A 25-YEAR-OLD mother of one and a 17-year-old were killed in a near head-on collision when the woman drove more than three kilometres on the wrong side of a dual-carriageway, an inquest heard.
Aoife Callanan, from Coolroe Heights, Ballincollig, had consumed about eight drinks after leaving work on St Patrick’s Day last year before she dropped a colleague home just before midnight, the inquest in Midleton was told yesterday.
She then went on to the N25 to drive to Dungourney, near Midleton, to where she had recently moved.
Witness David Cott told how he was travelling eastbound on the N25 towards Midleton at about 100-120km/h when he noticed a car passing him out on the other side of the median going in the wrong direction in the westbound carriageway. He phoned gardaí to alert them.
Another witness, John Lucey, said he was driving in the westbound lane towards Cork city when he saw the headlights of a car coming against him and he flashed his lights. “It was not speeding or driving erratically, it was just going in the wrong direction,” he said.
Another witness, Eddie Mulryan, said he too was driving westbound towards Cork when he was overtaken by a VW Golf, only for the Golf to suddenly find itself facing an oncoming car. Although the Golf swung to its left, it hit the oncoming Toyota Corolla half head-on.
The driver of the Corolla, Ms Callanan, and the driver of the Golf, John Joe Galvin (17) from Hilltown, Ballymitty, Co Wexford, were both pronounced dead at the scene. A passenger in the Golf, Nicholas Ely, was seriously injured.
Mr Ely told the inquest he had no recollection of the crash but investigating officer, Sgt Ciara Lee, said gardaí had established that Ms Callanan had exited the Jack Lynch Tunnel through the correct northbound bore before somehow going on to the wrong side of the dual carriageway.
The most likely explanation was that on exiting the tunnel, she had gone left on to a slip road linking up with the main road leading into Cork city and had turned around at that point back towards Midleton on the N25 before colliding with the other car at Courtstown, Little Island.
Coroner for south Cork Frank O’Connell said Ms Callanan thought she was driving on the correct side, for whatever reason. At that point a relative of Mr Galvin’s questioned whether her error may have been caused by the amount of alcohol she had consumed.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said the autopsy revealed Ms Callanan had a blood alcohol level of 157mg per 100ml. The legal limit at the time was 80mg per 100ml. Mr Galvin had no trace of alcohol in his system.
The jury returned verdicts of accidental deaths in the case of both. Mr O’Connell extended his sympathies to both families and urged people to be cautious driving on the N25 to ensure the error was not repeated.