Inquest into fatal motorbike crash

MOTORCYCLIST KILLED WHEN BIKE HIT CAR THAT WAS TURNING OFF ROAD INTO HOUSE

AN inquest has heard details of a fatal motorbike crash that claimed the life of a father of one.

At the Coroners Court in Tralee on Friday North Kerry Coroner Helen Lucey presided over an inquest into the death of Mark Shanahan.

Mr Shanahan – of Lixnaw and Ballymullen, Tralee – died when the motorcycle he was driving collided with a Kia Rio car being driven by Kelly Ann Roantree at Clounametig near Abbeydorney shortly after 6pm on July 14, 2013.

The accident occurred as Ms Roantree was turning into the driveway of her home following a trip to Tralee.

Mr Shanahan, who was returning to Tralee following a visit to his mother, collided with the passenger side of the Kia Rio, which had crossed directly into his path on a straight stretch of road, as Ms Roantree turned to enter her home.

Garda PSV inspector Jim O’Brien said that Ms Roantree’s manoeuvre would have taken “two seconds at most”.

He said that while there is a dip in the road 290 metres from the scene of the crash, any vehicle that had passed the dip should have been in full view of traffic coming in the other direction.

In a Garda statement read at the inquest Ms Roantree repeatedly insisted that she saw no oncoming vehicles before turning into her home.

Both vehicles were in good working order and neither Ms Roantree nor Mr Shanahan had any trace of alcohol in their systems.

The front of the motorcycle was badly damaged in the crash. Mr Shanahan was thrown from the bike and sustained “multiple severe injuries” according to Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster who told Mr Shanahan’s family that he would not have suffered.