by Simon McGeady, Inishowen Independent
THE PARENTS of a Moville man killed at the Donegal
Rally in 2002 have suggested that the Donegal Motor
Club need to review their safety procedures after
the death of the spectator at the rally on Saturday.
Eighteen-year-old Richard McGrath from Strabane died
instantly when he was struck by a car competing in
the Topaz Donegal International Rally on Saturday
afternoon.
The youth, who has family connections in Toulette
area of Burt, was struck by a competing car on a
section of the course near Ramelton. The rally was
cancelled following his death.
Speaking to the Inishowen Independent at the weekend
the parents of George Clarke, one of two Marshals
killed at the rally six years ago, said they
believed that safety measures need to be reviewed,
but they did not back calls for rallying to be
banned.
Marie Clarke, said she had been standing at her
kitchen sink on Saturday tea time when she heard the
news of the Strabane man’s death.
“My sister in law Joan phoned me and I thought, I
can’t believe this is happening again. It made me
sad,” she said.
Mrs Clarke stressed that the organisers of the rally
should look again at how the annual event is run.
“I think there should be more marshals in the areas
where crowds gather and they should have a good
knowledge of what they are doing, not just be
volunteers.
She said that spectators should only be allowed to
congregate on elevated ground, ie the on the high
side of the road while her husband, George, called
for more barricades to be erected along the route of
the rally.
Mrs Clarke noted that spectators rarely were in
accidents at motor-bike races and wondered if the
open road was suitable surface for rallying.
Yet in spite of their concerns about safety at the
Donegal Rally the Clarkes did not add their names to
the list of those, such as Tyrone priest Fr Pat
O’Hagan, who, in the wake of last weekend’s death
were calling for the event to be scrapped. |
