Two young men lost their lives in separate road crashes around the county in recent days.
20-year-old Galway native Luan McCaul was pronounced dead at the scene following a crash near Headford on Monday afternoon. The three-vehicle collision happened at Cordarragh on the R337 at around 2pm. The deceased was the sole occupant of the first car. Four occupants of a second car were taken to UHG after sustaining minor injuries. The driver and passenger of the third vehicle – a mother and her baby - were also taken to UHG and the driver’s condition was described as serious.
Meanwhile, Loughrea native Brian Regan was killed as he walked along the Athenry Road at around 5.30am on Sunday. The driver of the car, a 19-year-old man, was uninjured. Mr Regan was the son of James Regan, a former member of Loughrea Town Council and a former mayor of the town. The 26-year-old, who worked in the local Super Valu, was extremely well known and well liked in the Loughrea area.
These latest crashes bring to 11 the number of people who have lost their lives in road crashes in Galway so far this year. The gardai are calling on drivers to ensure this number does not increase again over the Christmas and New Year period. The festive season is traditionally extremely busy on the roads and the gardai’s Road Safety Christmas Campaign continues until January 6. The objective of the annual campaign is to remind drivers of the dangers of speeding, reduce road collisions, reduce injuries, and ultimately save lives, because every life lost on the roads is one life too many.
Figures from a similar operation carried out in Galway in December 2014 show that people are continuing to offend. Last year, 237 motorists were caught on their mobile phone while driving, 136 people were detected speeding, 45 people were caught drink driving in Galway, 36 motorists were fined for not wearing a seat belt while driving, and 15 people were detected driving dangerously.
Western region traffic superintendent Noel Kelly says the gardai are particularly anxious to ensure that drivers are aware of the Christmas enforcement campaign which will be focusing on; drink-driving, speeding, dangerous/careless driving, failure to wear seat belts, lighting of vehicles, use of mobile phones, and driver fatigue.
The operation will consist of additional deployment of personnel across the Western Garda Region over the Christmas period. There will be mandatory alcohol testing checkpoints, both during daylight hours and at night, along with numerous speed checks. There will also be a number of covert operations carried out to specifically target drink driving and dangerous driving.
Superintendent Kelly is urging all road users to take responsibility for their safety and that of others.
