‘Most people wake from a nightmare. I wake to one’
WHAT were you doing on Tuesday, December 22, 2015? Probably hard to answer. You may have been doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, or been looking forward to finishing up work and spending time with family and friends.
For Noel Clancy, a farmer from north Cork, 22 December 2015 will be forever remembered as the day his life turned into the most unimaginable living nightmare.
On that fateful day Noel lost his wife, Geraldine (58), and daughter Louise (22) when they were killed in a car crash.
He even came across the crash, by chance, in his tractor and offered to help, not realising that it was his wife and daughter in the overturned car.
Three days later, Noel was asked the most heartbreaking question you can imagine. “On Christmas Day, the undertaker asked me a question I hope that he never has to ask anyone again – ‘Which coffin will we lower first?’
“While most people were enjoying Christmas with their families, I was trying to make a decision.
“I phoned him back and told him we would lower Geraldine first and place Louise back in her arms.”
Following the investigation into the crash, during the court case it became clear that the driver of the other car involved in the fatal crash was an unaccompanied learner. The driver received a three-year suspended sentence for dangerous driving causing death.
Delivering his victim impact statement after the sentencing, which was both brave and eloquent, Noel called for legislation to make it an offence for the owner of a car to allow it to be driven by an unaccompanied learner driver. He used this statement to deliver a core road safety message while dealing with his own personal grief and loss.
Some weeks after the court case concluded, RTE broadcaster Sharon Ni Bheolain produced and aired an interview with Noel for RTE’s Six One News. His interview and road safety plea was broadcast to the nation. The reaction from the public was remarkable. Many other news outlets repeated his appeals and comments.
Noel, at every opportunity, has reminded parents and learners of the requirement for learners to be accompanied by a fully qualified driver.
His calls for a change to the law didn’t fall on deaf ears. Minister Shane Ross made amendments to the Road Amendment Traffic Bill. It was passed, thankfully, but after significant delays and obstruction by a minority of rural TDs.
The provisions in the Act make it an offence to supply a vehicle to a learner permit holder to drive unaccompanied. It also gives the gardai the power to detain any vehicle being driven by an unaccompanied learner driver.
Young drivers are at risk, due to their inexperience, when they’re learning to drive. This is because they are simply not experienced enough to deal with every possible situation they might encounter on the roads.
A learner permit is not a licence. It is a permit that allows you to learn under supervision so you can gain enough experience to take a driving test. The measures in the graduated driver licensing system, such as being required to be accompanied, taking mandatory lessons, having to display L-plates, being subject to a lower penalty points threshold and drink-drive limit, are designed to achieve this aim.
Over the last four years, 20142017, there were 46 learner drivers involved in fatal collisions. That’s an average of 12 a year. In the vast majority of cases, the learners were unaccompanied. The important life-saving measures contained in the new Act will absolutely help to reduce this. It has taken the deaths of Geraldine and Louise Clancy to bring about this change. In the face of personal devastation, Noel has also spoken out to call for change.
Noel didn’t ask to be in this position. It was thrust upon him. He did it so that others would never have to go through what he has had to face every day since that tragic day in December 2015:
“Most people wake from a nightmare, but I wake every morning to a nightmare. A real nightmare.”