The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
National award for Kerry Garda Peter
A KERRY Garda who is determined to help save lives on Kerry roads has been honoured for his dedication to improving road safety with a national award.
Garda Peter McCarthy of the Kerry Divisional Roads Policing Unit received this year’s ‘Global Light of Hope’ Award 2019 from the Irish Roads Victims Association (IRVA). The awards are to honour the ‘unsung’ heroes of road safety and Garda McCarthy, who works behind the scenes to help save lives, was among a number of recipients of the annual awards.
Peter, who is instrumental in organising the annual AXA roadshow in Kerry, which aims to bring a hard-hitting safety messages to students across Kerry, was nominated by the IRVA for raising road safety awareness through education.
Peter also visits schools across Kerry bringing the programme “It won’t happen to me” to students.
The awards took place at Bloomfield Hotel in Mullingar at an event to mark the UN World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victim, last month.
Garda McCarthy said this week that he is delighted to accept the award.
“It is an honour to be recognised for our road safety work by an external agency,” he said.
Also honoured at the same awards were a group from Killarney Community College for their hard work at promoting road safety in the school.
They organised a number of events at the school which included a car crash simulator, a Garda road safety presentation, a poster competition, a quiz and a fire brigade demonstration. They also organised a school survey on attitudes to road safety and a street collection that raised €1,400 for the IRVA .
The students also received a ‘Global Light of Hope’ award in recognition of their achievements.
Teacher John Keane helped the students organise the events and he along with students Ronan O’Shea and John Breen attended the ceremony.
Founder and chairperson for the Irish Road Victims’ Association, Donna Price, commended the students for their very effective promotion adding that they were an example for students the length and breadth of the country.
This is the first occasion that students have been recognised for their efforts by being awarded the Global Light of Hope Award by the IRVA and they were delighted to be the first recipients.
“This was an unexpected surprise yet a much appreciated honour for the students and the school and a lovely acknowledgement for their great work,” said Principal of Killarney Community College Stella Loughane.