Gardaí have renewed their appeal to all road users to "exercise extreme caution and stay safe", following the deaths of four people in separate road crashes in counties Mayo and Westmeath.
Speaking this evening Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty said the incidents seen on the roads in the last few days "once again clearly demonstrate the tragedy that can befall anyone of us."
"No person wakes up and goes out on our roads to cause or be involved in a traffic collision, in particular no person intends to cause someone's death or be fatally injured."
Four people have died on Irish roads since Sunday, including a woman and her eight-year-old daughter in a collision in Co Mayo yesterday evening.
A man in his 80s died following a two-car collision in Co Westmeath this morning, in what was the second road fatality in the same area since Sunday. He has been named as Joe Marroquin.
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He was a passenger in one of the cars, and was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, which occurred on the R394 at Gartlandstown, Castlepollard, at around 5.30am.
His wife, aged in her 60s and who had been driving the car, was seriously injured and is being treated at the Midland Regional Hospital in Tullamore.
Two men in the second car, aged in their 30s and 20s, were taken to hospitals in Mullingar and Tullamore, with what are described as non-life threatening injuries.
The collision occurred in the same area where 47-year-old Marcin Nowosielski was pronounced dead after a single-car crash on Sunday morning.
Gardaí have appealed for information about the movements of the car that was involved in that crash.
The black Nissan Almera, registration 02 CE 3568, was driven by Mr Nowosielski, who died after the vehicle hit a ditch.
He was found dead in the driver's seat of the car, which was discovered at around 6.40pm yesterday on the R395 at Teevrevagh in Castlepollard.
Gardaí have said it is "currently unclear exactly" when the car left the road, but it is believed to have occurred in the previous days.
Mr Nowosielski was last seen in the early hours of Sunday 30 June.
Anyone with information on the movements of Mr Nowosielski or his black Nissan Almera car have been asked to contact gardaí.
Supt Geraghty said An Garda Síochána's thoughts and sympathies are with all those families grieving for loved ones who have died on the roads.
He said gardaí continue to "appeal to all road users, in whatever way you use the road, to exercise extreme caution and stay safe, in particular to all drivers please slow down and protect everyone on our roads."
So far this year, 97 people have died on Irish roads, which is an increase of 12 fatalities on the same period last year.
Supt Geraghty said it was "very hard to pinpoint one specific cause."
He said the first three months of the year was "a tragic period when we had 59 road fatalities compared to 42 in the same period in 2023."
"For the second quarter, April, May and June this year, while we still had 35 fatalities, that was a reduction from 41 the previous year."
"So, as a community and as a society, we can reduce road deaths on our roads but that involves all of us taking care on the roads, it involves all of the state agencies doing our part, but also every road user playing their part to protect everybody else on the road and themselves," he added.
Additional reporting Gail Conway
