20/01/2003

Road accident claims second family death

The funeral of a 14-year-old boy killed in a road accident in north Antrim at the weekend was held this morning.

Aiden McIlhatton, from Martinstown, died alongside 17-year-old Shane Delargy when their motorbike collided with a Ford Fiesta car shortly after 9pm on Friday near Cargan village.

Tragically this was the second occasion that a child from the McIlhatton family has died as result of a road accident.

Fourteen years ago Sean and Mary McIlhatton’s daughter Angela died on the Glenravel Road – the same road in which Aiden died at the weekend.

Aiden was just 11 months old when Angela was knocked down in 1989. After her death, her family campaigned to get the speed limit reduced to 30mph in the town.

Aiden and Shane’s deaths bring the total of people who have been killed on Northern Ireland’s roads in 2003 to 11. This compares to just one fatality this time last year.

East Antrim assembly member Ken Robinson has called on the NIO to introduce new legislation over road safety.

"No society should continue to endure or tolerate this level of road fatalities and serious injury," he said.

"The impact on the lives of the families concerned and on the wider community is incalculable. I believe a series of coordinated measures could cut this appallingly high level of fatalities and serious accidents."

Mr Robinson called for the speed limit to be reduced to 20mph in residential areas, the setting up of more mini-roundabouts to ease traffic flow, more comprehensive updating of road signage and a cut in the legal limit for alcohol consumption.

(AMcE)

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