'Kickstarting the Community' initiative in Waterford aims to prevent e-bike and e-scooter accidents
Members and supporters of WLCSP assemble in Treo Port Lairge's workshop for the ‘Kickstarting the Community' initiative. Photo: Alex Cunningham
Waterford Local Community Safety Partnership (WLCSP) was awarded €70,000 from the Department of Justice to raise awareness over the safe usage of e-scooters, e-bikes, scramblers, and bikes, as well as combatting anti-social behaviour.
The ‘Kickstarting the Community’ initiative was funded by proceeds from the Criminal Assets Bureau. The initiative’s official launch was held in Treo Port Lairge on Wednesday, December 10.
Chair of WLCSP Seán Aylward said the lives of three men had been taken through recent accidents involving e-bikes and e-scooters, with Ballybeg’s Sammy Hanrahan the latest to have lost their life.
Chairman of Treo Port Lairge, Ned Hogan, said the initiative is designed to arm young, vulnerable road users with information, rather than patronise them.
“It's not just about getting you up on a bike…It's how to maintain it, how to look after it, even at nighttime, how you're going to charge your batteries,” Mr Hogan said to the Waterford News & Star.
Treo Port Lairge is a community-based youth organisation that works with individuals aged 16 and older. Mr Hogan has sat at the helm of the organisation for over 25 years.
“It’s road safety and thinking about the safety of other people, that when you are on the road, it's not about yourself, it's about people beside you, the person walking.
“It's not about telling people, it's about empowering them to make the right choices.”
The initiative will be offered to Transition Year students and other settings on a mass scale.
Speaking at the launch, WLCSP chair Seán Aylward said encouraging young people to take the appropriate safety precautions while cycling or scooting is an uphill battle.
“Young people think they're immortal,” Mr Aylward said to the News & Star.
“Young people just don't think of these things. They think it could be sissy, they might be proud of their hair.
“Once people develop the habit and learn what happens if you come off any one of these machines without the skid lid on your head, they'd be jamming it on their head every time.
“Young people should be encouraged to see this as part of the tapestry of life, the adventure that's there. And it's just a little bit of prudence.”
Mr Aylward shared the story of his own childhood friend who was killed in a fatal biking accident.
“That has lived with me my whole life. So this is an emotional moment, because this tragically is happening today,” he said.
The former governor of Mountjoy Prison, John Lonergan, was also present at the launch.
“Any initiative, any human connection with young people, is a plus. And it's not just all about information, because if the information on its own worked well, then we'd have no trouble,” Mr Lonergan said.
“The great work that people do is not the short-term. It's the people that are there for the long-term. They are there if [young people] fail today, they're optimistic. They say, well, you might fail this time, but you're welcome back again, because we never give up. There's no such thing as disposing of a young person.”
The event is one of the first initiatives WLCSP have rolled out since hosting their inaugural meeting in November after a successful pilot programme.
The programme will replace joint policing committees. The new committees are intended to make communities “safer and stronger” and are weighted less towards local politicians and more towards community stakeholders/ activists.
The new programme has garnered criticism over a perceived rollback of transparency. Whilst any elected councillor could attend joint policing committee meetings, those privileges are now reserved for only seven councillors. Media access has also been curtailed.
Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane, who was at the 'Kickstarting the Community' launch, has criticised the decision to prohibit media access.
The community safety partnership model is set to be implemented nationwide, with a total of 36 safety partnerships to be established, each with up to 30 members.
