N17 & M18 - Galway to Tuam and rest of Atlantic corridor back on agenda

THE NATIONAL Roads Authority has been urged to take immediate action to improve the stretch of road on the Galway-Mayo border where four young students lost their lives in a collision between a car and a truck on Tuesday night.

A fifth student, 21-year-old Michelle O’Donnell, daughter of the RNLI Aran Island lifeboat coxswain, was still in a critical condition in hospital last night, having sustained head and chest injuries.

The four students who died on Tuesday night have been named as Sarah Byrne (20) from Headford, Co Galway; Theresa Molloy (19) from Leitir Móir, Co Galway; Marie Stephanie Ní Conghaíle (19) from Baile na hAbhann, Co Galway; and Sorcha Rose McLoughlin (19) from Mulgannon, Co Wexford.
The driver of a truck involved in the collision in darkness and torrential rain at Carrownurlaur, between Milltown, Co Galway, and Ballindine, Co Mayo, was released yesterday from Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar.

Gardaí in Tuam, Co Galway, are investigating the collision, amid calls from residents living close to the crash location for urgent action to address a very dangerous stretch of road.

The five students studied Irish together at NUI Galway as part of their arts degree. The friends, who had attended Michelle O’Donnell’s 21st birthday party on Inis Mór only a few weeks ago, had been returning from a shopping trip in Sligo when the crash happened at about 7.30pm.
Mayo Fire Service senior assistant fire officer Tony Shevlin said the alert was received at 7.32pm, and fire officers arrived at the scene at 7.47pm, with units from Claremorris and Ballyhaunis, along with the ambulance service and gardaí.

“Three of those in the car were dead so we concentrated on the two who were alive and most in need of assistance. All of them were removed from the scene by 8.24pm,” he said.

The scene was such that at first emergency services believed one of the women had been a passenger in the truck.

Fr Michael Kenny of Kilconly parish was called to give the Last Rites. “I will never forget it. It was a scene of devastation,” he said.
Fr Martin O’Connor of Ballindine parish said the truck driver was badly shocked but was recovering. He said the people of Ballindine had been very distressed at the loss of so many young lives.

Residents living close to the crash area expressed shock at the circumstances of the collision, and said that they had been appealing for years for action to be taken on two dangerous bends – known as Coyne’s Bend and Hernon’s Bend, on the eight kilometre stretch between Ballindine and Milltown.

A total of 20 crashes occurred at the two bends in the last three months according to Mary Hernon, who lives at Musicfield on Hernon’s Bend.
Flowers were still in place at Coyne’s Bend yesterday in memory of a man who lost his life there on August 21st.
“8,000 cars pass here every day between Galway and Sligo, and we have been on to the NRA, the county council and councillors and the gardaí about this most dangerous stretch on the entire N17,” Ms Hernon said. “My sympathies go out to the families of these women, and to the whole population of the university and all those doing exams.”
Ms Hernon said that she and neighbour John Coyne had met on Monday to try to organise a petition about the road. “John Coyne has seen more crashes than anyone in his lifetime and it is so traumatic for those involved and for him also,” she said.

Marita Gibbons, niece of Mr Coyne, said the bend was “dangerous whatever the weather”.
“When it’s dry, people are injured and when it is wet people die,” she said. “This is the second time that this road has been closed for fatalities in the last three months and it is a very eerie feeling.” An NRA spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Mayor of Co Galway Cllr Tom McHugh expressed his sympathies to the families of those who died. The volume of rain had been “unprecedented” on Monday night, he said, and he had never experienced driving conditions like it in Co Galway.

The crash brought to five the number of deaths on Galway roads in a 12-hour period. Sally O’Brien (58), a mother of 12 from Williamstown was driving her five-year-old grand-daughter to school shortly after 9am on Tuesday when her car struck a wall. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her grand-daughter was treated in hospital.
Supt Marie Skehill, who is leading the investigation into Tuesday night’s collision, appealed for anyone who passed the area between 7.20pm and 8pm to contact Tuam Garda station on 093-70840.

murphaph wrote: »

I would say one thing however-it's too soon to say who was at fault for this accident.