe Be Seen campaign now we are coming into the winter months.

“In the run up to Christmas, every Life Cycles customer will get a bell, front and back reflectors, a wee set of lights and a hi vis vest”.

Harry Gallagher representing the Department of Infrastructure - Roads said: “One thing I always find about working with NWRSP is it reminds you that the fatalities on our roads are not statistics. It is people and there are families and there are ripples that move out from that.

“The Minister is very focused on that, which is why she announced new speed reduction schemes for outside schools,” he added.

Foyle DUP MLA Julie Middleton said she was working to ‘Share the Road to Zero’ “every single day”.

"I personally feel, road safety is one of those issues that is universal. We need to all work together,” she added.

"As we enter into this Road Safety Week, I would empower everyone to think as they enter their car; to think as they go to cross the raod; to think about other people because what we see an awful lot of times is negligence, is a lack of thinking, about other people.

"If you spend that wee minute to think, I think it could make the world of difference to a family that might get a knock on the door that they don’t need to get.

"We are talking about people’s lives. We are not talking about statistics. We are not talking about numbers. We are talking about families with empty seats at the tables. We are talking about families whose lives have been altered forever. And that doesn’t need to happen. It doesn’t need to be the case.

"This is a cause I will always be behind and I congratualte you all on the trmendous work you are doing,” said Ms Middleton.

The vice-chairperson of Derry City and Strabane District Council’s Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP), Beverly Simpson, said road safety was one of the group’s priorities.

“Hopefully we can continue to work together as partners, keeping everybody safe within the city,” she added.

Philip McKinney, vice-chairperson of NWRSP said everyone was welcome along to Guildhall Square for RoadSafe Saturday.

“We need young people down there. We need young families down there. We need young drivers down there. We need kids down to learn how to cycle properly. So please come along and bring somebody with you,” added Mr McKinney.

The last speaker at the RoadSafe Saturday launch was PSNI Constable Laura Brown who highlighted the dangers of e-scooters.

“This is a big issue we have had recently,” said Constable Brown. “I suppose the appeal would be, in the run up to Christmas, that parents consider really carefully whether they make that purchase, because it puts so many people at risk.

“E-scooters are really dangerous in so many ways, and everybody has seen people out on the roads, no helmets, dark clothing, scooting across the road in front of cars, and you know it's such a danger.

“So parents, seriously consider what you buy your child for Christmas. It could be what kills them or kills somebody else.”