An SDLP councillor says footage of a car crash he was involved in was seen by his wife on social media before he had a chance to tell her about the incident.
The footage of the aftermath of the collision was taken by a passer-by, and Mid Ulster councillor Malachy Quinn discussed it during a motion calling for legal restrictions on the sharing of distressing footage showing seriously-injured or deceased road users.
The motion was supporting the ‘Caoimhé’s Law’ campaign to introduce legislation in Northern Ireland, which would make it a specific offence to share images or footage from crash scenes.
The hoped-for law is named after Co Tyrone woman Caoimhé O’Brien, who was 23 when she died in a crash on the A5 in October 2016.
Immediately following her death, her family say they were left “racing against the rumours on social media” to try and inform relatives of the tragedy as Caoimhé’s name was circulating online and in group chats.
During the debate on the motion at Mid Ulster District Council, Malachy Quinn described his own experience of having details of a collision he was involved in shared online.
“It was about three years ago. I was coming to a council meeting in this chamber, and the traffic had come to a stop on the Dungannon/Coalisland Road,” he said.
“And the next thing somebody came straight into the back of me. They were either on the phone or they weren’t paying attention, but after getting out of the car looking at the damage, I got a phone call maybe five minutes later from my wife, to say ‘have you been involved in an accident?’.
“I looked around and (thought) how did she know I was involved in an accident?
“And she said ‘I’ve just seen on a certain somebody’s Facebook account that there’s an accident, and there’s the picture of the car and everything’.
“There was no picture of me, thankfully, at that stage.”
Councillor Quinn said that although there were no fatalities or serious damage, “it just shows you how quickly this can spread around, and how fast people can see it”.
The notice of motion enjoyed unanimous support.
In the course of the debate, the Road Victim Support Northern Ireland-Donegal group was mentioned, as they are spearheading a campaign called “It’s Not Your Story To Tell”.
The campaign is urging people to stop and think before they share images or details of car crashes online.
The group is due to give a presentation before the council in the coming months.
“I’m looking forward to that, where we can get more information on a variety of campaigns that they run,” Councillor Quinn said.
His tabled motion “recognises the serious psychological harm and trauma” the sharing of details and footage online can cause to victims’ loved ones, and that “the right of families to privacy and dignity must always outweigh the voyeuristic or commercial interests of individuals or media outlets”.
It notes that “similar legislation exists or is being introduced in other jurisdictions, including the Republic of Ireland, England and Wales, recognising the same growing problem of ‘digital voyeurism’ at accident scenes”.
The motion “calls on the Northern Ireland Executive and the Department of Justice to prioritise the drafting and introduction of this legislation as a matter of urgency”.
Last week a 47-year-old woman was arrested by police on suspicion of misusing public electronic networks to send a “grossly offensive message” relating to a fatal crash in Newry.
She was released on bail pending further enquiries.
Following the fatal crash earlier this month, police had also called for the sharing of a distressing image taken at the scene to “cease immediately out of consideration for the family impacted”.
