Gráinne Faller reports on some of the ways that schools around the country are helping their students to stay safe behind the wheel

The roads are still more dangerous for young people than they are for any other group, so, instead of waiting for the authorities to get their acts together, schools across the country are taking the initiative and organising road-safety education for their students.

Rosses Community School, in Dungloe, is in a county that has seen more than its share of tragedy. More than 20 people have died on local roads in the past few years, including five young friends who were killed in a collision at Quigley's Point. Three years ago Bernadette Brennan, the school's transition-year co-ordinator, decided to act. "There are too many young people who aren't here any more," she says.

"We introduced a driver-safety course in transition year, to try and make the students stop and think. Every child from the age of 11 or 12 around here starts driving around their house, and we just wanted to make them realise that this car can be a lethal weapon."

Brennan approached Mary Gallagher, a local driving instructor, who designed a road-safety course for transition-year students. Three years later the course is being taught at 12 Co Donegal schools. It combines driving theory with safety information and driving experience.

"The course is just a preliminary step towards driving," Gallagher explains. "I'm trying to remove the novelty for young people. It all comes down to attitude. A driver's behaviour on the road is entirely linked to attitude."

Magh Ene College, in Bundoran, has set aside time in this year's transition-year timetable for Gallagher's course.

Ashlean McGeehan, the college's transition-year co-ordinator, says: "I think this kind of education is one of the most important things for young people. At least with something like this course, they'll have more awareness before they get into a car."

"We've been doing it every Thursday since September," says Ryan Walsh, a transition-year student at Magh Ene. "We've been learning the rules of the road and all that."

The students were brought to a crash simulator at Inishowen Maritime Museum, in Greencastle. It mimics the impact of a crash at 11km/h (7mph). "That was a shock," says Ryan. "It was only 7mph, but you could really feel the strain on your neck and your back."

Students also participated in a novel seatbelt experiment. "It was way better than being just told to wear your seatbelt," says Niall McCaughey. "We had to make a car out of cardboard, and we were given an egg that acted as the passenger. The aim was not to let the egg break if the car crashed. My egg survived."

The students cite the rules of the road as the most important element of the course. Many were surprised at how little they knew. "I thought I knew everything there was to know about cars," says JJ McGarvey, a fifth-year student at Rosses Community School.

He did the course last year and now has a provisional licence. "This really opened my eyes. I had never thought about stopping distances, for example, and how, if the road is wet, the stopping distance can change completely.

"It's so important when you think of the number of road deaths, especially in Donegal. This sort of education makes you aware of why people are dying in accidents. If you brought driver education in all over the place, it would cut down on the deaths. If people knew that they didn't know everything, they'd be more careful. I'd like to see this sort of thing spreading to other schools."

 'I thought I knew it all. A lot of the boys did'

I thought I knew it all, going into the the road-safety driving-skills programme. A lot of the boys did. Most of us had been driving since the age of 11 or 12, just around our houses and that, but we still thought we wouldn't learn anything new. We all got a bit of a land. When you realise how little you know, that's when you realise how dangerous a car could be.

We were all overconfident. We learned so much about road safety. Even things like checking your mirrors before you indicate. It's amazing how many of us never thought of doing that. And I hadn't a clue about things like the procedures you go through before you start the engine. Our parents didn't, either, though. We'd go home and we'd be correcting them when they'd be driving.

When I had done the course I decided to apply for the theory test. I got my provisional licence and bought a car. I applied to do the driving test, and I passed it first time, in December. I reckon the road-safety driving-skills programme was the reason for that. Before, I'd be driving around at home, but I knew none of the skills that keep you safe on the roads.

A lot of people are driving in the school now. There are a good lot of people with their full or provisional licences. I think that driver education should be compulsory in every school. In our school people listened, and we learned a lot about safety. The education mightn't change every attitude, but what with all the road deaths - lots of people in the school have relatives who were killed in crashes - it has to be worth it if it even changes one. Christopher Boner

Christopher Boner is a Leaving Certificate student at Rosses Community School, Co Donegal

'I know the kind of messing that can go on, but in this class they pay attention to everything'

I'm one of the very few in my class who knew nothing about driving. Lots of the boys went in saying: "What's she going to teach us?" They soon found out. Mary Gallagher, the road-safety instructor, will ask a question, then go around the class, looking for answers. Her most common response to the answers she gets is: "No, but thank you for trying." It's pretty funny.

I've been with that peer group for three years, and I know the kind of messing that can go on, but in this class they pay attention to everything.

You need to know how to work a machine before you operate it. My mum and dad, when they were learning to drive, just got into a car and started driving. When you think about it, it's so dangerous.

The crash simulator in Greencastle was good. People would have come out of the seat if it hadn't been for the seatbelt, and that was at just 7mph.

We didn't have a great survival rate for the eggs, though. We made cars out of cardboard and had to strap eggs in securely enough so that they wouldn't break when we crashed the cars. Three survived. Mine wasn't one of them. It was a fun way of showing us the difference between wearing a seatbelt and not.

The boys definitely see the car as their thing. They're always on about how women can't drive. It's great if one of the girls knows the answer to a driver-theory question. The boys are like: "Whoa, how did she know that?"

This education is so important. Look at all the people who die every year. In the Rosses area it seems like something happens every year and that the numbers have gone up. Education is definitely a factor. If you don't know the risks, and you don't know what could happen, then you won't take any precautions. Emma Ward

Emma Ward is in transition year at Rosses Community School, Co Donegal

Face to face with crash victims' families

Shock tactics are often used in road-safety education, but it is unusual for students to encounter people who have been affected by crashes. Noel Gibbons, Mayo County Council's road-safety officer, had been to roadshows that brought students face to face with the personal stories behind crashes, and he decided schools in his area could benefit from something similar.

Ger McNally, transition-year co-ordinator at Our Lady's Secondary School in Belmullet, had reservations. "I wondered whether, when students are so used to seeing violence, do they become desensitised to these kinds of tactics?" he says.

The road-safety event took place in Castlebar at the start of the month. Twenty-seven schools attended to hear gardaí, an ambulance driver, a fireman and a casualty doctor talk about their experience of crashes, particularly a serious incident on the Castlebar road.

Probably the most affecting speaker was Ann Moran, whose daughter Regina was only 19 when she was killed in a crash four years ago. "I thought it was powerful," says Seán Gallagher, a student at Our Lady's Secondary School. "Some of the pictures would make you recoil, but it certainly means you'll remember it."

"One woman spoke about how she lost 40 per cent of the feeling in her arm in a road accident," says Seán's classmate Claire Campbell. "Another woman had lost a daughter, and she really went into detail about what happened."

Looking at a photograph of Regina Moran, she is blonde and pretty. She was a keen showjumper, and she had just been accepted to beauty school when she was involved in the crash in December 2002. Seriously injured, she was on a life-support machine for three days before she lost her fight for life. Her mother spoke of rushing to casualty, hoping for something minor, such as a broken limb, but instead seeing her daughter lying on a bed, hooked up to tubes and machines, somehow knowing even at that stage that she would never wake up. The accident wasn't Regina's fault, but she paid the price anyway.

Claire says: "You listen to the radio, and you hear about the deaths on the roads, but it doesn't have much of an effect. When you see it, and hear the stories, it really sinks in. It's so hard for families. I think that this sort of information should be a part of the driver theory test. People should be told that these are the consequences of your actions if you drive dangerously."

"It had a big effect on us," says Seán. "I suppose the most important thing is to slow down. It's not just for your own sake, either. There are other people on the road."