Donegal-based senator Eileen Flynn speaks of surviving catastrophic road accident at age 10
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 and I was left in intensive care for five days.
00:05 I spent nearly two years of my life
00:08 in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children
00:12 and St. Joseph's ward.
00:14 And I know exactly how lucky I am to be alive today.
00:19 It's not a sad story.
00:22 23 operations afterwards, I'm still hurt,
00:27 and I'm so lucky to be able to tell this story.
00:31 So I know what consequences a collision can have
00:36 on an individual.
00:38 I'm nearly 34 years of age,
00:40 and still today I suffer chronic pain.
00:42 I suffer with my back, all the left side of my body.
00:47 So I would genuinely support the campaigns
00:51 for people to slow down, to be cautious on the road.
00:54 And I support any positive action, Minister,
00:58 for our better road safety for pedestrians,
01:01 for cyclists, and for drivers.
01:03 Thankfully, I got built up the courage.
01:06 Because I live in rural Ireland, I have to drive, okay?
01:09 So I just done the driving test
01:14 and passed it first time in Donegal, a long wait,
01:17 and now driving from Donegal to Dublin
01:20 'cause I don't have the choice.
01:21 I don't feel I have the choice
01:23 because the public transport, I feel, don't meet my needs.
01:27 Even in Donegal, if I need to take one of me kids
01:30 to an appointment, rural Ireland is not,
01:34 like, you know, you can't just hop on a bus.
01:36 It doesn't work that way.
01:37 So I really think we have to invest in our public transport.
01:41 And I think school, in Fortier and school,
01:45 that we should give our children in rural Ireland,
01:47 you know, classes and safe driving, being safe on the roads,
01:52 having the opportunity to do the cherry test in Fortier,
01:57 getting the support to do that,
01:58 getting people in who have survived car crashes,
02:03 whatever else that may go with that.
02:04 And I know I am so lucky that I am not in a wheelchair.
02:09 And I'm so lucky that I'm able to walk.
02:11 And listening to people speak today
02:14 around road safety statements is that, you know,
02:20 my mother used to say to me brothers,
02:22 I remember years ago, you might get there five minutes late,
02:26 or you might even be a half hour late,
02:28 but you'll still get there, you know?
02:30 And I think it's so important that people abide by the rules.
02:34 And as Senator Victor Byron has said,
02:37 these black spots that we're talking about,
02:39 or we know where the dangers is, that's where we start.
02:42 That's where we start to make our roads safe.
02:46 And even for some learner drivers
02:48 and novel drivers as well,
02:51 they're also vulnerable road users too.
02:54 And we seem to be blaming our young people a lot.
02:57 The man that crashed into me,
02:59 that the drunk driver that crashed into me,
03:02 was over 30 years of age.
03:04 And you know, the person on the bus,
03:07 well, he was in his early 60s.
03:10 So, you know, I don't think it's young people
03:14 that should be to blame for not being safe
03:17 on the roads, because I don't believe that to be the case.
03:20 And I do think, you know, we need to have support in place,
03:24 people being able to be supported,
03:25 to have to get their full license, you know?
03:28 And it's not just the questions around road safety.
03:31 I think even like around drug driving, drink driving,
03:35 those kind of questions, those kind of education
03:39 should also be in our testing as well.
03:41 And then invest in the RSA,
03:43 like it takes months and months to be able to get a test.
03:46 That's also part of our road safety as well,
03:49 because there's a lot of pressures.
03:50 People are taking chances and saying,
03:52 "Feck it, I'm only going up the road.
03:54 "I don't have the full license.
03:55 "I can drive," you know?
03:57 And people will take those chances.
03:59 So again, I think if we're talking about road safety,
04:01 we have to start back at scratch, I think,
04:03 around the RSA as well,
04:05 the timing of waiting for a test,
04:08 not investing in staff to be able to complete
04:11 proper, adequate testing for people
04:14 when they're ready to take their test.
04:16 So that's just my statement on the road safety,
04:20 to awareness to people saying,
04:23 "If you can walk away from an accident
04:25 "like I did after two years,
04:27 "you're a very, very lucky person.
04:29 "Your family is so lucky to have you alive."
04:32 But unfortunately, we've seen in the month of August
04:35 the many deaths on our roads.
04:37 And what we're trying to do collectively
04:39 is to have road safety.
04:41 And I would encourage people to never, ever, ever
04:44 drink or drug drive or think, you know,
04:46 like, "I'll just pick up the phone for a second,"
04:49 because it only takes a split second.
04:51 And my mother used to always say,
04:53 "There's no good driver.
04:54 "There's no good driver,"
04:55 to always expect unexpected what's coming in front of you.
04:59 And I think we should be signposting more, you know,
05:02 "Slow down, you'll still get there,"
05:04 or those kind of messages on our roads for people.
05:07 And I do genuinely believe the stronger we are
05:10 in the drink driving and the drug driving,
05:12 the better because we're protecting everybody on the road.