"You can't believe it would happen to you. That's the thing, but it does and it will go on happening." So says Andy (54), a driver involved in a crash which left him paralysed. Michael McAleer reports.
RTÉ's True Lives documentary, Crash, should be compulsory viewing for all road users, according to Mr Pat Costello of the National Safety Council (NSC).
Due to be aired last night, the hard-hitting documentary looks at the reality behind the statistics, the heart-break and the life-altering consequences as told by people and families. Filmed over six months, it graphically detailed the devastating psychological and physical effects of road deaths. With this month's road death toll set to exceed figures for last May, it's timely as we face into another bank holiday weekend.
Speaking at the launch of the latest in a series of NSC Arrive Alive campaigns designed to reduce road deaths over the bank holiday weekend, Costello yesterday said: "Speed is the single biggest contributory factor to road deaths in Ireland. If you think speeding will get you to your destination quicker, you are mistaken.
"If you really want to make some savings this weekend slow down. You might just save the life of a friend, a loved one or even your own." Last year five people died in fatal crashes during the June bank holiday.
The documentary, directed by Adrian McCarthy, is far more effective than the most shocking safety ads. This is real. There are no actors. The blood-covered hand, the blood-soaked hair of the man trapped in the overturned car, the screaming . . . it's all real.
One of the most striking tales is that of the horrific two-car collision which took six lives. At 9.50pm on September 29th, 2001, on the Bandon Road, eight miles from Cork city, two passengers in one car, Denis and Nuala McCarthy, a couple in their 60s, died and their nephew, Declan O'Donoghue who was driving the car, was seriously injured, when the car collided with another car driven by Paul O'Donovan (23).
Paul was killed along with his three passengers, all teenagers. They were 15-year-old twins, Cian and Gavin O'Sullivan, and their friend, Conor Coleman.
That weekend, the road toll reached 13. Family members of all the victims described the enormous impact "one second of stupidity" has had on their lives.
In north Kerry we meet Paul (20) and Dave. They used to cruise the roads in their Honda Civic. Three months ago they were passengers in a friend's car. It crashed. Paul is now in a wheelchair. He attends the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dun Laoghaire.
Most patients at the centre were in car or bike crashes. We meet Colm (18), a back-seat passenger in a car which hit a stone wall - the others in the car, including the driver and front passenger, suffered only cuts, bruises and a few broken bones. Colm, is paralysed from the shoulders down. "I used to look at that ad, slow down boys, but it's only now you realise why it is. It's unbelievable how everything's turned upside down."
John O'Byrne, a spinal injuries specialist, spells out the message: "It's not all people who race along at 100mph not wearing a seat belt. It's ordinary people going around doing ordinary things who suddenly find themselves becoming lifelong participants in an orthopaedic practice.
"There is an assumption that, if people are injured and go to hospital and survive, they will return to the way they were. That's not always the case. For a significant percentage of these people, they may survive but their lives are never the same and their family lives are never the same."
"I have an operating list next Monday and there will be people on it who, at this point in time, are just going about their normal lives with their pre-occupations, anxieties and plans, but suddenly they're in an accident."
Oliver Reilly, of the Ambulance Service in Co Louth, says: "I think the term accident is a little misplaced for a lot of these incidents. It is usually somebody's fault. It's carelessness on somebody's part that they get it wrong and sometimes they get it horribly wrong."
While welcoming the latest weekend campaign to cut road deaths, Paul Donaldson of the Irish Insurance Federation says: "Weekend awareness campaigns, or even penalty points, cannot alone achieve the goals of reduced fatalities and serious injuries."
His foreboding is reflected by Dave in Crash. "Young lads think they're never going to crash. We think we're great drivers but we're not, we're inexperienced."
And a disturbing comment that should ring through to the Minister for Transport and the policy makers: "There's still going to be speeding, no matter if there's penalty points or not. It's some kind of thrill young fellas have. It's just not going to stop anyone."
For the families of the victims, Sarah O'Sullivan says she cannot accept the loss of her brothers, Cian and Gavin. "I think about them every night and can't get it out of my head. I still can't really believe it."