Inquest hears overtaking manoeuvre went tragically wrong

A COACH driver has told an inquest that when he saw a small silver car attempting to overtake his vehicle on the Drumree Road in June last year he knew it was not going to overtake him on time and it collided head-on with a vehicle coming in the opposite direction.

The evidence was being heard at the inquest in Navan courthouse into the death of 40-year-old Kristy Enos, with an address in New York.

David Berney, an employee of Donie Quinn bus company, said that he was employed to drive a young boy with autism from his home in Dunshaughlin to his school in Kildalkey. The boy was accompanied by an escort. On the day in question they left the school and headed for the boy’s home. They dropped the boy home at about 2.30 to 2.40pm.

They were on the Drumree relief road and he was driving at 60-70kph. He noticed a small silver car in his side mirror. It was preparing to overtake. “I saw a black car coming in the same lane from the opposite direction. I quickly realised that the silver car was not going to overtake me on time. The silver car veered over to the right to the hard shoulder on my right side of the road. The black car veered to the left but to the same hard shoulder of the silver car and they collided head on”. He said it appeared to him that the silver car was travelling at a speed faster than it should have been.

Garda Aisling Butler, Dunshaughlin Garda Station told the inquest that on 9th June 2021 she was on patrol duty with Garda Donal Young. At about 2.50pm they received a report of a two-car collision on the Drumree Road, Dunshaughlin. On arrival at the scene they found two cars badly damaged, having been in a head-on crash. There was a black Opel Insignia and a grey Skoda. Both vehicles were on the hard shoulder near the barrier. The day was bright, there was good visibility and the weather was dry. She saw a female driver in the Opel car and she was trapped there and was being attended to by fire personnel. She then saw a female in the other car and she was being given CPR.

The Garda said she had met a Martina Loughran at the scene who told her she had first responder experience and she had performed CPR on this person until the paramedics arrived. At 3.25 she was told by a paramedic that this driver had passed away. She said she observed a New York driver’s licence in the car in the name of Kristy Enos with the date of birth 15th December 1981.

Another Garda at the scene found a passport in the name of Ms Enos along with a backpack. A forensic scene investigator arrived at the scene at 4.10pm. Garda Butler said that a file had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions who directed that there should be no prosecution.

Coroner Nathaniel Lacy read in to the record the evidence of accident investigator Garda John Cregan. Garda Cregan said that it appeared the driver of the silver car was not wearing a seat belt.

Consultant pathologist Dr Muna Sabah, who carried out a post mortem on the deceased, said that Ms Enos had suffered multiple injuries. A toxicology report showed negative for alcohol or drugs. She concluded that death resulted from thoracic and multi-skeletal injuries. He returned a verdict in accordance with the medical injuries, finding that they were consistent with a road accident. The coroner and Garda Inspector Joseph Finnegan extended their condolences to the family of the deceased