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Mr. Fergus O’Dowd, T.D. and Mr. Edwin Poots, MLA Close the Driving Change Road Safety Project
Mr. Fergus O’Dowd, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources and Mr. Edwin Poots, MLA, Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety, today (26 June 2013) jointly closed the Driving Change Road Safety Campaign at the Hillgrove Hotel, Monaghan.
The Driving Change Project, is a collaborative project supported by the European Union Interreg IVA programme involving the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, the County Fire Services of the six Border Counties of the Irish Republic, and the youth focussed charity, Public Achievement. The project is focused on addressing road safety issues in border areas and involves training of fire and rescue services both north and south and establishing projects with young people in border communities.
The project is supported by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety and the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland; and by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Department of Finance in the Irish Republic.
The project is an innovative approach to tackling Road Safety through collaboration between public sector agencies and the voluntary and community sector agencies in the eligible region. (Northern Ireland-excluding greater Belfast area and the border counties of the Republic of Ireland)
The project commenced in 2010 and finishes in July of this year. The 3-year project has an overall project budget of £STG 1,257,421.
“Unfortunately, road traffic collisions still continue to happen, although it is thankfully at a much lower level than occurred in the past”, said Minister O’Dowd. “When severe collisions do occur, chances of survival and avoiding further trauma and injury for those involved are greatly enhanced through the training, skills and professionalism of the emergency services that attend the scene. The training provided to the emergency services through the Driving Change Campaign greatly improves the cross-border response to road traffic collisions through improved standards of extrication, vehicle stabilisation and casualty handling at the scene of an accident”.