An accident in which two sisters were killed happened after their car swerved several times on a dual carriageway and crashed into a railing in the central reservation, an inquest heard yesterday.
Sisters Fiona (25) and Marie Higgins (23) were killed when their Ford Fiesta crashed on the Midleton bypass in east Cork on June 6th last. They were the only children of Mr Liam Higgins and Ms Ann Higgins of School Road, Upper Aghada, east Cork.
Yesterday an inquest heard their car swerved several times before crashing. An examination of the car after the crash showed no obvious fault and post-mortems showed no trace of alcohol in either the driver or passenger.
Mr Edward Ricken, a truck driver, told the inquest he saw the car coming up behind him to overtake when it swerved in towards him. He was doing less than 47 m.p.h. and the car - being driven by Ms Fiona Higgins - had not overtaken him when the accident happened.
"It was like she was going into the grass margin and then she swerved towards me and she pulled out again. I thought she over-corrected herself and the next thing the car was embedded into the railings," said Mr Ricken.
Mr Ricken said road conditions were greasy at the time.
Garda James Cronin said the car had crashed into railings on the central reservation. There were no skid marks on the road but it was wet from before the crash, he said.
Medical evidence, given at the inquest, found no trace of alcohol in either of the deceased and said cause of death in both cases was due to severe head injuries.
The jury at Midleton Courthouse returned verdicts of accidental death.