Two road deaths on first day of year

TWO people were killed in traffic accidents in the first 24 hours of the new year as new figures show that the number of fatalities on the roads has fallen by 50% since the introduction of the Road Safety Strategy five years ago.

A 22-year-old male driver became the first road fatality of 2012 when he was fatally injured in a single-car collision at Virginia, Co Cavan, in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The accident took place at around 2am when his vehicle left the main N3 Dublin-Cavan road and collided with a wall near the town’s main street.