A Circuit Court Judge has said that the Road Safety Authority should be allowed to publish victim impact statements on its website so that people can see the harrowing impact dangerous driving can have.
Judge Keenan Johnson made his remark during the sentencing hearing of a 57-year-old Sligo man who pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of an elderly man on St Patrick's Day 2015.
He also said that if the accused had taken the RSA advice on driver fatigue, this fatal accident would not have happened.
Gerry Higgins from Aclare pleaded guilty to the offence and also to a charge of dangerous driving earlier on the same day.
Thomas and Marie Flanagan and were travelling from Ballinamallard in Co Fermanagh to their mobile home in Enniscrone in Co Sligo on the day of the crash.
Mr Higgins was driving his van in the opposite direction when he veered onto the wrong side of the road and hit the Flanagans’ car head on.
Mr Flanagan was killed and Mrs Flanagan was so seriously injured that she could not attend her husband's funeral.
Mr Higgins was also seriously injured and is likely to be on crutches for the rest of his life.
About ten kilometres before the fatal crash a witness saw Mr Higgins’ van veer onto the wrong side of the road.
Judge Johnson said that had Mr Higgins heeded the warning that he was tired and followed the RSA advise on driver fatigue, the fatal accident would not have occurred
Judge Keenan Johnson commended Mrs Flanagan for the dignified victim impact statement she gave to Sligo Circuit Court and said he believed that the Road Safety Authority should be allowed to publish statements like hers on their website, with the permission of the families concerned, so that people can see the impact dangerous driving can have.
In her statement Mrs Higgins said that she and her husband had been married for 57 years and were always together, she said she misses him each and every day and has felt very lonely since his death.
Thomas Flanagan was 84 but was very active and the couple went on two or three foreign holidays a year and spent a lot of summers in Enniscrone, but she has lost enthusiasm and has only been abroad once since the crash.
Because of the extent of her own injuries she could not attend her husband's funeral and the last couple of years have been spent attending endless medical appointments, she has had some counselling which helped, but, she said, nothing can help her come to terms with the loss of her husband.
His death had a devastating effect on all of the family and left a void which cannot be filled.
