The death of a 20-year-old man in Ballina following a road accident on Wednesday night has brought the number of road deaths in the county to 11 so far this year. The latest fatality has come fresh on the back of the release of information from the Western Garda Region that Mayo had the highest death toll on the roads in the region, accounting for almost half of the deaths recorded in the region this year.
The Western Garda Region comprises the Garda districts in Mayo, Roscommon/Longford, Galway, and Clare, across the region in total 25 people have been killed in road accidents, with Mayo recording 11 deaths, Galway eight, Roscommon/Longford four, and two in Clare.
The most recent road death in Mayo happened on Wednesday at approximately 6.30pm when a male driver (20 years old ) was fatally injured when the car he was driving left the road and collided with a tree on the old Ballina to Foxford road, about two miles outside of Ballina at Carrowntreila. He was the sole occupant of the car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was removed to the mortuary at Castlebar Hospital where a post mortem was due to take place yesterday. Gardai wish to appeal for witnesses to contact them at Ballina Garda Station on (0960 20560, The Garda Confidential Telephone Line (1800 ) 666 111, or any Garda station.
The Western Garda Region will be carrying out extra checks on the road over the upcoming Bank Holiday Weekend and Noel Kelly, regional traffic superintendent, said this week in a statement: "An Garda Síochána want everyone to enjoy the October Bank Holiday period in safety. We are particularly anxious to ensure that persons using a vehicle are aware of our Bank Holiday enforcement campaign which will be focusing on the following areas: driving while intoxicated, speeding, dangerous/careless driving, failure to wear seat belts, lighting of vehicles, and distraction driving, ie, use of mobile phones, iPods, and driver fatigue.
"The objective of the Garda enforcement operation is to reduce road traffic collisions, save lives, and reduce injuries, and to remind drivers of the dangers of speeding on our roads. The enforcement operations will consist of additional deployment of personnel across the Western Garda Region over the Bank Holiday period. The operations will consist of mandatory alcohol testing checkpoints, both during daylight and at night, the use of all speed enforcement technologies, ie, laser handheld devices, robot vans, in-car detection systems, and Go Safe vehicles in the various speed enforcement zones.
"To complement the above, there will also be an element of covert enforcement which will target drink driving, dangerous driving, distraction driving, and speeding."
The October Bank Holiday enforcement campaign will run from today, October 23, to Monday October 26.
