Three killed on roads in space of 24 hours

Three people, including a teenage boy, have been killed in separate road accidents in the space of 24 hours.

The 16-year-old was a back seat passenger in a car which crashed into a tree near Cuffesgrange, Co Kilkenny before dawn.

The accident happened at 5.35am today and the driver and a front-seat passenger also rushed to Kilkenny Hospital for treatment to injuries.

The road death toll has fallen again this year with 36 people dying in accidents in the first two months. Over the same period last year, 59 people had been killed, but 2008 saw a dramatic improvement, ending with 279 road deaths, the lowest number on record.

In a separate crash in Co Kilkenny, a 30-year-old woman died instantly when the car she was travelling in and a lorry were in collision.

The accident happened at 7.15am on the Waterford side of Ballyhale village.

Gardaí said the lorry driver was not injured in the crash.

In the third road accident, a 33-year-old man died in hospital after the BMW he had been travelling in crashed in Co Kildare last night.

The man, who had been a passenger in the car, was rushed to Tallaght Hospital but died a few hours later.

No other vehicle was involved in the crash and gardaí said the accident happened at Cromwellstown, Kilteel, Naas, Co Kildare where the car ploughed into a fence.

The driver of the BMW and another passenger were uninjured but two other men who had been in the car were treated in Tallaght Hospital.