The death of eight-year-old André Castro Ladeiro in Carrigaline must be a wake-up call for all drivers.

Last week, The Echo carried an article in which his parents spoke of their devastation after a driver was jailed for dangerous driving.

Joe Duffy interviewed André’s father, Cesar Ladeiro, on RTÉ’s Liveline following the sentencing of the driver, who drove through a red light of a pedestrian crossing, killing the innocent child.

I urge you to go listen to that interview online and hear André’s father speak so movingly about his beautiful boy. It should be compulsory listening for anyone who gets behind the wheel of a car, to appreciate the emotional devastation caused by bad driver behaviour.

Cesar tells a tale that unfolds as every parent’s worst nightmare. A normal day on the way to a summer activity that ends in a lifetime of grief.

The driver wasn’t drunk or speeding or on his mobile phone when he broke a red traffic light and ploughed into André, who suffered catastrophic head injuries and died in Temple Street Hospital four days later.

He was driving a Ford Ranger Wildtrak - a pick-up truck - and the sentencing judge said: “People who drive these vehicles in urban areas where there are a lot of houses have an increased burden (of care). It is not the same as driving a car.”

Vehicles like this make everyone else on the road vulnerable, particularly children.

Humans make mistakes, drivers have lapses in concentration, and accidents happen, but when a child is hit by a........

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