I was absolutely delighted to have the opportunity of attending the TISPOL European Road Safety Conference in Manchester again this year. I have been so blessed by the help, support and warm welcome from the fabulous TISPOL Team, Chief Supt Aidan Reid, General Secretary Ruth Purdie and James Lockhurst to name but a few. The work that they do and the wonderful operations that they introduce to us all, is absolutely powerful.
Personally I was thrilled to see past President, Chief Supt Aidan Reid receive an award for his extraordinary work, not to mention endless service Road Safety initiatives over the years. Without whom, I would never have ‘met’ TISPOL or have had the opportunity to tell our tragic story to the people who can bring about change.
Moyadh Murdoch from the Road Safety Authority www.https://rsa.ie gave a profound talk at this years conference. Of course she highlighted all the great improvements we have made in this area as a nation, but personally I have huge admiration for her in the way that she stated the areas in which we have so much to do. As we all know, drink and drug driving is a huge area to be tackled as she explicitly outlined.
Another moving presentation for me was that of Sergeant Owen Dillon of Brecon Roads Policing & Carl Powell from the Welsh Ambulance. They spoke about an extraordinary life saving initiative Operation Darwen. Operation Darwen is an all Wales campaign which runs from early Spring through until the autumn and is aimed at motorcycle safety and reducing casualties on the roads. The operation has been a huge success with regard to casualty reduction which is fantastic.
As always Jeannot Mersh gave a moving presentation regarding post crash support. He has extraordinary dedication and passion. https://fevr.org/
There were so many fantastic presentations and I met some truly wonderful and indeed inspirational road safety advocates, that as always it was my honour to be invited to join them. They have as I mentioned been a back bone to me in my campaign for suicide awareness training for our Police officers here at home in Ireland, in the UK and indeed across Europe. I will be forever indebted to Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid and to Ruth Purdie for the platform they have allowed me to reach the people who can do most to bring about change and indeed training.
Afterall as we say at Twomey Family Remorial #LifeIs Precious
Where There Is Life There Is Hope 