Record low in road casualties for June holiday weekend

THE NUMBER of people killed and seriously injured on the roads over the June bank holiday weekend has fallen to record low levels, according to provisional Garda figures.

One person died this year as a result of crashes on the State’s roads over the four-day period – traditionally one of the worst weekends for deaths and injuries.

Since records began in the 1960s, 2001 was the only other year in which just one person was killed on roads over the holiday weekend. In 2001, some 15 people were seriously injured in crashes.

The person killed at the weekend was named as Gyorgy Kovacs (27) of Northwood, Santry, Dublin. He was in the back of a northbound car which crashed on the M1 at 3.30am on Sunday. The driver and second passenger were treated in hospital for injuries before their release on Monday.

In Celbridge, Co Kildare, three men and two women were injured in a single-vehicle crash on Sunday at 5.30am.

Gardaí at Naas were also investigating a single-vehicle crash at Eadestown, Naas, Co Kildare, shortly after midnight on Sunday. A 21-year-old back-seat passenger was seriously injured and was taken to Naas General Hospital, where he remained in a critical condition yesterday. The driver and front-seat passenger, both in their late teens, suffered minor injuries.

Chief executive of the Road Safety Authority Noel Brett said any road death was too many, but welcomed the drop in fatalities, remarking that in the 10 years to 2010, 53 people had lost their lives in crashes over that weekend.

He praised driver behaviour, which he said was continuing to show drivers were taking responsibility for safety. “This is very good news considering the unprecedented number of festivals and events which took place in mixed weather over the bank holiday weekend,” he said.

May was a record month in terms of declining road fatalities, with 11 people killed in total.

Assistant Commissioner John Twomey of the Garda Traffic Bureau today joins Mr Brett at Letterkenny Institute of Technology to raise awareness of road safety during the June Donegal Rally, and throughout the summer.