A road safety message from Sunshine 106.8.
It's become such a normal habit for so many of us that it barely registers as a decision anymore: stopped at lights, a quick scroll. Waiting at a junction, a glance at a notification. The trouble is, none of that stops the moment the lights change or the junction clears — and increasingly, drivers are found to have been checking social media at the exact moment a collision happened.
Social media is built, quite deliberately, to be difficult to put down. It's designed to reward a glance with something new and interesting, which is exactly the wrong kind of design to have anywhere near a moving
vehicle. A quick check "at the lights" very easily becomes a glance that continues a second or two after you've started moving again, and those are the seconds where a car in front stops suddenly, or a pedestrian steps out, or a cyclist appears from a blind spot.
This isn't about any particular app or platform — it's about the habit of treating red lights, slow traffic, or a quiet stretch of road as an opportunity to check a phone, rather than as still, technically, driving. The car is still yours to control the entire time the engine's running and you're in the driving seat, whether it's moving at speed or crawling in traffic.
The simplest change is also the most effective one: treat any time you're in the driver's seat, moving or stopped, as phone-free time. If it's genuinely urgent, pull in properly and park before you look. Everything else can wait until you've arrived — and arriving safely is worth infinitely more than a few minutes saved scrolling at a red light. It's a small discipline to build, but like a seatbelt, it works best as an automatic habit rather than a decision made fresh every single time. Leaving the phone face-down, or out of reach entirely, is often the easiest way to make that habit stick — and it's a habit worth teaching passengers and younger family members too, since the temptation is exactly the same for anyone holding a phone in a moving car.
A road safety message from Sunshine 106.8, funded by the news reporting scheme.
Gaeilge
Teachtaireacht um shábháilteacht ar bhóithre ó Sunshine 106.8.
Tá sé tar éis éirí ina ghnáthnós chomh coitianta sin dúinn go leor againn nach mór go dtugtar faoi deara é mar chinneadh a thuilleadh: stoptha ag soilse tráchta, scrollú tapa. Ag fanacht ag acomhal, súil ar fhógra. An fhadhb, ní stopann aon rud sin an nóiméad a athraíonn na soilse nó a ghlanann an t-acomhal — agus tá tiománaithe á bhfáil, i líon atá ag méadú, ag seiceáil na meán sóisialta ag an nóiméad díreach a tharla imbhualadh.
Tá na meáin shóisialta deartha, go réidh d'aon ghnó, chun a bheith deacair a chur síos. Tá siad deartha chun luach saothair a thabhairt do shúil le rud éigin nua agus suimiúil, rud atá díreach cearr do dhearadh a bheith áit ar bith gar d'fheithicil ghluaisteach. Is éasca go n-éiríonn seic tapa "ag na soilse" ina shúil a leanann ar aghaidh soicind nó dhó tar éis duit tosú ag gluaiseacht arís, agus is iad sin na soicindí ina stopann carr romhat go tobann, nó ina gcéimníonn coisí amach, nó ina dtaispeánann rothaí ó phointe dall.
Ní faoi aon aip nó ardán ar leith é seo — is faoi nós é a chaitheann le soilse dearga, trácht mall, nó stráice ciúin bóthair mar dheis chun fón a sheiceáil, seachas mar thiomáint, go teicniúil. Tá an carr fós agat le rialú an t-am ar fad a bhfuil an t-inneall ag rith agus tú sa suíochán tiomána, cibé an bhfuil sé ag gluaiseacht ar luas nó ag lámhacán i dtrácht.
Is é an t-athrú is simplí an ceann is éifeachtaí freisin: caith le haon am atá tú sa suíochán tiomána, ag gluaiseacht nó stoptha, mar am gan fón. Más rud é go bhfuil sé práinneach i ndáiríre, tarraing isteach go ceart agus páirceáil sula mbreathnaíonn tú. Is féidir le gach rud eile fanacht go dtí go sroicheann tú do cheann scríbe — agus is fiú i bhfad níos mó a shroicheadh go sábháilte ná cúpla nóiméad a shábháil ag scrollú ag soilse dearga. Is disciplín beag é a chothú, ach cosúil le crios sábhála, oibríonn sé is fearr mar nós uathoibríoch seachas cinneadh a dhéantar úr gach uair. Is minic gurb é an bealach is éasca an fón a fhágáil aghaidh síos, nó lasmuigh de shroicheadh ar fad, chun an nós sin a chur i bhfeidhm — agus is fiú é a mhúineadh do phaisinéirí agus do bhaill teaghlaigh níos óige freisin, mar tá an cathú díreach mar an gcéanna d'aon duine a bhfuil fón i ngluaisteán gluaisteach acu.
Teachtaireacht um shábháilteacht ar bhóithre ó Sunshine 106.8, arna maoiniú ag an Scéim Tuairiscithe Nuachta.