A coroner has said it is time to shout stop to the carnage on the roads which is claiming so many lives, particularly those of young people.
The coroner for south Mayo, Mr John O'Dwyer, solicitor, speaking following inquests in Westport yesterday in which the deaths of four young people, three males, one female, were investigated, said he was issuing his call as a general one in relation to motor vehicles.
It was a tragic day for Westport and for the coroner's court, he said, to have to record that this summer between July 29th and August 14th, four young people had died - one aged 17, two aged 19 and one 24-year-old.
"Surely the time has come for the public in general to be aware and take notice of all the carnage taking place involving vehicles. These deaths have all occurred in a small area like Westport. I was shocked when these deaths were notified to me and yesterday I learned of another death on the Swinford bypass. Surely the time has come to shout stop."
Mr O'Dwyer said it was a regret that young people, who were the most prone to be killed but who believed so strongly that it would not happen to them, were not in court to see the grief, the heartache and loss that fast driving and driving with drink caused to those who were left behind.
"I would ask that for those young people in the high-risk area of late teens to mid-20s who are being killed time and time again, that something would happen that would cause them to reflect on the carnage and loss they create when they go. I think the time has come to shout stop."
Supt Pat Doyle of Westport Garda station endorsed the Coroner's call, saying that the deaths had caused horror and devastation for the families involved.