Leading Lights in Road Safety Awards

This award will be presented to one Approved Driving Instructor who scores the highest in their assessment. Please view the ADI Assessment Criteria for more details.

This year we're using one Nomination Form for all Leading Lights award nominations. To nominate an ADI, please select the ADI category from the dropdown menu in the form and then choose the vehicle type that applies to them. ADIs will only be assessed in the vehicle category that they have been nominated for.

This award will be given to an employer who has shown leadership in embedding road safety within their workplace culture. The recipient will have introduced programmes, policies, or initiatives that encourage safer driving practices among employees, promote safer fleet or vehicle operations, or support staff in making safe commuting choices. Evidence of measurable outcomes and a sustained commitment to employee and community safety will be recognised.

This award recognises an individual, community group, local organisation, charity, volunteer, residents' association, or other community-based initiative that has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to improving the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable road users within their community. 

The award celebrates projects and initiatives that help reduce risk, raise awareness, enhance accessibility, and create safer, more inclusive road environments for pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, e-scooter users, horse riders, children, older people, and people with disabilities or reduced mobility.

It recognises those who have made a meaningful contribution to promoting safer road use and protecting some of the most at-risk members of our communities.

This award will be given to national or local media group or individual who have made an outstanding contribution to road safety through the media. In 2026, with the permission of his family, the media award will be given in honour of former RSA chairperson and esteemed broadcaster Gay Byrne. 

This category recognises students, researchers, academic institutions, project teams, and innovators who have advanced road safety through new ideas, evidence-based interventions, data-driven insights, or the development of innovative solutions, programmes, or technologies. 

The recipient will have contributed outstanding new knowledge to the field of road safety through the application of best practice research methodologies, leading to strategic evidence-based recommendations to improve road safety.

Topics may include, among others, intervention design/evaluation, or advancing our understanding of collision risk factors and their mitigation. Innovations could include advances in infrastructure or education interventions, post-crash response, micro-mobility, vehicle automation, or other related themes.

Examples may include academic research projects with practical evidence-based recommendations to improve road safety, community-led studies, evaluations of road safety initiatives, or initiatives such as Young Scientist entries.    

This award recognises outstanding partnerships that have made a significant contribution to improving road safety through collaboration, shared expertise, and collective action.  The award celebrates initiatives that bring together organisations, agencies, businesses, educational institutions, community groups, or other stakeholders to address road safety challenges and achieve meaningful outcomes.

This award will be presented to teachers, parent associations or local authorities that has developed and delivered an effective road safety initiative around school area. Initiatives may include awareness campaigns, new to-and-from school travel programmes, or collaborations between teachers, parents, local authorities that are actively improving children's safety around Irish roads. 

This award will recognise a young person (up to 25 years of age) who has actively promoted road safety among their peers or in their community. The Youth Road Safety Champion will have demonstrated initiative, leadership, and creativity in raising awareness, influencing behaviour, or encouraging safer choices among young road users. Their contribution should show clear impact and potential to inspire others. 

Projects must demonstrate commitment to saving lives and reducing serious injuries on our roads. Initiatives will be judged based on evidence provided of long-term commitment. Initiatives which have not been fully rolled out or where there is no clear evidence of a willingness to commit will not be considered.

Projects must be designed to allow replication country-wide in the event that there is interest from any other individual/group or organisation in running a similar initiative. This will be measured by assessing the level of ease and practicality involved in other groups / individuals rolling it out in other areas of Ireland.

We are looking for evidence of a high level of teamwork, partnerships and collaboration among groups or individuals with other diverse groups. Projects should demonstrate links with a range of relevant organisations to include key community and voluntary interests, learners, employers and relevant state agencies.

Projects should be able to demonstrate evidence of positive changes in behaviour. To be judged effectively, the project needs to be established and given reasonable time to give it the best chance of being able to demonstrate a positive change in behaviour. A project in its infancy may not have the necessary evidence and in turn would be difficult to judge so we would advise that these projects are nominated in the future, when they are more established.

The judging will take place in two stages. First, an internal RSA judging panel will review all entries and narrow them down into a shortlist of three finalists in each category. The shortlisted entries will then be judged by a panel of high profile individuals.

The decision of the judging panel on all aspects of the awards process is final.

One award will be presented to the winner of each category.

The Gertie Shields Supreme Award will be presented to one of the category award winners. The winner of this award will be chosen by our judging panel and so it is not possible to nominate specifically for this award. This supreme award will be presented to an individual or group for the most innovative and outstanding road safety initiative, or for their leadership and exemplary dedication to the area of road safety. The Supreme Award was renamed the ‘Gertie Shields Supreme Award’ in honour of the inspirational road safety activist and 2013 recipient of the award, who sadly passed away in 2015.

On occasion, a ‘Special Recognition’ award may be presented to a group / individual at the discretion of the judging panel. An example of where this award might be presented is in a situation where the nomination is deemed worthy of an award however, it may not necessarily fit into any of the clear nomination categories and their respective selection criteria outlined. There is no compulsion to present this award every year or restriction on the number presented in any given year, but rather they are presented at the discretion of the judging panel.

Winners will be celebrated and presented with specially commissioned and personalised awards at the Leading Lights Awards Ceremony and will join the Leading Lights Awards Hall of Fame.

Maura Moore-McCune was the overall winner of the Gertie Shields Supreme Award at the 2025 Leading Lights in Road Safety Awards. Maura was selected by the judging panel for her leadership in innovation and research, and for her sustained commitment to making roads safer for vulnerable road users. 

Maura, who is visually impaired, was recognised for her pioneering research developing VIPMOD (Vision Impaired Person's Moving Object Detector), a machine-learning based system using smart glasses and mobile technology to detect fast-moving vehicles and their speed for vision impaired pedestrians. 

Her work addresses the heightened collision risk faced by vision impaired people and has the potential to significantly improve their safety and independence on our roads. 

These Rules (the Rules) apply to the public award of the Leading Lights Awards (the Awards) organised by the RSA.  

To submit a nomination, you must complete the Nomination Form by 30 October 2026 and adhere to the following Rules: 

• You cannot nominate yourself for a Leading Light Award. 
• You must have permission from the group or project leader before you make the nomination. 
  

• from group members or individuals involved in a nominated project
• from relatives of group members or individuals involved in a nominated project
• unless the nominator has permission from the person, group or project leader to make the nomination 
  
• for / from members of the RSA Board, RSA employees or RSA contractors
• where the approved Nomination Form is not used

Supporting material should include one high resolution photo (Max. 5MB)  of the person, group, or project nominated, labelled with the name of the person, group or project nominated. Video or audio files should not be attached to the Nomination Form as they are too large.  A link to online video or audio files may be included. 

• The winner of the public award category will be chosen by the RSA judging panel in November. 
• The closing date for nominations is Friday 30 October.  
• The shortlisted nominees will be contacted by email or telephone, where applicable.  
• All entry conditions and instructions contained in the Nomination Form are deemed to form part of these Rules. 
• The RSA accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever in relation to any matter arising out of the Awards. 
• The RSA reserves the right to alter the Rules without prior notice. 
• By signing the award ceremony attendance model release form, each winner in each category grants the RSA the right to use and publish their name and picture in such media as RSA may choose (including but not limited to the internet) for advertising and promotional purposes without additional consideration. 
• Canvassing for support is not permitted and where canvassing takes place, the affected nomination will be disqualified.
• The decision of the RSA on all aspects of the judging process is final, and no correspondence will be entered into.