The deaths of five children on the roads of Galway city and county this year has changed the way that Gardai are looking at roads policing, the Galway City Council Joint Policing Committee meeting was told this week.
While expressing his sympathy to all the bereaved in the recent road traffic incident at Headford, Chief Supt Gerry Roche said that the road deaths have concentrated his mind in the city and county and now road safety is an even bigger priority that it has ever been.
“In the city and county five children have lost their lives in the year to deaths on the road.
“That has changed the way we do roads policing. A lot of those accidents are not preventable by policing.
“For every incident now, we have an entire incident room, we talk to every witness, engineers and the council,” he said.
“In total, 13 people have lost their lives since the end of November in the city and county. Very few could have been preventable by policing. All we can do is ask people to slow down, light up, put on high vis gear and be aware of what’s happening.
“Alas we cannot put old heads on young shoulders for children. They are so young and they are getting into bad situations where people are losing their lives,” he said.
