A 24-year-old woman died early yesterday after the car she was driving hit a wooden fence near Killarney, Co Kerry.
The crash took place at Gortroe, Fossa, on the main Killarney to Killorglin road.
Named locally as Paula O'Shea, from Churchtown, Beaufort, and the youngest in a family of three girls, she worked in a chemist shop in Killarney.
Ms O'Shea was the sole occupant of the vehicle. A passing motorist alerted the emergency services at 2.45am.
She was taken by ambulance to Kerry General Hospital, where she died.
Gardaí are exploring a number of theories, including the possibility that Ms O'Shea swerved to avoid something on the road, possibly an animal.
There have been nine fatal road incidents resulting in 11 deaths on Kerry roads this year.
This total is the same for deaths in the whole of 2005 on the county's roads.
The fatalities in Kerry include the deaths of two Polish motorcyclists on Sunday.
Several of the deaths resulted from single-vehicle crashes in the early hours.
Meanwhile, two adults and four children, including a 10-month-old baby boy, were taken to hospital yesterday after a head-on crash on the main Cork to Killarney road at Lissarda near Macroom.
The crash occurred shortly after 3.30pm, and involved two cars. The victims were from both vehicles.
The baby was the most severely injured, and medics resuscitated him at the scene.
Six ambulances and five units of Cork city fire brigade rushed to the area.
A three-person specialist surgical team from Cork University Hospital (CUH) was also dispatched.
Five of the injured were brought to CUH, and one person was taken to Mercy Hospital in Cork city.
According to a spokesman for the Health Service Executive, the adults and one of the children were in a serious condition, two children were in a comfortable condition while the infant was in a critical condition.
The stretch of road where the crash occurred has been the scene of other fatal accidents.
Locals have campaigned for the road to be upgraded and Cork County Council began a major refurbishment of it last year.