South Meath Driving School

The graphic pictures of a mangled car on the middle of the roadway, as shown on T.V. and in the newspapers over the weekend, brings  to mind how lucky we all are not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. A straight stretch of road near Tullamore on a dry, sunny afternoon played host to the sight of four young men being removed to a hospital morgue. And, lucky that figure wasn’t doubled. The four had been travelling in the same car.

Without prejudice as to what brought about this calamity, it was reported that the driver of this car was overtaking and crashed head-on into an oncoming minibus.

There was a neighbour of mine in Cloone a good few moons ago whose name was Michael, with the colourful nickname of Ampletime. He was a bachelor who, as well as being a farmer, often found himself away on other business. There were four of us young Moran fellows close by who were always willing to lend a neighbourly hand. Michael was overly cautious and possessive and, while he appreciated help, he warned against too many being around at the same time. Therefore his monastic rule was one assistant around his house while he was away. Peadar, his trusted one was usually in charge.

On one such occasion three more of us young teens arrived. After a few hours we heard the drone of Ampletime’s Morris Minor approach. We all ran out of the house as if it were an air raid siren we heard, almost jamming each other in the doorway. Too late though, for he spotted us. Such was the confusion that when we were two and a half fields away, Peadar realised that he had been left in charge of the house. We didn’t envy him his lonely trek back!

Mr Ampletime found rope swings erected in the hayshed, his bicycle lying in the lane with a buckled wheel and worse was to come: his prized red rooster, a wicked and feisty bird, lay dead on the street.

It was a great  day for us having had the freedom to choose, unsupervised, when work and bedevilment had equal standing. Nothing much happened, one might say, but for Mr Ampletime a lot had gone wrong.

When a group of youngsters get together, more so the male species, they want to impress each other, the older ones taking the lead. They want a ‘buzz’ and there’s no lengths to which they won’t go to achieve their wayward goal.

Since the weekend past, there are up to twenty young people lying in hospital injured to varying degrees from road crashes.  And, of course, there are the four youths dead from a single collision. The RSA put it bluntly, ‘The faster the speed, the bigger the mess.’ Each road death is estimated to cost over 1 million euro. In 2010 the cost of all road collisions was estimated at 853 million euro, down 38% on ’07. We all pay for the waywardness of others either directly or indirectly. We pay through insurance and levys.

When Noel Dempsey’s office and the RSA were drawing up plans for the launch of the new driving test programme and EDT, consideration was being given to the restricting of the number of young people who could be together in the same car without supervision. A night curfew was also considered. The idea was dropped. There have since been many multiple fatal crashes involving car loads of young people. Remember Donegal, Kerry and now Tullamore. What a pity, ‘cause when a good idea is mooted and cognisance taken of the effect in other countries, that’s the time to act. Rarely is the topic revisited at National level. It’s time, though, to call Leo Varadkar now and remind him of his responsibility. Do it today.

Overtaking another vehicle, even a cyclist, requires confidence and a fair measure of driving experience. The road ahead must be clear for a distance enough to enable you to get back in safely and not interfere with any other driver. If you are first vehicle behind the one to be overtaken, do not go too close behind it. Use wing mirror and leave space so you can edge out to view the road ahead. Have indicator on so that you go at the first opportunity, otherwise you will have to give way to faster moving traffic from behind.

Never follow through blindly behind another overtaking vehicle.

Once overtaking, stay in the same gear until manoeuvre is completed, thereby your two hands are on the wheel and you have power to progress.

Use mirrors to good effect before returning to your driving lane so as not to interfere with the driver being overtaken.

Take extra care when overtaking large/longer vehicles as you will need more road length to pass it.

Be aware, too, of the lack of visibility in rain or snow.

Do not break the speed limit to overtake.

Do not overtake near traffic lights or pedestrian crossings, approaching a junction, hilltop, bridge or dip in the road.

Note that you may overtake on a continuous white line as follows –

In the event of an obstruction, a slow-moving vehicle, or to gain access, provided there is adequate view ahead and that it’s safe to do so.

For the first year in the last five or six, the road fatalities are up on the previous year. Let each play his/her part to reverse that.