Garda sergeants, students and probationers joined forces in Waterford yesterday to cope with the aftermath of the most spectacular road accident seen in the city in living memory.
There was astonishment that no deaths or serious injuries resulted when an articulated truck, heavily laden with timber, careered out of control down the steep Rockshire Road, wrecking at least six cars and damaging as many houses before finally overturning and coming to a halt in a front garden.
The main access route into and out of Waterford from the north was blocked for over five hours after the crash, and an extensive traffic management operation was put into operation to keep traffic moving.
Garda manpower at and near the scene at one stage included a chief superintendent, five sergeants, four student and probationer gardai. "You had the extremes of senior and junior people there. It really tested us," said Chief Supt Sean O'Halloran, who added that he had adequate resources in reserve to handle other contingencies.
Witnesses said that the brakes appeared to fail on the truck at traffic lights further up the hill, and it gathered pace and swung in towards a row of houses on Rockshire Terrace. They said the driver leapt from the cab as the vehicle swept a series of parked cars ahead of it and demolished 12inch thick concrete garden walls and railings. He was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Tons of heavy timber tree trunks toppled from the trailer, breaking windows and doors along the terrace.
A Co Kilkenny woman was driving down the hill, ahead of the truck. It crushed her car against a garden wall, but she emerged unhurt. She declined to be named or interviewed. "I'm just glad to be here," she remarked.
Chief Supt O'Halloran said that, aside from the manpower demands of the truck crash, policing operations were continuing fairly normally in the Waterford area yesterday. "We're coping quite well. Everybody we can get to work, we have them out," he said.
The city's courts were in session yesterday, and while a number of cases had to be adjourned because of the absence of Garda witnesses, others went ahead.