This article is from page 14 of the 2006-12-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
A YOUNG man lost his life in a crash after he overtook a car, before colliding with a truck, near the village of Kilmurry, Sixmilebridge, one year ago last week.
Ennis Coroner’s Court heard yesterday that Seamus Keogh (36), a labourer, from Lodge Road, Sixmilebridge, died in a crash at Ballymulcashel, Kilmurry, at lunchtime on December 6 last year.
Joe O’Gorman (44), of Woodfield Drive, Ballynote, Kilrush, recalled, in his deposition, driving from Tulla towards Bunratty for a load of gravel.
He was driving a truck, at Kilmurry village, at around 35 miles per hour. He said he passed a bad bend and then approached another.
He saw a car driving towards him and then noticed another car overtaking it.
“It was coming at such a speed I knew it was going to hit me. I could see the driver’s hands holding the steering wheel,” he said.
He drove along the edge of the ditch and “braced” himself for a collision.
The front of Mr Keogh’s car hit Mr O’Gorman’s truck and he hit his head off the roof of the cab of the truck.
“I could see that part of the car had gone under the cab of my truck… There was liquid leaking onto the road,” he recalled.
Mr O’Gorman was taken to hospital for treatment and later discharged.
The inquest was told that Emma Nicolai was driving to Tulla with a friend on the afternoon of December 6.
She believed she was driving at no more than 40 miles per hour.
She said a red car was travelling behind her and overtook her. “He was going around the bend and appeared to lose control. He appeared to take the bend too wide. He appeared to tilt onto two wheels and veered into the truck at an angle,” she recalled.
Ms Nicolai’s passenger, Josephine Bergfeldt, said the red car overtook them, no more than 20 metres before a bend.
“The red car was on the wrong side of the road and collided with a lorry,” she said. She tried to get a pulse, but to no avail.
Sergeant Con Ryan attended the scene of the accident, just after 1.45pm. He said the truck was on the correct side of the road, up against a ditch. Pathologist Dr Stephanie Curran carried out an autopsy on the body of the deceased.
She said death was due to shock and haemorrhage, secondary to multiple injuries. Superintendent John Kerin told the inquest that a file was sent to the DPP, who directed that no charges be brought, arising out of the accident. A verdict of accidental death was returned. Coroner Isobel O’Dea said it was a “shame that a young man was killed in such a fashion.”