Two people were killed on Irish roads yesterday, bringing to 73 the number of traffic fatalities so far this year.
A man in his 40s was killed in the early hours of yesterday morning on the M7 motorway near Kildare town, when his four-wheel-drive vehicle crashed into the central median barrier. There was no other vehicle involved.
An 18-year-old motorist was also killed in a one-car collision in Co Cork yesterday morning. The accident occurred at Mawmore in east Bandon.
The teenager's body was discovered at 3.40 a.m. According to Garda sources the victim had only recently started driving.
The names of both accident victims have been withheld until relatives have been contacted.
The number of road fatalities so far in 2004 is 25 per cent above the same period last year.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Transport rejected suggestions that the penalty points system, introduced at the end of 2002, is no longer working.
"Overall, in the 15 months since the points system was introduced, there have been 50 fewer road fatalities than in the previous 15-month period," he said.