M20 Closed Both Directions Patrickswell – Adare

flyingsnail

Hope the child is ok,

A three-year-old child is in a critical condition in hospital after being injured in a horrific crash on the M20 near Patrickswell, Co Limerick.
Three cars were involved in the collision which occurred around 5pm.
Both the northbound and southbound lanes of the motorway are closed between the Adare and Patrickswell interchanges.
Diversions are in place which is causing severe traffic tailbacks.
Gardaí have closed the section of the motorway where the crash occurred, for a technical examination of the scene by officers from the Garda collision Investigation unit.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/child-aged-three-in-hospital-after-three-car-crash-on-m20-in-limerick-755190.html

Wise Old Elf

Thejournal.ie now saying that the little girl has died, horrific stuff.
Suggestion in the same article that a car swerved to avoid another car, crossed the central barrier, and crashed into the car in which the girl was travelling.

Whats happening

That article does not make good reading, RIP to that poor little girl, and a little boy growing up without his twin sister.

bazz26

Updated news:

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/girl-aged-three-dies-as-her-twin-brother-lies-in-hospital-after-three-car-crash-on-m20-in-limerick-755190.html

Harrowing stuff.

Special Circumstances

bazz26 wrote: »

Updated news:

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/girl-aged-three-dies-as-her-twin-brother-lies-in-hospital-after-three-car-crash-on-m20-in-limerick-755190.html

Harrowing stuff.

Holy f*ck nightmare stuff, didn't think a car would get through the central divide there. Passed that way 20 min before it happened I'd say.


Wait wait wait... re read that.... someone was travelling the wrong way and ended up in the central divide maybe rather than came through the central divide?

Redsoxfan

Special Circumstances wrote:

Wait wait wait... re read that.... someone was travelling the wrong way and ended up in the central divide maybe rather than came through the central divide?

I wonder the same myself. Both carriageways closed would seem to indicate that the car crossed over?

Atlantic Dawn

RIP

I hope full details of why the crash happened are disclosed in time and made public.

iguana

It sounds a bit like at least part of the reason for the fatality was some sort of car seat failure as the little girl was ejected from the car. While her twin brother who seems to have stayed in his seat has only minor injuries.

Blingy

Read the piece on breaking news. It's horrendous. The poor family

myshirt

What about those **** using the hard shoulder to skip the Q and clogging the way for the ambulance and Garda cars. Unreal it was. Some mess. Truly heartbreaking to come home and read that a child had died.

cram1971

Rip little one,



Jesus Christ do the media have to go into that detail so soon after,

forgodssake

Poor family tonight . God help them

seachto7

Where the motorway ends after Patrickswell, on 2 occasions, I have had cars drive against me on the wrong side of the road. They would be coming from Adare say...

Mc Love

Dont think that stretch needs an audit, rather people need to learn how to drive on motorways. Also maybe there should be stricter guidelines on what types of car seats are used in cars as what looks like a malfunction caused the car seat the girl was travelling to become loose.

The comments that I've seen that, that stretch of motorway needs to be 100km/h are ridiculous and for it to be reduced to a national road make no sense.

Special Circumstances

Mc Love wrote: »

The comments that I've seen that, that stretch of motorway needs to be 100km/h are ridiculous and for it to be reduced to a national road make no sense.

Agreed, neither option would solve the problem of people deciding to drive against the flow of a motorway/dual carriageway if that is what happened here.

Feels kinda wrong to be speaking in objective, factual terms after an incident where a kid lost her life though

marno21

The reason there is dangerous driving along that stretch is because it's the last decent mile of road on either the N20 or N21. Shortly after, both become single carriageways and it's extremely difficult to ivertake other vehicles, especially in peak traffic.

The dangerous driving will continue until the M20 and M21 are constructed.

Mc Love

marno21 wrote: »

The reason there is dangerous driving along that stretch is because it's the last decent mile of road on either the N20 or N21. Shortly after, both become single carriageways and it's extremely difficult to ivertake other vehicles, especially in peak traffic.

The dangerous driving will continue until the M20 and M21 are constructed.

Agreed and plus the fact that people coming from Adare might have been stuck behind some tool of a driver since NCW with very little overtaking opportunites (oncoming traffic) and cant wait to put the foot down when they reach the motorway.

marno21

Mc Love wrote: »

Agreed and plus the fact that people coming from Adare might have been stuck behind some tool of a driver since NCW with very little overtaking opportunites (oncoming traffic) and cant wait to put the foot down when they reach the motorway.

Yeah this too.

This is why the Gardai are always parked up with the gun out on the northbound on ramp of J4 Patrickswell

iguana

Mc Love wrote: »

Also maybe there should be stricter guidelines on what types of car seats are used in cars as what looks like a malfunction caused the car seat the girl was travelling to become loose.

There seems to be a lack of awareness about the proper use of car seats. Various studies and reports have shown that the majority of car seats are improperly fitted if they are fitted by seat belt. There are even cases of parents being shown how to fit a car seat by sales staff who actually don't know what they are talking about. People also seem to be unaware of just how very, very, very tight the straps on a car seat need to be and that certain types of clothing must never be worn by a child in a car seat because they prevent the car seat from working properly.

That's not to say that this is what happened in this case. There are many other reasons that Kellycia may have been ejected from the car. The seat mechanisms may have been faulty, the isofix points/seat belt in the car may have failed, etc. But in general there is a lack of knowledge about how car seats need to be used and maybe it's time for a massive public awareness campaign. Especially as we head into winter as many types of winter clothing can render car seats ineffective.

ongarboy

Just so I understand, did the accident happen on the wide single carriageway section rather than the dual carriageway section? Was it someone overtaking that had moved onto the oncoming lane that the mother attempted to avoid by swerving or are the facts still being clarified?

RIP to that poor little girl.

iguana

ongarboy wrote: »

Just so I understand, did the accident happen on the wide single carriageway section rather than the dual carriageway section? Was it someone overtaking that had moved onto the oncoming lane that the mother attempted to avoid by swerving or are the facts still being clarified?

RIP to that poor little girl.

It happened on the dual carriage way section. I've been passing the spot this week and the area where the other car came through/went into the barrier is still obvious as all the trees and bushes were destroyed where that car hit them.

marno21

iguana wrote: »

It happened on the dual carriage way section. I've been passing the spot this week and the area where the other car came through/went into the barrier is still obvious as all the trees and bushes were destroyed where that car hit them.

It happened on the southbound carraigeway of the M20 motorway section between J4 and J5, just after the end of the merge lane from J4.

You can see here: http://www.limerickleader.ie/resizer/750/563/true/GN4_DAT_7350101.jpg--section_of_m20_in_limerick_reopens_after_horror_crash.jpg

iguana

marno21 wrote: »

It happened on the southbound carraigeway of the M20 motorway section between J4 and J5, just after the end of the merge lane from J4.

I know where it happened. But as I understood it Ongarboy was asking if it happened on the motorway itself or on the N20 where the traffic is two-way rather than dual lane in each direction.

marno21

iguana wrote: »

I know where it happened. But as I understood it Ongarboy was asking if it happened on the motorway itself or on the N20 where the traffic is two-way rather than dual lane in each direction.

Sorry iguana I meant to quote ongarboy's post