Community Links Programme - creating opportunity for all

CARS or College Awareness of Road Safety is a successful cross-disciplinary project that is carried out in collaboration with the Garda Road Safety Unit.

Whether you are a staff member interested in getting your students involved in CARS or if you are a student looking for a final year/postgraduate project on the theme of road safety please do get in touch.

Co-ordinators:

2009-11 Students Learning With Communities in partnership with the Garda Road Safety Unit, DITSU and DIT Societies.  

2008 Community Learning Programme in partnership with the Garda Road Safety Unit.

Background:

There are currently about 200,000 students enrolled in 3rd level education, many of them between 17 and 24 years of age. Tragically, young male drivers in this age bracket make up a disproportionate share of the nation's road fatalities. So the question that needs to be tackled is how do you get 17-24 year old male drivers (in particular) to buy into road safety? There is some evidence that the powerful images used in television advertisement campaigns in the past few years have had some effect on driver behaviour. However, regular news reports of deaths of young men on the country's roads would indicate that the message is not making the desired impact on young male drivers.

For the last four years in an innovative and collaborative approach, the Garda Road Safety Unit and DIT students from various disciplines, work through their respective courses to find new, novel and effective ways to get this message across to their peers.

CARS won 2010 Road Safety Authority Leading Lights in Road Safety Award

The Programme for Students Learning With Communities in collaboration with the Garda Road Safety Unit was recently awarded a 2010 Leading Lights in Road Safety Award under the catagory of third level education for the CARS project. The Leading Lights in Road Safety Awards celebrate the outstanding efforts of people to improve road safety in their communities. The awards provide a special opportunity for members of the public to honour the contribution of exceptional people to making our roads safer for everyone. We received the award on Oct 13 in Dublin Castle on behalf of all DIT staff and students who have particpated in the CARS project over the last three years. Congratulations to all! Click here for more details on the Leading Lights Awards.

To date the following disciplines have been involved CARS and while working on these projects students gained academic credits:

Health and Sciences

• Optometry
• Physics
• Forensic and Environmental Analysis
• Environmental Health and Safety Management

For example first year physics students produced DVDs analysing the relationships between physics and road safety and optometry students looked at issues relating to night vision.

Business

• Business Marketing

For example marketing students designed a series of short graphic road safety messages to be posted on websites, e-mailed to their network of friends or downloaded in any format for viewing:

Engineering and the Built Environment

• Electrical Engineering
• Automotive Management and Technology
• Transport Operations and Technology
• Product Design

For example automotive management and technology students assessed the Early Drive progamme at Mondello Park and made recommendations

Applied Arts and Tourism

• Tourism Management
• Tourism Marketing
• Event Management
• Professional Design Practice

For example tourism marketing and management students carried out surveys examining attitudes to road safety and making recomendations in relation to Tourism.

Hosted by DIT’s Programme for Students Learning With Communities, the students’ work has been exhibited and awarded at an annual CARS Showcase in April. In 2010 this showcase became part of a week long series of road safety activities organised by DIT Students' Union and DIT Societies.  

In 2009 Gay Byrne, Chairman of the Road Safety Authority, Chief Superintendent Gabriel McIntyre, as well as DIT President, Professor Brian Norton officiated at the ceremony and gave out prizes. In 2010, Assistant Commissioner Michael Feehan and Director of Academic Affairs Dr Frank McMahon attended the Showcase and awarded students for their work on CARS 2010. And in 2011 Garda Derek Cloughly and President of DIT Brian Norton awarded prizes for the students work at the Programme for Students Learning With Communities Annual Awards.

OVer the years Dublin City Council has generously donated Hi-viz vests and raffled several bicycles. Also various bodies with an interest in communicating and promoting messages of road safety have also been present on the showcase days e.g.  Veolia Transport, REVA Electric Car, AXA, Drink Aware, DITSU, DIT Societies, DIT Chaplaincy and DIT Health Centre.  

What does the community get from it?

The Garda Road Safety Unit are very satisfied that an improved awareness of road safety is being fostered as a result of the interaction which the students working on the project had with each other and with their fellow students while working on CARS.

Community Partner: Garda Road Safety Unit