Three people die in separate road crashes in 24 hours

THREE more families are in mourning after separate weekend crashes, one of which occurred at a notorious black-spot which has failed to be improved despite a decade-long campaign.

In a single 24-hour period a man in his early 20s, a 54-year-old mother-of -three and a 26-year-old motorcyclist lost their lives in tragedies in Munster, Leinster and Connacht.

Less than a week after four young people died in a crash in Kerry, a man in his 20s died in mid-Cork in what is believed to have been a single-vehicle accident.

The incident occurred on the N22 in Macroom shortly after 6.30am on Sunday when a car carrying three men from the Millstreet area spun out of control in a built-up area.

The deceased man is believed to have been a passenger in the car. The driver and a second passenger, also in their 20s, were taken to Cork University Hospital (CUH) but their injuries are not life-threatening.

That crash occurred less than 24 hours after a 54-year-old mother lost her life on a notorious Sligo black-spot which has not been upgraded despite a decade-long local campaign.

Karen Mounsey, 54, from Riverstown in Sligo, died on Saturday afternoon minutes away from her home on the main Sligo-Dublin N4 when her van was involved in a collision with a car.

Ms Mounsey’s husband James, a passenger in the van, has been transferred from Sligo General Hospital to Galway University College Hospital and is in a critical condition.

The driver of the other vehicle, a woman in her late 20s from the nearby Grange area, was taken to Sligo General Hospital with serious injuries.

The accident happened on a 7km road stretch between Drumfin and Castlebaldwin where four other deaths and several injuries have occurred since 2004.

Ms Mounsey and her family moved to the area from Britain in recent years and ran the King House restaurant, a restored Georgian mansion in Boyle where an antiques fair fixed for yesterday was cancelled as a mark of respect.

The vehicles involved in the accident, a Fiat Florentino van and a Peugeot 307 coupe, were so badly damaged that gardaí were initially uncertain which direction they had been heading.

In Carlow, a 26-year-old motorcyclist was killed on Saturday afternoon. The man is understood to have been involved in a collision with an SUV vehicle on the R705 at Kilcummney and his body was taken to Waterford Regional Hospital for a postmortem.

A further incident involving a Garda squad car and a tractor in Monaghan on Saturday evening did not result in any serious injuries.

The collision occurred at Stonebridge on the Monaghan-Clones Road when the Garda car crashed through a stone bridge while chasing a third vehicle near the Monaghan-Fermanagh border.