Young safety campaigner scoops national award
Orlaith Heaney, a student at Mount St Michael, presenting her project 'STIGMA' to Peter Evans, BT Ireland, and Minister of State Dara Calleary TD
at last year's BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibition.
A young Mayo woman has been recognised for her care and initiative by being awarded a National Garda Youth Award. The awards, which recognise exceptional young people aged 13 to 21 who have positively contributed to their community, were held on Saturday at Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise and acknowledged the remarkable contributions made in a number of Garda Divisions.
Orlaith Heaney from Hollymount spotted a quickly growing problem: the number of road traffic accidents was on the rise, and so was the number of fatalities on Claremorris roads. Orlaith set out to discover what factors were causing these tragic accidents, and began conducting an extensive study of the roads throughout Co. Mayo.
Orlaith’s work began by conducting research on road design, road construction and determining the ideal conditions for driving. She collected data on driver behaviour, read an innumerable amount of accident reports and scoured statistics released by the NCT and RSA. To further her research, Orlaith even joined Mayo Roads Policing Gardaí while they worked to gather more information on the behaviour of dangerous drivers. Orlaith went so far as to build reconstructions of road curves and cambers to analyse how the subtlest of factors can impact driver behaviour. She ultimately compiled her research into an incredibly detailed 59-page report titled “Analysing the Impact of Curvature and other Mitigating Road Factors on Rural Road Accidents: A Comprehensive Study”, which was presented to the 2024 EU Road Safety Conference earlier this year.
Orlaith’s report was a tremendous success, and its content was so well researched that the report eventually made it to the hands of the Minister for Transport, the Road Safety Authority, a number of EU ministers and beyond. The endless hours Orlaith committed to this vital project have led to her placement on the RSA Youth Advisory Panel, where she can have an impact on the future of road safety across the country.
Her passion for road safety has already gone a long way towards changing Irish roads for the better.
