As locals will testify, it's no secret that the roads of Donegal are among the worst in the country when it comes to safety statistics. The county has had one of the highest fatality rates over the past number of years, according to statistics from the Road Safety Authority.
One of the driving forces behind safer roads is driver responsibility, an idea behind an education and rehabilitation campaign to reduce the number of incidents on the county’s roads.
It was when Gary Doggett was compiling his thesis on strategies to reduce reoffending as part of a degree in community development that he looked at motorists.
After liaising with the probation services in Letterkenny, which expressed a keen desire to see a reduction in the number of motorists who fitted the profile of repeat offenders, he went about setting up the Pro-Social Drivers Programme in the town.
The first and only one of its kind in the country, the initiative resembles road rage and driver re-education courses which are widely available for those who come before the courts in the US and Europe.
Each Saturday for four weeks, participants attend modules designed to address particular problem areas such as emotional control, social responsibility, driving under the influence and the consequences of anti-social behaviour while driving.
In the three years since it started, most of the 130 enrolments have come from people who have committed transgressions and are trying to improve their chances for an upcoming court appearance. There have also been a number of referrals from parents who are concerned about their children’s driving habits.
The likelihood of reoffending for those caught breaking the rules of the road is generally quite high. However, studies from other jurisdictions where similar intervention programmes are common have shown a 50 per cent reduction in reoffending rates among participants.
Given that as few as one Pro-Social Drivers graduate has ended up back in front of the courts, Doggett believes the results are indicative of a high level of effectiveness.
“Of any areas where education is needed as a means to reduce reoffending, it would seem to me that this is a no-brainer. Why are we not talking to younger people? A lot of our younger guys are willing to learn,” says Doggett, a native of Co Meath who was an IT tutor before moving to the community development sector.
Most attendees come from Donegal, but people have travelled from as far afield as Down, Galway and even London for the course.
Frame of mind
Before entrants begin the four modules, they must attend a 30-minute meeting to assess their frame of mind – an essential step in the process, according to Doggett.
“In that process you get to know people as an individual rather than in a group environment, and you get an opportunity to explain the rules, regulations and what’s expected of people. We find that if you’re throwing everybody into a room together, which we did at the beginning, it’s difficult because it’s almost a ‘them against us’ environment,” he says.
“When you meet people on a one-to-one basis you can see almost immediately who is going to work very well with it and who is going to be a little bit more challenging. Some people are very stuck in their ways. I would say possibly the older the person is, the more difficult it is to bring about that change.”
Doggett has enlisted the help of counsellors, including his right-hand man Martin McFadden, tutors and even criminologists to make the experience as well-rounded, informative and effective as possible for those taking part.
Although seen as somewhat resistant to change, some of the older drivers can play a particularly important role in imparting their own experiences on younger counterparts as part of a peer learning environment which the Pro-Social Drivers Programme strives to foster.
“Now we’re finding a lot of people are coming back and seeking to get their licence back after being banned previously for drink-driving. This is having an impact on the young people we have.
“Although many of them may not be there for anything alcohol-related, it’s quite clear from many of our conversations that that doesn’t necessarily mean they haven’t driven after drinking at some stage.
“We don’t want people to feel silenced or that we’ll judge them on the basis of what they think; it would be a very quiet class then. We like people to engage and get involved in conversation because sometimes when you speak things out loud, you start to realise that ‘hold on, that kind of behaviour really isn’t on’.
“We ask a lot of our guys the question: would you stop yourself if you were a Garda? And, quite honestly, most of our guys agree that they probably would.”
Proactive approach
Having built up a good relationship with judges and gardaí in the locality, particularly judge Paul Kelly and Garda Insp Michael Harrison, Doggett says authorities are glad to see a proactive approach being taken to stop the "same old faces" appearing before them again and again.
Doggett also invites emergency services personnel to address classes on the distress caused by having to attend the scene following a fatal incident or having to inform relatives that their loved one has been killed in a crash, an aspect of the course that proves to have a profound impact on many students.
Altering drivers’ attitudes to create a healthier outlook is the main aim of the programme. By doing so Doggett hopes tragic tales such as those recounted to him and his colleagues by members of the Irish Road Victims’ Association earlier this year can become less frequent in future.
“If nothing else, that’s a massive motivating factor behind doing what we’re doing,” he says.
Indeed, a primary reason for the imposition of a standard course fee of €200 is to dispel any perceptions that Pro-Social Drivers offers a “get out of jail free card” for those who cause trouble on the roads.
After being caught driving while on a ban, 34-year-old Brian Friel grasped the opportunity to improve his self-confessed bad habits – speeding and being aggressive towards other road users – by partaking in the programme.
“It was great. It’s more about the way you think about driving, and the consequences of what you do and if something goes wrong. I think it’s very beneficial for younger drivers,” said Friel, who has subsequently passed on many of the lessons he has learned to friends and family.
“It should be in every county in Ireland. My opinion would be that all learner drivers should do this course,” he adds.
‘Chat one-on-one’
Gerard Brolly (33) was another participant. He had never come to the attention of authorities for any driving-related misdemeanours prior to an incident he was involved in last year, in which another road user sustained a broken leg and other injuries.
"I struggled a lot with the fact that I hurt another person, that I was at fault for it. I still do to this day," says Brolly, who lives in Strabane, Co Tyrone. "But part of the course was that Martin [McFadden, counsellor] would chat to me one-on-one about moving on from it, because I found it quite hard getting back behind the wheel.
“I was very, very nervous and I found each week as it went on I could feel my confidence building again.
“Every week everybody takes their own bit from each module. There are a lot of eye-openers in it, the course is quite hard to stomach almost, there’s a lot of graphic information and video footage.
“You can find yourself coming home and chatting about it a good bit to other family members, friends or work colleagues.”
Having fielded frustrated calls from people in other parts of the country who would like to do something similar but don’t have the opportunity, Doggett says an expansion may well be on the cards for the company, which is already in advance negotiations with authorities in other regions.
Last year the programme was awarded €140,000 as part of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland’s Impact Awards.
