Elderly driver died after rear-ending two vehicles at temporary traffic lights

An elderly motorist suffered fatal injuries after his car rear-ended two other vehicles stopped at a temporary traffic lights in south Dublin two and a half years ago, an inquest has heard.

Seán Fitzsimons (72) from Broadford Lawn, Ballinteer, Dublin died at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital in Dublin on December 21, 2021 from injuries he sustained in a collision on Blackglen Road, Sandyford, Co Dublin while on his way home after visiting his daughter three weeks earlier. Olivia Fitzsimons told a sitting of Dublin District Coroner’s Court last week that she was alerted that her father had been in an accident about 30 minutes after he had left her house on the evening of December 2, 2021.

Ms Fitzsimons said her father was still sitting in the driver’s seat of his car when she arrived at the scene. “He kept saying sorry and not to change plans for the weekend,” said Ms Fitzsimons. She explained she found out later that her father’s comment was a reference to the fact that he was aware that her boyfriend was going to propose to her a few days later.

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The inquest heard that Mr Fitzsimons was immobilised and originally brought to St Vincent’s University Hospital for treatment but he was later transferred to the Mater as he required surgery on his neck. Ms Fitzsimons said her father suffered a number of strokes while in hospital and had to be placed on a ventilator with scans subsequently showing no sign of any brain activity in the patient.

In reply to questions from the coroner, Cróna Gallagher, Ms Fitzsimons said her father would have been familiar with Blackglen Road as it was on his way home to Ballinteer. Although her father, who lived alone, had been pretty sick during the week before the accident, Ms Fitzsimons said he was still able to look after himself.

She said he had hit his head off the windscreen of his Opel Astra and could not make sense of how the collision had occurred. Another motorist, Tarny Reilly, told the inquest that she was on her way home at around 9.20pm on December 2, 2021 when her Kia Ceed was hit from behind “without warning” by two other vehicles while stopped at a temporary traffic light on Blackglen Road.

Ms Reilly said one of the vehicles had ended up in a ditch, while there was an elderly man with a gash on his head in the other car. Asked about the speed of Mr Fitzsimons’ vehicle, she claimed it seemed like it was “slowing down.”

The driver of the other vehicle involved in the collision, Paul Cron, said that he could see in his rearview mirror from the lights of the car behind him that it was not going to stop as it approached the temporary traffic lights. Mr Cron, who had his daughter and one of her friends in his car, said he tried to drive into a ditch at the side of the road to avoid a collision.

However, he claimed the impact still caused his Toyota Auris to hit the vehicle in front of him. Mr Cron said the airbags in Mr Fitzsimons car had deployed but the driver was not moving when he had checked on the other vehicles.

The witness said he also believed he had seen Mr Fitzsimons’ vehicle a few minutes earlier when it was stopped on the wrong side of a junction at Lamb’s Cross in Sandyford. Garda John Hayes of Stepaside Garda station, confirmed that tests showed that Mr Fitzsimons had not consumed any alcohol or drugs at the time of the collision.

Garda Hayes told the coroner that there was no issue with the layout of the temporary traffic lights but acknowledged it was a dark night with “unpleasant” weather at the time. The inquest heard a forensic collision investigator had been unable to determine the pre-impact speed of the deceased’s vehicle and that the cause of the crash remained unknown.

A consultant in emergency medicine at St Vincent’s, John Ryan, said Mr Fitzsimons had vomited and complained of a sore neck but was lucid on arrival at the hospital. Professor Ryan said a scan on the patient showed he had fractured a bone in his neck which he regarded as a significant injury.

The inquest heard that Mr Fitzsimons had suffered complications after a successful operation on his neck at the Mater hospital. A postmortem concluded that he died as a result of a spinal fracture caused by the road traffic collision with evidence of heart disease a possible contributory factor.

Dr Gallagher said it was possible that the deceased had suffered some kind of stroke while driving but it could not be proved. “Something happened to him that caused some transient impairment but it is difficult to say what it was,” the coroner added. Offering her condolences to Mr Fitzsimons’ family, she recorded a verdict of accidental death.

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