SETU business students recently joined over 1,000 students from five Irish universities in a national road safety reimagined competition highlighting the ‘deadly consequences’ of distracted driving.
As part of the Road Safety Reimagined initiative, now in its third year, students explored the lasting and often devastating consequences of a moment’s distraction behind the wheel.
Collaboration
Led by Associate Professor Christina O'Connor, University of Limerick (UL) and Sergeant Tony Miniter of An Garda Síochána, the initiative challenged students from UL, SETU, University of Galway, Maynooth University, and University College Cork to reimagine road safety through contemporary marketing concepts and develop solutions to positively impact driving behaviour.
Six teams from SETU were shortlisted for the final poster showcase, with two groups receiving national recognition for their outstanding concepts.
Connect with those at risk
Speaking at the event, Commissioner Drew Harris said: “Too often we see tragedy on the roads, and so, anything we can do to prevent this from happening An Garda Síochána is glad to support.
“This work provides us with such valuable insights and showcases the great many creative and innovative ways we can connect with those most at risk on our roads.”
The event was also attended by Minister of State Niall Collins and Assistant Commissioner Paula Hillman.
Impactful
SETU’s Emma Schweizer, Marysia Markowska, Alyssa Martin, and Ryan Hodge — all BA (Hons) in International Business (SE412) students, were named overall SETU winners and commended for their thoughtful and impactful submission.
The winning concept with an emotive tagline ‘Look Ahead or Leave it Behind’ focused on the lasting and devastating effects of what is left behind by those who are killed by distracted driving. The core imagery on their poster shows images of empty shoes crossing the road signifying lives lost, abruptly cut short by distracted driving. The gradual increase in shoe size also leads us to consider the ‘halted’ growth of the people whose lives have been taken by road accidents, and the fact that they may not get to fill their next pair of shoes.
Powerful
In addition, students Zach Cassells, Niamh Fitzpatrick, Leanne Simmons, Amy Barron, Gabriel Dower, and Liam Culleton, all from the Bachelor of Business Studies (Hons) (SE400), took home the national award for “Most Visually Impactful” campaign. Their tagline ‘Seeing Red? Think Calm’ urges us to consider the life changing consequences of driving when you are angry. The simplicity of the imagery and tag line used in this campaign is powerful.
The shortlisted SETU posters are now on display in the School of Business Atrium on the Cork Road Campus.
Supporting the next generation
Lecturers Marie O'Dwyer, Sinead O'Keeffe and Dr Anne-Marie Ivers were the lecturing team that helped students develop their concepts via the Integrated Marketing Communications module bringing them to the competition.
Commenting on the University’s participation, Dr Ivers said: “We are proud to once again be part of the Road Safety Reimagined 2025 national road safety competition, and in supporting the next generation of change makers as they tackled the critical issue of distracted driving. The initiative not only gives students a platform to apply their creativity to real-world challenges, such as road safety, but also reinforces that their ideas can drive meaningful change. Congratulations to all participants, finalists, and winners on the day.”
The overall competition winner was by students from UL. Their concept will be rolled out by An Garda Síochána as part of their overall strategy on education around road safety.
