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Father and son died on ungritted
road
21.02.11
by Linda McGrory
A FATHER and his only son were killed in a two car
collision last winter because the road they were
travelling on was not gritted, an inquest has heard.
John Gallagher, 55, who was driving, and his son
Sean, 24, from Ramelton, died when their green Ford
Mondeo hit an icy patch, spun around and crossed
into the path of an oncoming car.
The accident happened shortly after 10am on January
30, 2010, on a sweeping bend on the main Derry to
Letterkenny Road at Carnamaddy, Burt.
The driver of the other car was 59 year old Noreen
McGrory from Drimark, Donegal Town, who was
travelling alone in a silver Skoda Superb, to an
appointment in Derry.
The men, from Castle Street, Ramelton, were
returning home after dropping off Sean's girlfriend
at City of Derry Airport. |
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The scene of the accident at
Carnamaddy, Burt on January 30, 2010. |
A number of garda
witnesses told the inquest, at Carndonagh District
Court on Friday, that driving conditions were
"treacherous" that morning and that, in their
opinion, the road was not gritted.
Garda Carl Campbell, who was the first officer on
the scene of the accident said the road was
"extremely icy". Under cross-examination by
Gallagher family solicitor, Seamus Gunn, Garda
Campbell said that, in his opinion, the accident
would not have happened if the road had been
gritted.
Garda crash investigator, Frank Lavin, told the
inquest that all three people involved in the
collision had been wearing their seatbelts.
He said Mr Gallagher lost control of his car "due to
the poor road conditions" and crashed into Mrs
McGrory’s oncoming vehicle. He tried to steer the
vehicle back to safety but was unable, the coroner’s
court was told.
It was stressed that Mr Gallagher and Mrs McGrory
were "entirely without fault" in the accident. |
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Eyewitness Maric Ver
Schuur was driving a small van behind John
Gallagher's car. He said they were travelling at no
more than 40mph because road conditions were bad. Mr
Ver Schuur said he had noticed a marked
deterioration in the condition of the roads after
leaving Derry, where they were gritted, and crossing
over the border into Co Donegal. |
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The late John Gallagher and his son
Sean. |
Meanwhile, the inquest
heard that Mrs McGrory suffered a number of injuries
to her chest, fingers and legs and was in hospital
for three days. Donegal coroner, Dr John Madden said
both father and son had suffered "catastrophic and
unsurvivable" internal injuries in the impact. They
were pronounced dead at the scene. Dr Madden said
for a family to lose all the men in the house in one
accident, was particularly tragic. He offered his
sympathies to Mr Gallagher's wife Hillary and
daughters Aisling (23), Aoife (19) and Eilish (15).
Mr Gunn asked the jury to add a rider to their
verdict that, in the event of icy conditions, the
local authority either grits a road or closes it.
The jury of four women and three men declined to add
the rider but returned a verdict of accidental death
"caused due to the conditions of the road at the
time". Dr Madden said he would send a copy of the
inquest report to Donegal County Council. "We have
heard a lot about cutbacks in council budgets and
road gritting is unfortunately one of the casualties
of these cutbacks. But people should have a
reasonable expectation that when they set out on a
journey, the road will be fit for purpose," said Dr
Madden. |
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