Plug pulled on TV crash ad
Thursday, 4 February 2010
A TELEVISION advert, which centres around a real-life car crash which took place in Macosquin in 2006, has been pulled in an effort to limit distress on the casualties' families.
The advert was due to be broadcast this month as part of the DoE's 'Crashed Lives' road safety campaign and featured the mother of Mark Ellis, the driver of a car which crashed into a telegraph pole on Macosquin's Cam Road, killing his 18-year-old passenger Adam Montague as well as the passenger of another car he hit, 85-year-old Margaret Chivers.
In 2008 Ellis was convicted for two counts of death by dangerous driving and sentenced to a five-and-a-half year jail term with a further 18 months probation, he was also disqualified from driving for 10 years and fined £1,000 for driving with no insurance.
It is believed Ellis lost control of his vehicle coming out of a bend in the Cam Road at 60mph, despite the fact that, as a restricted driver, he should only have been travelling at 45mph.
His mother, Mrs Paula Ellis, had participated in a government advertisement discussing the impact of the crash.
However, the family of Adam Montague objected to the advertisement being screened, and following talks between DoE officials and the families, all of whom come from Limavady, the ad has now been pulled.
Speaking on behalf of the Montague family, Ruth O'Hara, Adam's aunt, said: "They were very nice and seemed to understand how hard it was for us. They asked if we were prepared to view the ad but we have seen the transcript and that is even hard to deal with."
She stated that Adam's family felt no animosity towards Mark Ellis' mother, adding: "She is suffering too and I can understand what she was trying to gert across but she is the wrong person to be doing it."
Mrs Ellis released the following statement: "Before Christmas I agreed to take part in a new road safety campaign for DOE called 'Crashed Lives'.
“As the mother of a son who is in prison for causing death by dangerous driving, my only objective was to help save lives by telling my story.
“I had felt that people needed to know that, if you make a wrong decision like my son did, if you're speeding, what an enormous mess you leave by ruining the victims' lives, all their families' lives as well as your own life.
“In the last few days it has become clear that my appeal was causing distress to the families who have suffered so much from my son's wrong-doing on the road. This is the last thing I ever wanted to happen so I have decided to ask DoE not to broadcast my message even though it was heartfelt and genuine.
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