This article is from page 13 of the 2007-12-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
A SHANNON town councillor has hit out at the behaviour of pedestri- ans, amid statistics showing that 20 per cent of road death victims are pedestrians.
More than 70 pedestrians have been killed on the nation’s roads so far this year.
Five of the 12 road deaths in Clare this year have involved walkers, while one cyclist was also killed in June.
Shannon town councillor Tony Mc- Mahon (Labour) has said that pedes- trians’ behaviour is “ridiculous”.
“Really, the behaviour of pedes- trians is ridiculous. There seems to be so much attached to the driver but no responsibility attached to the pedestrian. It should be compulsory that the onus would be on the pedes- trian,” he said.
“The whole behaviour of pedes- trians needs to change. People just walk out on the road and motorists expect them to do just that,” said Cllr
McMahon, at a meeting in Shannon last week.
However, the head of the Garda Divisional Traffic Corps in Clare, In- spector John Galvin, said there is an onus on walkers.
‘There is an onus on pedestrians to be safe and to be seen and obey the rules of the road,’ said Inspector Galvin, who has just taken up his role, having moved to Clare from Galway Garda Station in recent weeks.
“We would encourage them to be seen and wear reflective gear. At all
times, we would encourage pedes- trians to cross the roads at appro- priate places, particularly in winter time and to walk against the flow of traffic. There is a huge onus on pe- destrians to exercise caution and not presume they can be seen,” said In- spector Galvin.
According to Muintir na Tire Com- munity Alert, pedestrians and cy- clists have become increasingly vul- nerable on the nation’s roads.
Last week, the group warned that wearing a simple high visibility vest
will reduce the risk of being involved in a fatal or serious injury collision.
“The best advice that we can give, is to remind all road users of their vulnerability, plead with them, to take personal responsibility for their actions on the road and to make sure, that they and those in their house- hold, wear a high visibility vest, when walking or cycling, day or night. It could be the difference, between be- ing seriously injured, killed or stay- ing alive. Quite simply, wearing the vest could save your life,”