The Coroner's Court: Frank Keeley played out his familiar routine that morning. To avoid the worst of the morning traffic that clogs the busy arteries of west Dublin, he left home early and made his unhurried way to work at the Bluebell Industrial Estate.
It was cold and crisp, with a sheet of thick grey ice coating the roads and the snow that had fallen overnight now apparently in its last throes.
Having arrived at work early, Mr Keeley decided to take a walk around the block before the working day began. The snow seemed to muffle the early morning bustle, with cars moving slowly in difficult conditions.
David Reilly had also set out early that morning. The engine of his An Post truck first puttered into action at 6am and by 6.40, he had arrived at the Dublin Mail Centre in west Dublin to make a collection. By 7.30am he was on his way back into town to make another drop. It was cold and it was icy, he recalls.
At the traffic lights on the Naas Road-Nangor Road junction, he stopped behind three or four cars and waited.
Mr Reilly's line of traffic was still when Frank Keeley reached the junction on foot. Mr Keeley could see that a motorcyclist had made his way alongside the traffic and came to a halt at the left-hand side of Mr Reilly's cab, waiting for the light to turn green. As the bike came to a stop, its cyclist moved his foot towards the ground to prop it up.
Then, in an instant, the motorcyclist lost his footing on the slippery surface. The bike slipped from under him and fell to the left; he dropped to the right, just into the path of the truck's front wheel. Within a second or two, the lights turned green. Mr Reilly put the truck into second gear, checked his mirrors and moved two or three feet forward.
When he heard the noise, the truck driver rammed his foot on the brake. "I heard a low impact, a slight noise. I knew something was wrong. Then I saw a pedestrian [ Mr Keeley] approach the truck . . . He said I'm after hitting a motorcyclist."
On the footpath, Mr Keeley watched, aghast. "I saw the motorcyclist fall into the path of the truck. I think the inside of the wheel hit his helmet. . . He tried to grab the bumper and the weight of his body pulled him under the truck."
As Mr Reilly jumped from his cab, Mr Keeley knelt beside the stricken motorcyclist, whom he now knows was Patrick Nelson (52), a father of three from Clondalkin.
"I asked him was he all right, but he didn't respond . . . I later heard of the death of the man on the radio news," said Mr Keeley.
As photographs of the scene are shown on the overhead screen, the late Mr Nelson's wife turns her face to the opposite wall and stares ahead, her hands clutching one knee, her body rocking slowly back and forth.
According to Garda John Flood, a vehicle inspector, both the DAF truck and Mr Nelson's green Marauder motorcycle were in roadworthy condition with no defects. There were three mirrors on the passenger side of the truck, though there was no front-facing "cyclops" mirror, which are not required by law in the Republic.
"As we have seen before," says Garda Flood, "there is a three-foot blind spot from the front bumper of the cab."
Dublin city coroner Dr Brian Farrell asks whether a form of censor similar to those fitted to new cars to aid reversing could eliminate the blind spot.
"I think censors would be fantastic," Garda Flood replies. "It would be an extra set of eyes for the driver, that's for sure."
Attempts were made to resuscitate Mr Nelson, first at the side of the road and then at the A&E department at St James's Hospital. He was in cardiac arrest on arrival, however, and after 18 minutes attempting to revive him, the doctors gave up. He died of severe head injuries on the same day, February 23rd, 2005.
"It's difficult to find the right words," says Dr Farrell, addressing Mr Nelson's wife and three sons, the tone of exasperation unconcealed. "In the last number of inquests, the number of deaths in these blind spots is tragic and remarkable. We have addressed this on very many occasions in the past 18 months. We have repeatedly made this point to the relevant authorities."
The jury returns a verdict of accidental death and recommends that a study be carried out into the feasibility of the use of censors for blind spot areas.
In the public gallery, Ms Nelson releases the grip she has held at her knee throughout the hearing. She stands and looks at her sons. They file out quickly, and within a minute, the courtroom is silent again.