Crosses line the road down to the bridge to remember 23 lives lost

The village of Slane has been repeatedly rocked by tragedy as the notorious Slane Bridge and the deep descent to it have been the scene of countless accidents and at least 23 road deaths.

A litany of devastating accidents was recounted at the oral hearing 12 years ago into the previous planning application for the bypass.

The tragic death of two-year-old local toddler, David Garvey, was one of the tragedies in Slane which was recounted by John Ryle of the Slane Bridge Action Group who said at the time that he had seen “the most indescribably horrific accidents,” including the incident when the little boy was crushed to death when a truck crashed into the rear of the car driven by his mother as they waited for a green light to cross Slane bridge.

The hearing also heard of another incident some years previously, where two people trapped in the car following a collision suffered a horrific death when their car exploded following the impact.

“On another occasion, a HGV failed to negotiate the sharp turn onto the bridge. On its side, it slid along the parapet towards the centre of the bridge before tumbling into the river, 12 to 14 feet below. The driver did not survive. Two days later the operator of the crane used to lift the wreckage from the riverbed lost his life when the crane toppled into the river,” Mr Ryle told the hearing.

Today 23 crosses on the wall by the bridge commemorate the 23 who died in accidents. Twelve of those were locals - Paddy Cassidy, Richard Crinion, Packy Darby, Sean Gallagher, David Garvey, Peter Harding, Mary Harding, Toddy Harding, Myra McGuirk, who was heavily pregnant, Patsy Proudfoot, Michael Wogan and James Gargan.

There were also many 'miraculous escapes' in the village over the years too. A four-year-old girl and her two year old sister were both trapped for an hour or so under an articulated truck when a heavily laden articulated truck being towed by another heavily laden truck jack-knifed.

In the 1980s, a busload of schoolchildren had a miraculous escape when their bus crashed through the bridge wall and dangled precariously over the river.

There have been trucks which crashed through the parapet into the river or the canal, trucks that overturned losing their loads in the process, trucks that had deliberately crashed in the village itself into any obstacle, such as steps, walls, poles, or gateways, that would stop their uncontrolled progress downhill.

The Slane Bridge Action group was formed after David Garvey's death in 2001, and in 2009 the Bypass Slane group came together following a nine-vehicle collision in the centre of the village which left four people injured.

Norma Kealy, who was one of a number of local people involved in that accident gave evidence to a joint Oireachtais Committee hearing the following year.

She said a group of mothers had just dropped their children off at the national school.

“We were driving southwards, along the N2, down the steep approach to the crossroads in the centre of Slane village. My three-year-old son was in the back of my car and one of the other mothers had her 19-month old baby with her. While stopped at the red light, suddenly there was a loud bang from behind. In our rear-view mirrors, we saw a HGV coming towards us, with no sign of slowing. We knew immediately that our cars were going to be hit, but there was absolutely nothing we could do and, for the majority, there was nowhere to escape to on this confined section of roadway.”

The hearing heard several violent impacts followed as the HGV ploughed down the hill through the traffic, the force of its momentum smashing cars into each other.