Road accidents claim six lives over holiday weekend

A MAN in his 30s was killed in an early morning collision in Dublin yesterday, bringing to six the number of road deaths over the bank holiday weekend.

The death toll matched that recorded on the corresponding weekend last year.

Furthermore, there has been a major increase in the numbers killed on a month-to-month basis.

This year to date, 308 people have died on the roads, an increase of 25 on the same period in 2003.

Yesterday’s fatal collision happened at Ballyroan Road in Rathfarnham at 1.40am.

The driver was killed when his car hit a pole.

Two other male passengers were seriously injured and taken to Tallaght Hospital, while a third passenger escaped unharmed.

No other vehicle was involved in the accident. The deceased will not be named until all family members have been informed.

Meanwhile, a 21-year-old non-national was killed when the car in which she was travelling spun out of control and crashed into a tree at Scatternagh, near Duleek, Co Meath, just after midday.

And a driver died and his two passengers were seriously injured when his car collided with a truck at Ballinalack on the N4 Mullingar-Longford road at about 7.15am. The driver of the truck was unhurt.

Meanwhile, the funeral took place yesterday in Cork of a 52-year-old mother-of-three killed in an accident on Friday.

Goretti Le Blanc, from Innishannon, died when the car she was driving collided with a jeep near Bandon.

Also killed on Friday in separate accidents were Sarah Kiely, 73, from Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, and Bartholomew (Bertie) Moynihan, 77, from Coole, Fermoy, Co Cork.