Warning on drink and drug driving as crash survivors still haunted by ‘life-long consequences’

“IT literally takes seconds, it happens in seconds, but it is the life-long consequences of those seconds that is life-altering...

“IT literally takes seconds, it happens in seconds, but it is the life-long consequences of those seconds that is life-altering, and you will never be the same person.”

Laura Connolly was driving her boyfriend and two of their friends when drink and drug driver Anthony Long, then aged 29, smashed head-on into them, killing her boyfriend Brendan Donnelly (24) and one of their friends, Lee Salkeld (26), on October 26, 2009.

Mr Long, of Leadington, Leamlara, County Cork, fled the fatal crash scene and initially denied being involved. He was jailed for five years and disqualified from driving after he pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of the two men.

Ms Connolly, who is still haunted by post-traumatic stress disorder 17 years on, bravely stood in front of 1,400 transition year secondary school students at University of Limerick to remind them of the deadly consequences of not adhering to the rules of the road and not concentrating when behind the wheel.

The AXA Road Safety Roadshow, in its 20th year, attempts to educate young people about dangers on the roads.

The statistics are bleak, with 16-to-25-year-olds making up the highest portion of people killed or injured in road crashes.

As of September 30, 141 people have died on Irish roads this year. That’s already an increase of 13 fatalities on the whole of 2025, with four months left in 2026.

“There is the ‘you’ before and the ‘you’ after, and that is if you are lucky enough to live and walk away from it. There are so many times you are not that lucky,” Ms Connolly said.

“It’s not always you that is making that reckless decision; you can get into the car and someone else is making that reckless decision, and it is just trying to find your voice amongst your peers to say ‘I’m not comfortable with this’,” she said.

Ms Connolly, who later married has two children, said the trauma of the crash that killed her then boyfriend had far reaching consequences.

“My husband has inherited my trauma with me and he goes through it. The month of October is not a very good time for me, and my husband is always very understanding. Every year on Brendan’s anniversary he buys him flowers. He is very understanding,” she revealed.

Ms Connolly and her friend Kate Flynn survived the crash that took both their boyfriends at the time, but they were left in the wreckage alongside their dead partners after Mr Long fled the scene on foot without offering assistance.

“I was left in darkness at the scene of that crash with Brendan dead on my arm, and my friends (Lee and Kate) unresponsive in the back of the car.

“I didn’t know what to do, I tried to wake Brendan, I shouted his name, there was blood all over his side, and his blood covered my hair and my hands and my clothes, and I was afraid the car would go up in flames.

“I survived, but it hasn’t meant walking away from it, I carry it with me everywhere. The families don’t get to move on because the headlines do; the PTSD and survivor’s guilt are real.”

Ms Connolly said she still cannot wear a watch on her left wrist, and she her young children “know not to hold mummy’s left wrist” as it brings her “straight back” to when she held Brendan’s lifeless head in their car.

In the year Brendan and Lee were killed, they were two of 238 victims of road collisions in Ireland.

“This isn’t something that happens to a completely different or random group of people — the RSA’s (Road Safety Authority) 2025 figures show that 21 per cent of those killed are aged between 16 and 25, the highest risk age group,” Ms Connolly said.

“So, when you hear about road deaths and it pops up on your social media feeds, don’t think that won’t happen to you; think to yourself that could be me, because it very well could,” she told the students.

“It isn’t just about driving under the influence of drink and drugs, it is also speeding and racing, showing off, and using your phone; it’s driving aggressively, looking at a notification on your phone; it’s trying to impress your friends,” she said.

“It’s driving when you are exhausted, sometimes it is thinking, ‘it’ll be grand’, that phrase is incredibly dangerous, because sometimes it will not be grand.”

Former Kerry All-Ireland winner, Sean O’Leary, whose inter-county career was wiped out by a dangerous driver, spoke to the students about his brush with death when a motorist ploughed into a car carrying him and his girlfriend Emma O’Connor in 2021.

Michael Harty (22), from Lisheen Park, Patrickswell, County Limerick, struck their car as he overtook traffic on a bend on the wrong side of the road near Abbeyfeale.

Mr Harty, who had a previous conviction for speeding, pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm, but was found guilty by a jury and jailed for four years with the final year suspended in 2024.

Emma O’Connor suffered a leg injury and shock, while Mr O’Leary, an All-Ireland minor football winner, was left in a wheelchair for four months and requiring multiple surgeries.

Like Laura Connolly, Sean O’Leary said the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder remain.

Mr O’Leary warned the students: “Nobody is immune from this happening to them and the consequences can be devastating for dangerous actions.”

He also blasted the deadly social media trend of youths driving the wrong way on roads, which was highlighted nationally after five youths, including Limerick teen Kamil Pustkowski, died when they drove the wrong way on the M9 motorway and slammed head-on into a car carrying an innocent family of four on August 16.

“It’s really important to get the message across that you are not just playing with your own life, you’re playing with the lives of other people,” Mr O’Leary warned.

Social media giant TikTok said last week that it identified 1,600 videos in Ireland showing high risk driving, vehicle theft, or related behaviours since the deaths of the five teenagers last month.

Mr O’Leary said the risky driving trend on social media is “absolutely ridiculous, and it’s terrifying, it’s genuinely terrifying. It really angers me, and it has devastating effects.”

Mick Comerford, of AXA, said the company sponsored the roadshow for the past 20 years “because we feel we have a responsibility, as the largest car insurer in Ireland, to make sure that were making the roads safer”.

“And if one person’s life is saved by this, then it is worth it, and it’s about creating awareness and making sure that people get home safe, and that they respect the big opportunity they get when they go out in a car. Driving is such a way to unlock the world for young people, but if they don’t treat it right, it could be a very short lived”.

Assistant Garda Commissioner, Roads Policing, Denis Ferris, told the Limerick Post that education was critical for ensuring young people are aware of the dangers of driving, before they even apply for their driving licence.