Sixteen killed on Irish roads since Friday

Sixteen people have been killed on Irish roads since the beginning of the Easter bank holiday weekend last Friday.

Sixteen people have been killed on Irish roads since the beginning of the Easter bank holiday weekend last Friday.

In the latest incident, a man in his 20s was killed when his car was involved in a head on collision in Co Kerry this morning.

The crash happened shortly before 8am some seven kilometres outside Tralee on the Castisland Road at Ballycarthy Cross.

Last night, a man (71) was killed when he was struck by a vehicle while crossing the road after leaving his car. The incident happened on the Kilrush to Ennis Road at Lisseycasey, Co Clare, shortly before 10pm last night.

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A six-year-old boy also died last night in a collision between two cars in the village of Clough outside Castlewellan, Co Down. He has been named as Rory Hunt from Downpatrick. His parents and three people in the other car were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

At around the same time a man and women and a lorry driver were taken to hospital after a crash on the Harbour Highway outside the Port of Larne in Co Antrim.

The couple were reported to be in a serious condition, but the lorry driver's condition is thought not to be life threatening.

Earlier three men were killed in road crashes in counties Galway, Kildare and Cavan.

A man in his 20s died yesterday afternoon from injuries sustained when his four-wheel-drive vehicle collided with a truck at Kilbannon, Tuam, Co Galway, on Saturday. The man has not yet been named.

A man (40) died after his motorcycle collided with a car in Co Cavan on Sunday evening outside Belturbet on the N87 Belturbet to Ballyconnell road at about 8.20pm. Gardaí yesterday named him as Seán Clial, of Doogarry, Killeshandra, Co Cavan.

In Co Kildare, the body of a man (63) was found trapped under a car by gardaí yesterday morning. Gardaí were called to an area near the Bord na Móna railway line at Killinthomas, Rathangan.

The victim, pronounced dead at the scene, is thought to have been thrown out of his car after it left the road.

The deaths follow those of nine others killed in four crashes on both sides of the Border over the weekend. This brings to 128 the number of people killed on the Republic's roads since the beginning of the year. The equivalent figure in Northern Ireland is 40.

Garda Traffic Bureau chief, Assistant Commissioner Eddie Rock said today that of the 64 drivers killed so far this year, nine were foreign nationals. A total of 16 other foreign nationals were also among the overall total of 128 deaths. Mr Rock added that there were almost 4,000 offences detected during the first week of the new penalty points regime introduced on April 2nd.