11-year-old boy dies in collision with motorist in Offaly

An 11-year-old boy was killed on his bicycle at 9.15am this morning in a collision with a driver of a car in Marshbrook, Co Offaly.

Brendan English of the Garda press office said: “Gardaí are at the scene of a Fatal Road Traffic Collision which occurred at approx. 9:15am on the 1st September 2016 in Marshbrook (R446 Old Dublin to Galway Road). A cyclist (11 yr old boy) was involved in a collision with a car and was pronounced dead at the scene. The body remains at the scene which has been preserved and diversions are in place.”

Gardaí are appealing for witnesses to contact Tullamore on 057-9327600, The Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.


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9 comments

  1. It’s a hammer blow at the lack of infra and support for travel other than by car. A child, cycling to school, knocked down and killed. And why? What’s the speed limit on that road? Is there no space for a protected cycle lane? Was the child trying to cross, and why is there no safe crossing place in a suitable location?

    Reply
  2. Agreed. Some countries have a rules for level of responsibility based on size and ability to cause damage. e.g., truck -> car ->motorcycle -> cycle -> pedestrian.

    This is terrible news, my thoughts are with the family of the young cyclist. I cycle with my 11 y.o. boy and 8 y.o. daughter everyday to school and this really affects us. RIP.

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  3. Unless there is a fundamental change in how road authorities manage traffic and how drivers behave in the presence of vulnerable road users, like cyclists, these wholly avoidable impacts will not stop.
    The 1.5 m minimum overtaking distance must be set down in a regulation. Lower speed limits need to be applied, respected and enforced.
    The Road Safety Authority and Garda have got to move away from their obsession with hi-vis and helmets and victim-blaming.
    The Garda Traffic Corps needs to set aside its primary aim of keeping traffic moving – at all costs.”The Garda Traffic Corps is dedicated to the enforcement of road traffic legislation and also to assisting the free flow of traffic”. The free-flow of motorised traffic is generally inimical to the safety of cyclists.
    We have got to manage traffic differently if more citizens are to leave their cars behind and cycle to school, work and college. That is a stated government policy. These agencies need to update their actions.

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  4. Well said Mike. The whole emphasis needs to change in the ‘road safety’ world. All the focus is on the victims, rather than the causes of danger.

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  5. I spoke briefly about the appalling and unacceptable Tim Ross fatality on Cork C103 FM radio with Patricia Messenger this morning at 11:30 h.
    She revealed that she regularly found cars parked in cycle tracks outside a local school while parents were delivering their children to school with blatant disregard for any child that might wish to cycle safely to the same school. This is tolerated right across the land by school boards of management and by local Gardai. It has to stop.
    The school run by car is doing no child any favours – obesity, safety, etc.
    Children have a human right not to be placed into an obesogenic environment or to have their safety on the road to school compromised by illegal parking in cycle tracks.

    Reply

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