A black week on roads as death toll reaches 11

THE number of people killed in road accidents in the past week is 11, the National Safety Council said yesterday.

This tally takes into account last Monday’s school bus crash near Navan, Co Meath, in which five teenage schoolgirls died and 46 others were injured.

And a 15-year-old girl died after she was knocked down yesterday afternoon by a motorcycle as she left her school on the Cheeverstown Road between Templeogue and Tallaght.

The National Safety Council (NSC) said this year’s death toll of 157 is already 13 higher than the same period in 2004.

The number of road fatalities so far in May is 35.

“The most dangerous time to use Irish roads is during the holiday periods of June, July and August,” said NSC chairman Eddie Shaw.

Transport Minster Martin Cullen is to launch a summer road safety campaign, ‘Arrive Alive’ on Monday.