May bank holiday crashes kill 27 over five years

MAY bank holiday weekend driving accidents have resulted in 27 deaths in the last five years.

As relatives mourned the deaths of two young Mullingar men — the latest victims — road safety chiefs pleaded with drivers to slow down.

Vivian Nolan, 32, and Simon Henry, 19, died when a car they were travelling in went out of control and crashed in Greatdown, the Downs, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, at around 2am on Saturday.

Their car crashed through a ditch and overturned. The vehicle then caught fire with its three young occupants still inside.

A passerby ran to the rescue of the men. He managed to rescue one of the occupants, a 19-year-old man. However, the two other men were both fatally injured.

All three were described as locals.

The sole survivor was recovering yesterday with serious injuries. Gardaí said his condition is not life-threatening.

There have been 120 lives lost on Irish roads so far this year, compared to more than 140 at the same time last year.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) this weekend warned motorists, and particularly young male drivers, to slow down.

Speed is the number one cause of death on Irish roads.

Bank Holidays can be particularly high risk periods because of increased traffic volumes. Drink-driving tendencies are also higher.

According to the RSA, almost 60% of fatal crashes occur at weekends.

The tragic start to the May bank holiday weekend comes after another double death crash last week in Co Longford where two women lost their lives.

Florence Breen of Dún Laoghaire, and her daughter Ann Marie Doran, both died when the car they were travelling in collided with another at a junction on the road between Granard and Aughnacliffe.

The next day, 10-year-old Padraig McGillivray died when his bicycle was in a collision with a bus in Dublin.

Figures from gardaí reveal that 24 people died in accidents during January.

However, the numbers killed rose to 28 in February a further 34 by March.

But road crash numbers have fallen overall since the introduction of random breath testing on roads last summer.

Garda figures show that up to Friday, there were 109 collisions as opposed to 120 the same time last year.