Man killed after collision with lorry

A 36-YEAR-OLD Co Clare man was yesterday killed instantly in a road traffic accident outside the east Clare village of Kilmurry when his car collided with a lorry.

The accident occurred just before 2pm on a bend on the main Sixmilebridge-Kilmurry road.

The deceased man is from the Sixmilebridge area and gardaí were last night refusing to release the man’s identity until all his relatives were notified. The driver of the lorry was not seriously injured. Yesterday’s fatal accident was the second in Clare in the past three days and brings to 370 the number of people killed on Ireland’s roads this year, compared to 346 for the corresponding period in 2004.

Meanwhile, a young motorist had a miraculous escape yesterday after her car went out of control on black ice on a stretch of road near Knappogue Castle in Clare. It took two units of the Ennis fire services to free 26-year-old Sheila Cullinan from her mangled Mitsubishi Mirage after it hit a wall on a section of the Quin road.

Among those shortly on the scene was the driver’s partner, Garda John Cahill, who was off duty at the time.