Noel Gibbons, road safety officer with Mayo County Council, has won the Road Safety Officer of the Year Award from the Road Safety Authority. At a presentation to mark the occasion by RSA chairman Gay Byrne at the RSA’s Leading Lights in Road Safety awards in Dublin Castle, Mr Gibbons was honoured for his work promoting road safety in Mayo through creative and informative road safety campaigns, and his ongoing efforts to support and complement the work of the Road Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána through national campaigns.
Noel Gibbons was appointed Mayo road safety officer in 2005 and his first steps were to re-establish the Mayo Road Safety Working Group. From the beginning, he enlisted the help of An Garda Síochána, HSE, RSA and technical experts from Mayo County Council to promote road safety alongside many local groups, businesses, media, schools, and cross-border groups.
Congratulating Mr Gibbons on his award, Castlebar Sinn Fein councillor and chairperson of Iompar Mhaigh Eo, Therese Ruane, stated that the group had nominated Mr Gibbons for the award for the following reasons:
“Noel is a member of Iompar Castlebar, a voluntary group promoting sustainable travel in Castlebar, and has worked tirelessly as road safety officer to make our roads safer in Mayo for everyone who uses them, including drivers, young drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians.
“He works in a creative, innovative way, thinking up new and novel schemes and initiatives to get the road safety message out into the public arena.
“What’s most impressive, I think, is the way that Noel works in conjunction with community groups, schools, Road Safety Authority, Gardaí, youth organisations, HSE, sports partnership, county council colleagues and all the relevant stakeholders, bringing people together to work in partnership, which has proved so effective in getting people to work together to bring about a change in mindsets, raise awareness, organise events, and achieve results.
“As chairperson of Iompar Castlebar, I’ve seen first hand the invaluable contribution he makes as a team player in this group and in bringing about a safer environment for cyclists and pedestrians.
”Noel is always mindful and ensures that more vulnerable road users such as people with disabilities, older people, cyclists, children, etc, are protected. He has a great ability to think outside the box and initiate schemes and projects to promote road safety for vulnerable users. I’ve no doubt Mayo is a safer place for road users as a result of Noel’s commitment to his job. He truly is a leading light in road safety and is so deserving of this award.”
