Man in 20s killed in head-on crash with van

A MAN in his 20s from Tralee died yesterday in a head-on collision on the Tralee/Castleisland road.

His death brings to five the number of people killed on Kerry roads this year.

The latest crash occurred at around 8am on a straight stretch of improved roadway, about a mile on the Castleisland side of Ballycarty cross.

The deceased had been driving a Toyota car, which collided with a van coming in the opposite direction. The driver of the van was taken to Kerry General Hospital, Tralee, but has no life-threatening injuries.

Gardaí declined to name the man who died, pending notification of all family members.

Also yesterday, four people were injured in a single vehicle accident near Beaufort bridge, between Killarney and Killorglin.

The car, in which two men and two women were travelling, crashed into a tree at around 4am.

All four were taken to Kerry General Hospital. One was later was discharged, another was transferred to Cork University Hospital and the condition of the fourth person was said to be stable.

Meanwhile, The Easter Bank Holiday death toll on the roads today reached nine after a 71-year-old man died when he was struck by a car near Ennis.

The accident happened at Lissycasey at 9.45pm on Monday.

The victim had just got out of his own car and was crossing the main Ennis-Kilrush road when he was hit.

The weekend death toll is more than twice that of last year and the highest in at least five years.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was among those who appealed to drivers to take care as the holiday got under way, but figures released by the National Safety Council showed this year’s death toll exceeded any since 2000.

Four people died on the roads last Easter, while five lost their lives in each of the previous three years. Only two died in 2001.

Yesterday, a driver in his 20s died in hospital as a result of injuries he suffered when his 4x4 was in collision with a truck at Kilbannon, Tuam, Co Galway, on Saturday morning.

A 63-year-old man was killed in a single-vehicle crash in Rathangan in Co Kildare. Gardaí found him trapped under a car yesterday morning.

Sean Clial, a 40-year-old motorcyclist from Doogarry, Killeshandra, Co Cavan, was killed when his bike collided with a car outside Belturbet in Co Cavan on Sunday night.

Four Polish men died instantly when the car they were travelling in crashed head-on into a truck on a road outside Bandon, Co Cork, on Friday night.

Martin Coen, 26, from Lacken, Kilmihill, Clare, died when the car he was driving collided with two stray horses outside Navan on Saturday morning.