24/08/2009

Road Deaths Blight Ireland's Roads

It has been a tragic 48-hours on the roads, both North and South of the Border.

News of the latest five deaths on NI road accidents over the weekend has pushed the number of those killed to 78 this year. Up to this date in 2008, the figure was lower, at 73.

Four men died and one man was injured in a collision between a car and a lorry on Newry's Tandragee Road just before 5pm on Sunday.

It is understood the men were on holiday from Portugal and had hired a car to visit friends and family.

Police have appealed for any witnesses to the accident to contact them and the person hurt has been taken to the Daisy Hill Hospital.

A few hours earlier, a 47-year-old motorcyclist was fatally injured in a collision with a van in Co Tyrone.

The accident happened on Saturday at Barony Road near Creggan Crossroads, the main Omagh to Cookstown road, at about 1.20pm.

Police have also appealed for any witnesses to this accident to contact them.

Meanwhile, five people were injured, two seriously, in two earlier NI accidents over the weekend.

A 42-year-old woman was hit by a lorry on Victoria Road in Londonderry at 10.30pm on Saturday. She was seriously injured in the accident.

Two men and two women were hurt in a crash on Glengesh Road, Tempo, Co Fermanagh, at 10am on Sunday. One of the women is in a serious condition. Only one vehicle was involved.

In the Irish Republic, a 16-year-old boy has died in a road accident in Co Wicklow. The single-vehicle collision happened on the N11 at Ballinacor East near Arklow at about 2.30am on Sunday morning.

It was reported that the driver lost control of the car and it collided with a telephone pole.

As well as the fatality, a 20-year-old man in the car was injured and has been taken to St Vincent's University Hospital. However, his injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

The day before, a motorcyclist died in a road crash in Co Galway.

The 37-year-old man was killed in a collision with a vehicle on the Kilkerrin road at Moylough at around 1pm on Saturday.

(BMcC/KMcA)

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