“One decision can cost someone their life and ultimately ruin so many people’s lives in the process, including their own,” is the warning from Maria Denny who lost her husband, Morgan Denny, in a car accident in 2017.
“It is about creating awareness to everyone else about that one small decision, one decision to reach into the glove compartment, one small decision to maybe check your phone.”
Morgan was “amazing and larger than life”, according to Ms Denny.
“Whenever he walked into a room, everyone knew he was there... a brilliant daddy and husband.”
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Morgan Denny (36) from Dunmurry died in a collision near Hannahstown in Co Antrim on September 27 2017.
A joiner and carpenter, he was in the process of starting his own business and on the way to his new workshop when his Nissan pick-up jeep was in collision with a lorry close to the junction of Rusheyhill Road. A man received a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to careless driving.
His wife misses the love and support he provided as a husband and father.
“He looked after everyone too... he was always there to help out and so proactive, things you didn’t appreciate until he was gone.”
When asked what she missed most about her husband, Ms Denny replied: “The comfort, support, the hugs, his hands... I miss his hands because he had workman’s hands, always cuts on them and never could get all the dirt out fully from under the fingernail, but I miss that so much and I miss that wee squeeze when times were tough and hold of the hand to tell me that everything was OK and seeing him with his kids.”
The loss of a loved one affects you “in every way possible”, she added.
“I have to deal with my grief but also with the grief of my children, which is really, really hard... when I’m going through tough times I don’t have him, in fact losing him was the time that I needed him the most... it’s just that support, the text messages, the wee helping hand around the house, the decision making with the kids, everything’s on me.”
Monica Heaney is all too familiar with what Ms Denny is going through, having lost her son Karl (27) in 2018 in a collision on the A1 while driving to Belfast from the family home in Newry.
One of two cars driving on the wrong side of the road was in collision with Mr Heaney’s vehicle. Two people were sentenced to 80 hours of community service and two-year driving bans after being convicted of careless driving.
It hurts his mother that he never got to experience parenthood.
“It is so sad that he has missed out on any children or any grandkids that I could have, he didn’t get to do that and it’s heartbreaking because I know he would have been an amazing dad.
“He had a girlfriend and they had planned their whole life together.
“They were planning to go to London... he wanted to go do PE teaching, Karl had studied Sports Science at university, he had a degree in that and loved sport, anything sport.”
Karl was a great source of pride to his family.
“The thing I miss most is looking at him and feeling so proud, that’s the one thing that I miss.
“Anything he did... he did it to the best of his ability, he never wanted to let anybody down... even on the night that he died I remember looking at him and thinking, ‘God, I’m so proud of him, he’s such a grown man and look at what I have achieved’... so that is the one memory that I miss.”
Road accident numbers in 2023 are at a five-year high and the PSNI’s road safety campaign focuses on the five most common causes of road traffic collisions in Northern Ireland with the number one cause being inattention.
Ms Heaney, who works with the Road Safe NI charity, said: “In a split-second, your whole life can be ruined”.
“You have a lethal weapon and it can kill you, the person beside or behind you or anybody.”
Ms Denny added: “My son, he (has) just passed his driving test and he’s out driving and... my nerves are constantly wrecked.
“He always says to me ‘Mummy, I’m a good driver’ and I say, ‘Darling, I know you‘re a good driver but that’s only half the battle... it’s other people on the roads’.”
Monica Heaney works with the Road Safe NI charity which aims to raise awareness of the issues around driver and road safety. She also works with the Road Ahead Support Group, which helps those who have lost someone on the roads in Northern Ireland. If you wish to contact the support group please go to their Facebook page
