Family survive car crash as road deaths reach 335 for year
A couple and two children from the Clonmel area were treated for minor injuries at Cashel General Hospital after the tea-time tragedy close to Lisronagh village.
The 6.30pm collision on the main Clonmel-Fethard road involved two cars. One of the drivers, a man in his 70s, died at the scene. Gardaí said the name of the victim, from the Fethard area, will not be released until all relatives are informed.
A female passenger in the victim’s car was removed to Cashel hospital with injuries.
Meanwhile, three fatal weekend accidents brought the tally of road deaths for 2003 to 335. Road death figures for December are the lowest this year.
Gardaí said the festival road safety campaign will be intensified over the next 10 days with drink drivers, speeding offenders and non-seat belt wearers being specifically targeted.
Two other male victims, killed in weekend accidents in Kerry and Kildare, were named yesterday.
The 31-year-old man who died in a collision on Saturday, shortly after midnight, was Thomas Herlihy jnr, of Lower Sunny Hill, Killarney. Gardaí at Rathmore said the man’s car was in collision with a four-wheel drive vehicle at Gortanahaneboy West, Rathmore, around 12.30am.
Gardaí are also appealing for witnesses to a fatal crash at The Maws, Maynooth, at 10.20pm on Friday. The victim was named as Thomas Harrington, aged 31, of Easton Road, Leixlip. Anyone with information is asked to contact gardaí at Maynooth, 01 629 1444.
