Safety council warns on fatal pedestrian and truck accidents

The National Safety Council (NSC) has said it is "alarmed" by the number of fatalities involving pedestrians struck by lorries.

Four people died in traffic accidents on Wednesday bringing to 364 the number killed on Irish roads to date this year, compared to 325 for the same period last year.

Gardaí have appealed for assistance from the public in their investigation into a fatal road traffic accident in Dublin on Wednesday during which a 70-year-old woman was killed after being hit by a lorry. The collision was the third in eight days in which elderly pedestrians were killed when hit by lorries.

NSC chairman Mr Eddie Shaw urged truck owners and drivers to fit extended mirrors to the left side of truck cabs in order to minimise the blind spot in large lorries where drivers are seated high above road level. Similar mirror systems had been fitted to the Dublin Bus fleet and would "greatly minimise" the blind spot in trucks.

"If you can imagine a truck head on with the cab facing into 12 o'clock, there is a blind spot from 8 o'clock to 10 o'clock. We would tell people that the general rule is if you can't see the driver then he can't see you."

Drivers should be extra vigilant when driving in areas with a large volume of pedestrian traffic. People on foot should cross the road carefully and only at pedestrian crossings where possible.

Gardaí in Kevin Street have appealed for witnesses to an accident in which Ms Marie Rowse (70), of Kevin Street flats, Dublin was fatally injured when struck by a lorry on High Street at around 11.40 a.m.