Barry Roche,
Southern Correspondent
The father of a 13-year-old boy killed when a truck crashed into the car in which he was travelling has made an impassioned appeal to all motorists to slow down and drive more carefully over this bank holiday weekend.
Mr Tom Connolly yesterday said his son Adam was the 101st person to be killed in traffic accidents on the roads this year when he died last April; 295 people had been killed on roads up until the end of September and all these deaths were avoidable.
"We've seen at first hand the impact one death has had on hundreds and hundreds of people - it's all avoidable if people pay attention. People should drive according to the road and the conditions and respect other road-users.
"You can kill them with your vehicle if you don't drive it correctly - there's a bank holiday coming up and there were six people killed the last bank holiday - and if one person drives more carefully at the end of this appeal, then that's one good thing that's come out of this."
Mr Connolly was commenting after the truck driver, David Patterson, Kilcoole Park, Belfast, was given a two-year suspended sentence at Cork Circuit Criminal Court and banned from driving for 10 years for dangerous driving causing the death of Adam at Farran Cross, Cork, on April 7th.
Garda Ciarán McCrory said Patterson was driving at 51 m.p.h. in the 50 m.p.h. zone when his Volvo articulated lorry crashed into the back of a car driven by Mrs Teresa Connolly which was stopped and indicating to turn right off the main Cork-Macroom Road at Farran.
Mrs Connolly and her four-year-old son, Nathan, who was a rear-seat passenger, were injured, but 13-year-old Adam, who was in the front seat, was killed almost instantly. The collision sent her Fiat shooting across the road into an embankment.
Garda McCrory said that Patterson told gardaí he was blinded by the sun and only saw the car at the last moment. Other witnesses confirmed that the evening sun was particularly severe at the time for motorists driving west.
An examination of the tachograph from Patterson's lorry showed that he had not breached EU driving regulations after leaving Naas early that morning, while a technical examination of the lorry and car showed that both were in roadworthy condition before the accident, he said.
Mr Connolly said Adam's death and its violent nature came as a great shock to him and his family. "Our family is experiencing great difficulty coping with the resulting grief and loss. Adam's death has left a huge gap in our family that will never be filled.
"Our family feels strongly that Mr Patterson is responsible for Adam's death. Some members feel a custodial sentence is warranted while others are unclear. Mr Patterson has met a number of us and expressed his sorrow to us and we appreciate that he has pleaded guilty."
Patterson (39), a father of two, told the court he deeply regretted the accident. "First of all, I would like to apologise to the Connollys - I really am very sorry about the accident. I wish it never happened - it has and I wish it was me." Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin said he agreed with comments by Mr Connolly that Patterson should have adapted his driving to the blinding sun and he had no doubt but that in those conditions, his speed was excessive.
"From the Connollys' point of view, this was an appalling tragedy - Mrs Connolly was going home, she was doing everything right and she is deprived of her son - the Connollys' loss is inestimable and I accept they are trying to come terms with an enormous burden."
Judge Ó Donnabháin accepted that Patterson was suffering in his own way and he believed he was genuinely remorseful. He believed a two-year suspended sentence and a 10-year driving ban were appropriate.