This article is from page 24 of the 2009-12-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 24 JPG
A MID-AFTERNOON head-on col- lision between two cars close to the townland of Darragh resulted in both drivers being killed, an inquest into their deaths has heard.
Peter Beckley, a 40-year-old man who lived in Tullycrine, Cooraclare, and Raymond Stack, aged 61, from Limerick, lost their lives in the ac- cident at Bansha, Darragh — on the main Ennis/Kilrush road — on the afternoon of July 16 last.
Teresa Lyons, a paramedic, had at- tended an inquest in Kilrush that af-
ternoon.
She was on her way back to En- nis and was travelling behind a Ford Mondeo car. She noticed the Mondeo overtaking a number of vehicles when it was safe to do so.
A short distance before she reached Darragh, she noticed the Mondeo pulling out again “in what appeared to be an overtaking manoeuvre.”
She saw a Silver vehicle approach- ing. “My immediate thought was that these two vehicles were going to col- lide,” she said.
She said that the Mondeo then ap- peared to spin around in mid-air and
the other vehicle, a silver Volvo, spun to her right-hand side and ended up near a fence.
She stopped her car and contacted the emergency services.
She went over to the cars and saw that a child was crying in the Mondeo. The child was thrown across the back seat of the car, but was still in the child’s seat. Ms Lyons said she tried to find a pulse in the man in the Mondeo but was unable to do so.
She said she believed the Mondeo was travelling at a speed of between 50 and 60 miles per hour at the time.
Mr Stack’s wife Ann recalled trav- elling in the car with her husband and their grandson, Donnacha. They had left Kilkee at around 3.25pm, having been in Doonbeg earlier.
She remembered her husband driv- ing along and all of a sudden there was an accident. She was taken to hospital, where she was treated for injuries.
The inquest heard that both men were pronounced dead by a doctor at the scene of the accident, shortly before 6.30pm.
Garda Niall Doody explained that he received a call to attend the scene
of an accident at 3.55pm that after- noon. He said it was a dry, clear, sun- ny day. He said that Mr Beckley had been driving a Volvo, while Mr Stack had been driving a Mondeo.
There was no response from either driver when he checked for pulses. He said that the bodies were removed from the scene shortly before 7pm.
Post mortem examinations con- cluded that both men died due to multiple traumatic injuries including Skull fractures, consistent with hav- ing been involved in a road accident. Verdicts of accidental death were re- turned in both cases.