Monday crash victim named locally

Road fatalities for 2023 hit double digits

The lorry driver who died in an accident in Co Monaghan last Monday afternoon has been named as Evaldas Starkauskas.

The 41-year-old married dad-of-two sons, a native of Lithuania, lived in the Darkley area of Shercock, Cavan. The wider Starkauskas family have resided in the local area for the past 20 years.

He had been an oil truck driver with Roe Oils Ltd for the past six years, also based in in the east Cavan village, and is understood to have been travelling home when the accident occurred shortly before 4pm on the R188 between Cootehill and Rockcorry.

Mr Starkauskas, who was the driver of one of the lorries involved, was pronounced dead at the scene. He his survived by his wife Daiva Starkauskiene, sons; Gustas and Simas, parents Valerija Starkauskiene and Antanas Starkauskas and brother Paulius.

The driver of the other lorry involved was described as uninjured.

It brings to 10 now the number of deaths to have occurred on local roads to date in 2023.

Four people have died on roads in Cavan, and six in neighbouring Monaghan.

Mr Starkauskas' death is the second to occur in Monaghan in almost as many weeks after Jenny Drew (née Convery) from Beaghkearns, died after a car collided with her bike at Cootehill Road close to Monaghan Town on Saturday, October 21.

Other fatalities include that of 17-year-old Jake Brennan who died following a single vehicle collision at Carrickaderry near Clontibret on September 20; and the deaths of Kiea McCann (17) and Dlava Mohamed (16) while on the way to their debs at Legnakelly outside Clones on July 31.

Late April in to May marked a bleak month for road safety in Cavan after Keely McGivney from London lost her life when a tractor in which she was a passenger hit a ditch at Loughduff on the L2514 close to Middletown Cross.

The death of Piotr Aronik, of Boggan, Moynalty following a fatal road traffic collision involving a car and a parked truck on the R178 at Carrickgorman on May 5 was the last of three road deaths that occurred in a little over a week.

The Carrickgorman crash occurred almost 24 hours after Colm Tully from Cootehill died in a single vehicle collision on the N3, New Inns, Ballyjamesduff, on May 4.

Days earlier motorcyclist Aaron Keenan lost his life following a crash at Cornakill on R165 between Kingscourt and Bailieborough, on April 26.

Only the month before pedestrian Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Mc Goldrick (née Mc Dermott) of Clonavilla, Clones, Monaghan, and formerly Glasgow, Scotland, died following a road accident near her home over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, April 8; and a man, aged in his 50's, died when his car collided with another on the N12 at Knockaconny, Monaghan, on March 11.

By comparison, there were five road deaths in Cavan in 2022, the same as the year before, and six in Monaghan, an increase of one on the previous year.

As of Tuesday morning last, November 7, there have been 165 deaths recorded on Irish roads, 39 more than for all of last year.

Following Monday's crash near Cootehill the road was closed for a period to facilitate a forensic collision investigation.

Gardaí have also appealed for any witnesses to this collision to come forward, including motorists with dash-cams travelling on the R188 in between Cootehill and Rockcorry between 3:45pm and 4:15pm.