Labour Party councillor Nicky Kelly was among those involved in serious road accidents on a weekend that saw six people killed on the roads.
The weekend's road deaths bring the number of road fatalities this year to 347. This time last year, 327 people had lost their lives in road accidents. Since 2000, 2,253 people have lost their lives on the Irish roads.
Three people, two men and a woman, died following a road traffic collision between a car and a truck in Co Laois on Saturday. All three killed were occupants of the car and the accident occurred at Money Cross, Stradbally, at 10.40am. The driver of the lorry was not injured.
The names of the victims are not being released until the next of kin have been notified.
A 20-year-old man died when a car he was travelling in as a passenger went into a ditch on Friday evening at St John's Fort, Ardee, Co Louth. Shane Keenan of Durhamstown, Bohermeen, Navan, was a front-seat passenger and lost his life when the car went out of control.
A 21-year-old woman was also killed on the roads on Friday. Heidi O'Shea, of Silver Strand Lodge, Barna, Co Galway, died when her car struck a wall on the Ballinderreen to Kilcolgan Road, Co Galway, sometime between 2.30am and 7am on Friday. The gardaí at Gort are investigating the single-vehicle collision.
A third single-vehicle collision over the weekend also claimed the life of a man in his 40s. The man was killed on the M11 at Shankill, Co Dublin, when his car went out of control and crashed into the median barrier. The accident took place at 9.15am on Saturday and the man was pronounced dead on arrival at Loughlinstown hospital.
Cllr Nicky Kelly, from Arklow, Co Wicklow, was being treated in St Vincent's hospital last night after a car in which he was travelling was involved in a collision with another vehicle on the Rathnew to Glenealy road in Wicklow at 4.30pm yesterday. Two units of Wicklow Fire Brigade used cutting equipment to release Mr Kelly from his car. His injuries were not life-threatening.
Some 21 people have died on the Irish roads so far this November and, according to the National Safety Council, the European benchmark for road deaths is 20 per month. "That's 240 per year. But already this year we've killed 100 people more than that. And by the end of the year, more than 140 people will have died unnecessarily and 1,200 people will have unnecessarily sustained serious injuries," said Eddie Shaw, chairman of the council. The Department of Justice said they were working in many areas to combat the high number of road fatalities. A spokeswoman pointed to the current expansion of the Traffic Corps from 520 gardaí to 1,200 in two years as an example.