Calls for pedestrian crossing after second lorry accident

A 62-YEAR-OLD woman was seriously injured when she was crushed by a lorry in Fermoy yesterday.

It was the second time in less than two months that such an accident had happened in the north Cork town, prompting calls for another pedestrian crossing to be installed in the town’s busy MacCurtain Street.

Gardaí later arrested the driver of the articulated lorry, which was involved in the accident at approximately 4.00pm yesterday.

The injured woman, believed to be from Ballynoe, near Conna, was rushed to Cork University Hospital.

The driver, understood to be from eastern Europe and working for a Wexford-based haulage company, was still being detained by gardaí last night.

The street was sealed off by emergency services for some time after the accident, resulting in lengthy tailbacks on the main Cork-Dublin Road.

Councillor Aileen Pyne said she would be pushing for a second pedestrian crossing in the street which sees in excess of 15,000 vehicles each day.

There’s a pedestrian crossing at the western end of the street to facilitate children from two national schools, but at the eastern end, which is the predominant trading area in the town, there is none. This is the area where both accidents occurred.

“The bypass is to open in around four weeks time and it should be possible to create a new pedestrian crossing then,” Ms Pyne said.

Fermoy Gardaí are appealing for anybody who witnessed the accident to contact them at 025-82100.