Three men killed as car spins out of control and hits wall
The accident happened at 4am yesterday at Beechvalley Road in Dungannon. The men, who were from the area, were pronounced dead at the scene, bringing to 54 the number of people who have died on roads in the North so far this year, 13 more than for the comparable period in 2002.
Meanwhile, gardaí have praised motorists for one of the safest Bank Holiday weekends in Irish history with no repeat of last year’s road carnage that left five people dead.
Hundreds of special garda checkpoints have been in place since the launch of Operation Taisteal last Wednesday and these will continue until midnight tonight as an estimated 300,000 motorists take advantage of the holiday break.
“Since last Wednesday we haven’t had a single fatal accident which is to be welcomed. It means that so far this year 87 people have died on Irish roads which is down on the corresponding period for 2002,” a senior garda spokesman said.
Gardaí said that the attitude of motorists in had been good, but stressed it was important they didn’t sit on their laurels.
“Apart from our campaign it is important to congratulate the people themselves because obviously they have taken on board what has been said. Hopefully they will keep it up and not revert to bad habits,” the garda spokesman said.
The garda operation focused in particular on speed checks, safety belt checks and monitoring of young male drivers who are deemed to be a high risk category for serious accidents.
Pat Costello of the National Safety Council said a short sharp shock was needed for motorists because, while there had been a reduction in road deaths since the introduction of the penalty points system, the number of fatalities was beginning to creep backtowards a par with last year.
Last November there were 16 less deaths than the previous year, 15 less in December and January, 11 less in February but only two less in March.
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