Young mother dies after motorway crash

A YOUNG mother lost her fight for life yesterday.

Kate Moyles, 24, died after sustaining serious injuries when her car crashed as she attempted to stop ahead of a pile-up on the motorway.

Her Volkswagen Polo ran into the back of a fire engine arriving at the chaotic scene, according to senior gardaí.

Ms Moyles was living with her family near the Curragh, in Lumville, Newbridge. She had a five-year-old daughter.

Despite emergency services cutting Ms Moyles from the wreck and rushing her to Naas General Hospital, she died at 6am yesterday. She had suffered serious head and chest injuries.

Yesterday, the family of Kate Moyles appealed for motorists to slow down and for better enforcement of road safety laws.

Evelyn Sheedy, Kate Moyles sister, said: “We are here this week with this tragedy and last week it was a Donegal family and weeks before that it was somebody else. Now that it is happening to us, all I can say is, please, please slow down. There has got to be a way to stop this happening.”

Five people are still in hospital after yesterday’s series of crashes which involved more than 100 cars on the M7 and M9 motorways in Co Kildare.

Five other people, described as comfortable, were recovering from crashes at hospitals in Naas and Tallaght yesterday.

Gardaí and road safety chiefs pleaded with motorists to slow down and adjust speeds during adverse conditions. Ken Brennan, regional traffic superintendent for the eastern region, said officers still had concerns that motorists were speeding in dangerous conditions.

Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive said it was pleased with its emergency plan, implemented at Naas after the pile-ups on the M7 and M9.

“It went calmly, efficiently and professionally,” said a spokeswoman.

The hospital plan for Naas involved cancelling all non-emergency services, such as outpatient appointments and elective theatre, and calling in off-duty staff to help deal with the influx of casualties from the scene of an emergency.

Driving conditions improved yesterday after the heavy fog lifted from roads.