Two men killed in single vehicle collisions

Two men in their 20s have been killed in single vehicle collisions.

A 24-year-old man was killed after the van he was driving crashed into a ditch near Slane in Co Meath in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The accident happened at Kellystown at 1.32am when the van hit a ditch. A passenger escaped unhurt.

A 20-year-old man was killed when he lost control of a car near Arklow in Co Wicklow on the way home from a football match.

Thomas Walsh from Avoca, Co Wicklow, died when his car hit a ditch, then a tree and fell 10 feet into a field in the early hours of yesterday morning.

His passenger, Michael Dunne (23) from Ballymoneen, Co Wicklow, was seriously injured in the crash which happened between 2.30am and 3.30am. He was taken to Loughlinstown Hospital with leg injuries.

The pair had been to a football match earlier in which Avoca beat their neighbours, Aughrim.

The number of people killed on Ireland's roads so far this year is 95, 10 fewer than at the same time last year.

An Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority (RSA) are now focusing on speeding as the major issue in its warning to motorists over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

Nine people were killed over the Easter weekend last year and there have been 30 deaths over the last five years. It is estimated that 500 people were seriously injured over the same time period.

Assistant Garda Commissioner Eddie Rock, who is the head of the Garda Traffic Corps, said the success of random breath testing had taken the focus away from speed, which is the major cause of road deaths.

"We've been pushing random breath testing for six months and people are not drinking and driving anymore, certainly not the way they were. Speeding has been left a bit behind and we need to up the ante on that."

The Garda expects substantially more than the 1,500 motorists who are caught speeding every weekend to be detected over the bank holiday weekend.

The RSA's chief executive, Noel Brett, also focused on the issue of tailgating, which came to the fore last week following the biggest motorway pile-up in the history of the State on the M7 in Co Kildare.

Although the foggy conditions that contributed to those incidents are not likely to re-occur over the weekend where driving conditions will be close to ideal, he said that tailgating remained a persistent problem with motorists.

"Even in good weather and with modern cars, stopping distances are still large," explained Mr Brett.

"You need to leave at least two seconds driving time between you and the vehicle in front."