Truck driver could not avoid collision

THE driver of an articulated truck had no chance of avoiding a car in which two men died following a head-on impact near a notorious junction on the Limerick-Nenagh N7 roadway, an inquest heard.

Cousins Patrick Hartnett, 41, of Elm Park, Castletroy, and Ross McInerney, 23, of Cathedral Villas, Garryowen, both died from massive head injuries in the crash which happened near Daly’s Cross on December 14 last.

A lorry driver told an inquest in Limerick yesterday that he was travelling to Annacotty from Finglas in Dublin.

On coming over the brow of a hill, he saw an approaching car and braked but there was nothing he could do.

Michael Corbett, from Clarina, said he was travelling behind the lorry and a car came from nowhere and the lorry driver had no chance of avoiding it.

Pathologist Dr Elizabeth Mulcahy said both men died from major head injuries.

A verdict of death in accordance with the medical evidence was recorded by coroner Dr Tony Casey.