SENIOR CYCLE students at a boys' school in Co Kerry yesterday formed a figure of 259 - to mark the number killed on roads up to yesterday.
The idea came from transition year students at CBS The Green, in Tralee. Road safety is part of the transition year programme at Kerry's largest all-boys secondary school.
Teacher Ellen McGillicuddy said the 27 transition year students had been given driving lessons as well as talks on road safety.
"This school, like others, has been affected by the high number of deaths on Kerry roads. It's a huge social issue and the idea came from the students themselves," she said.
The project is part of the young social innovators programme founded four years ago by Focus Ireland founder Sr Stanislaus Kennedy, and Rachel Collier.
A prayer service to remember those who have died on the roads was held at the school gym yesterday.
The service was led by Fr Sean Hanafin, parish priest of St John's parish Tralee.
Nineteen people in Co Kerry have lost their lives in road incidents so far this year, which is just two short of the worst-ever year - 2006. Most of those who have died were aged under 35.
An analysis some weeks ago showed that most of the road collisions in Kerry had occurred during the day, unlike other regions where the trend is late night or early morning.
Meanwhile, hundreds of secondary school students from across Limerick witnessed a special road safety demonstration yesterday.
The mock exercise is aimed at improving awareness of road safety issues and reducing the number and severity of road traffic collisions.
Actors portraying seriously injured traffic victims were treated by emergency services during the demonstration.
Emergency services personnel also told the 1,300 students of their own experiences at the scenes of incidents.