The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Graphic crash photo sharing a shameful act
LAST week’s fatal collision on the M50 displayed an element of society that most people would rather didn’t exist. Following the tragic death of Dublin woman Jackie Griffin in a road accident, graphic photographs of the crash scene soon appeared across social media.
This in itself is not unusual and many media platforms regularly use carefully selected photographs and footage from collisions.
What was completely unacceptable however was that Ms Griffin’s remains were reportedly visible in the photographs.
I don’t know what must be going through a person’s mind to take such a photo, let alone post it online or share it with others.
The fact that there has to be national outcry and calls for a change in legislation to deal with such activity, before to some people it becomes obvious how unacceptable it was is sad to say the least.
It was reported that so-called ‘rubber necking’ at accident scenes is proving to be a real problem these days for the emergency services tasked with attending, and yet on top of having a good look, some people see fit to take photos and pass them around for entertainment.
Why anyone would see fit to take a photo of the scene of a fatal road accident for entertainment purposes is beyond comprehension.
Clearly they didn’t spare a thought for this poor woman’s personal dignity and the grief of her family.
They should not have to had to deal with this on top of learning of the death of their loved one in such a shocking and sudden way.
The thoughtless actions of one person has caused untold upset and started a social media trail of the shared image which the authorities and Ms Griffin’s family had to appeal to have taken down.
There have been calls for new legislation to be drawn up to prevent such images from being distributed but in truth the most disgusting thing is that it should have been obvious how tasteless and inappropriate an act it was to the person responsible.
Clearly different people have different views on what is acceptable conduct in such cases.
One can only hope that this incident will make people stop and think in future so that other families can be spared the same trauma.