ROAD accidents and appalling weather conditions created havoc on some local roads on Sunday, with diversions in place as a result of the fatal collision on the Naas/Newbridge road, and a three-car pile-up on the M9 near Crookstown on Sunday afternoon.
The accident in the early hours of Sunday morning, which resulted in the death of 27-year-old Laois man Keith McMahon, is being investigated by the garda ombudsman as Mr McMahon was being pursued by gardaí when his car struck a lamppost.
The chase begin in Laois after Mr McMahon, from Crettyard, allegedly drove away from a petrol station without paying for fuel. He is understood to have had a number of previous convictions and was known to the gardaí. He was taken to Naas Hospital but died shortly afterwards, while a passenger travelling with him was treated for minor injuries.
A large section of the roadway between the Bundle of Sticks roundabout and the roundabout at Tougher’s had to be closed off until well into Sunday afternoon, to enable a full forensic examination to take place. The result was a lengthy delay for traffic travelling the route.
Sgt Gerry Goode of Naas garda station told the ***Kildare Nationalist*** on Monday that owing to the nature of the accident, there were effectively two scenes to be covered by the garda forensic collision investigator, one at the Bundle of Sticks and the other closer to the Tougher’s roundabout.
“With any fatal collision, the scene has to be preserved. There were diversions in place and gardaí on duty, and obviously we regret any inconvenience but there was a procedure to be followed.”
Sgt Goode added that bad weather conditions, with heavy rain falling early on Sunday afternoon, made things more difficult, while he also acknowledged that there were 途esource issuesin ensuring that gardawere available to re-direct traffic and undertake other duties on Sunday.
Meanwhile, fire service units from Athy and Newbridge were called out to a dramatic three-car pile-up which occurred on the east-bound section of the M9 near Crookstown, on Sunday afternoon.
Again, weather conditions are understood to have played a role in this accident but the drivers of the vehicles involved were fortunate as a spokesperson for the garda press office subsequently confirmed that there had been no serious injuries.
The fatal accident on the Naas road on Sunday morning was the second death to occur on Co Kildare roads in January, following the death of a man in his 40s in a two-car collision in the Boardford area of North Kildare on Thursday last.
Ironically, the fatalities coincided with the Road Safety Authority’s release of a report, during the past week, noting a 95% reduction in road deaths in the county between 2007 and 2012.
The report stated that since 2007, 39 drivers, four motorcyclists, four cyclists and 15 pedestrians have been killed on roads in the county. Last year, just one person died on roads in Kildare and the county was deemed to be in the top five best performing counties in terms of the reduction in road deaths, which fell from 13 in 2007 to one in 2012.
The figures measured between 2007 and 2012 related to the period of the Government Road Safety Strategy, which saw road deaths drop by 57% nationally when compared to the number of fatalities between 2004 and 2006. A new Road Safety Strategy, to run until 2020, is now underway.
