The Road Safety Authority is recalling the first person recorded as killed in a car accident in a new campaign to try and make Irish drivers more safety conscious, writes Brian Byrne.
Mary Ward was killed when she fell under the wheels of the car she was travelling in, at Birr Co Offaly, in 1869. She was a mother of eight, a pioneering scientist, and a scholar who had achieved widespread recognition in her chosen fields of astronomy and microscopy. Her book ‘A World of Wonders Revealed by the Microscope’ received widespread acclaim.
The 'Who was Mary Ward?' title of the campaign is designed to trigger people to have conversations with each other about their responsibilities in road safety.
Specifically they want those conversations to lead to the 'Vision Zero' target of no road deaths by 2050.
