Thurles Information

Scene of last night's serious accident.

Kickham Street, Thurles, Co Tipperary was the scene of a serious single vehicle traffic accident at around 11.45 pm last evening. It is understood that a vehicle carrying 3 teenage passengers, went out of control on the narrow street, opposite Ely’s Centra Food Store.

(Click on Image for larger picture.)

The vehicle crossed the street’s roadway colliding with a parked car, latter which was completely destroyed, before becoming stationary against a garden wall, protecting a line of terraced residential houses in the area.

Three ambulances together with local police and three units of the fire brigade were quickly on the scene. Passengers sustained quite serious injuries and had to be removed from the vehicle by firemen, using cutting apparatus. The seriousness of injuries sustained are not yet known, but are not considered life threatening.

While the cause of the accident is not known, preliminary investigations indicate the possible blowout of a tyre or this light vehicle coming into sudden contact with a dangerous six inch high, barely visible ‘footpath kerb,’ on the Ely’s Centra Food Store side of the street.

Large trucks passing on this street are daily forced to stop and adjust their cab mirrors in order to pass each other on this street, while emergency services are greatly delayed attempting to conduct their daily business. A planned ‘Ring Road,’ sought for Thurles, which would greatly reduce the traffic flow in this area, has been delayed for over 12 years and now remains in ‘limbo,’ cancelled because of budgetary constraints.

Local residents on Kickham Street had previously complained to their public representatives and to North Tipperary County Council regarding the then erection of this dangerous high kerbing, which presently greatly restricts car parking in the area and forces car owners to now park their vehicles openly on the footpath. Residents concerns, however, fell upon ‘deaf ears,’ despite the fact that this dangerous stretch of roadway also serves to deliver main arterial traffic flow from the Dublin/ Cork motorway, towards the centre of Thurles town.

The entrance to this street, some 300 metres closer to the town centre, was the scene of a serious accident involving a school bus and a motor cyclist, resulting in one death on May 22nd last.

Reports are coming in that a man has died following a single vehicle accident, after the lorry he was driving crashed near Cahir, Co Tipperary, earlier this evening.

The incident happened on the M8 Dublin to Cork motorway, close to Junction 10 at around 6:00pm.

The lorry is understood to have collided with an embankment, before coming to a stop in a field. As stated no other vehicles were involved in the incident.

The motorway is not presently closed, due to the positioning of the vehicle and Gardaí are presently investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash.

No further information is available at this time.

A teenage boy and a woman, latter believed to be in her twenties, were both killed and two other passengers were seriously injured in a two vehicle smash here in Co Tipperary, late last night. The car crash happened on the N24 road approximately one mile on the Cahir side of Bansha, near Fihertagh, at around 10.40pm.

A male driver in his late teens, the sole occupant of one of the vehicles, was killed in the impact. A pregnant woman, believed to be in her early 20’s, in the second car, also died in the collision.

Two other male occupants travelling in the second car were seriously hurt and were rushed by ambulance to South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel. Post mortems on the fatalities are expected to take place later in the day.

The road is expected to remain closed for some time this morning as garda forensic experts examine the scene.  The cause of the accident has yet to be established, however, Gardai believe that the cars struck each other head on, in what were described as perfect road conditions at the time of the crash.

Witnesses are being asked to contact Tipperary Town Garda Station Tel 062-80670, Cahir Garda Station Tel 052-7445630 or indeed any Garda Station.