Care home resident dies after road accident
A PENSIONER who died yesterday morning following a road accident was a resident at a nearby Co Down nursing home.
The 78-year-old man was struck by a car at Glebe Road in Annahilt at 8.45pm on Tuesday.
He had been living at Annahilt Care Home on Ballynahinch Road. The elderly man died from his injuries yesterday morning.
The collision involved a red Volvo C30. The driver has been spoken to by police.
The crash is being investigated by the PSNI and Four Seasons Health Care, which owns the care home.
A spokesman for the care home said: “Managers and the nursing team at the Annahilt Care Home are shocked and saddened at the tragic incident. We are working with the police to establish precisely what happened.”
The spokesman said the home had been in contact with the family of the resident to offer its sympathies.
It is understood that the pensioner liked to walk to a nearby shop.
DUP Lagan Valley MLA Edwin Poots (right) said on social media: “Sad news that a gentleman lost his life on the Glebe Road, Annahilt.
“Thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones.”
Ulster Unionist councillor Nicholas Trimble said that he has been lobbying to have the speed limit reduced at Glebe Road, a rural thoroughfare. He noted a “nasty S-shaped bend” in the locality.
Ian Thompson, chairman of Annahilt and Magheraconluce Community Association, said: “As a resident I am deeply saddened and on behalf of the local community association extend our thoughts and prayers to the pensioner’s family and friends.
“As a newly-formed community association we had identified road safety as a concern and we had a meeting on August 21, 2017 with local representatives to voice and show our concerns.
“In attendance was our MP Jeffrey Donaldson, MLA Edwin Poots, representatives of the Road Service and of the PSNI.
“We are expecting a report back of what long-term measures are going to be put in place to make the roads safer. “Short-term measures of speed cameras and warning signs had been implemented following
the meeting.
“Unfortunately, the popular walks around the village, which includes the Glebe Road and Carricknadarriff Road, are still without a pavement and this could have been a contributory factor in this tragic accident.”
PSNI Sergeant Jonny MacKenzie has asked for anyone who was travelling on the Glebe Road and witnessed the collision or saw the car or pedestrian in the area to contact officers at Lisburn on 101 quoting reference number 1347 21/11/17.
The pensioner was the second pedestrian to die this week after being struck on Northern Ireland’s roads.
Lorraine Burrows (48) lost her life on Tuesday after being hit by a lorry in Belfast city centre.
The pensioner struck in Annahilt was the 63rd person killed on the roads in Northern Ireland so far in 2017, compared to 60 for the same period last year.