A severe downhill bend where a US cyclist lost her life in the popular Gap of Dunloe in Co Kerry had no warning signs or markings to alert cyclists, a garda expert has told an inquest.
The coroner and the jury have recommended there be warning signs on the busy regional road which is under the charge of Kerry County Council.
Janet Price, 69, of Washington state, died from severe blunt force trauma to the chest and had suffered multiple fractures and lacerations to her organs due to a fall from a bicycle sustained in a road traffic collision on 30 May 2017, South and East Kerry coroner Aisling Quilter read from the pathologist report of Dr Margot Bolster.
She was on her way down the Gap route ahead of her husband Don Theiler at around 3pm.
Mr Theiler said in his deposition that he saw her lying face down close to the front wheel of a trailer full of lambs which was being towed by a jeep.
The driver of the jeep, Donncha Tagney, was not at the inquest, but in a deposition read by Supt Flor Murphy he said he was on his way up the Gap and he observed a lady cyclist up ahead of him and she was out of control.
"I knew at the speed she was going she had no control. I stopped… There was no impact with my trailer," Mr Tagney said.
A second witness deposition also said they saw a lady thrown from a bicycle and she did not hit the trailer.
Another witness walking in the area said the cyclist seemed to be between the wheels of the trailer and the back of the jeep.
She had seen three cyclists pass and remembered thinking to herself they were travelling very fast "on the narrow and winding road".
After the inquest, Ms Price's daughter Erika said she believed her late mother, and step-father, who were inexperienced cyclists, would not have undertaken the scenic cycle through the Gap if they had known the dangers.
"I think if they had been warned that it was not for beginner cyclists they might not have gone," Ms Price said.
"People should know what they are getting into. But ultimately we are all individuals and we are all responsible for what we put ourselves into.
"It sounds like something that should have happened a long time ago," she said of the warning signs.
Responding to reporters' questions, Ms Price also said she believed there was an onus on tourist interests in Killarney to inform people about the dangers of the route.
"There should be more information out there about the kind of cycling you do there," Ms Price said, adding it would be reasonable (to warn people).
The family's "goal" was for warning signs to be erected along the tarred, narrow mountain road and this is something that should have been done long ago.
Asked what her mother, a grandmother to four boys, was like she said she was too upset. "That would be too hard right now," Ms Price said.
She and her older sister Jennifer attended today's inquest in Killarney accompanied by their solicitor Emer O'Sullivan.
Garda forensic collision investigator Raymond Sweeney said the bend was quite severe.
It was a 140 degree bend "almost coming back on yourself," he indicated with his hand and elbow to the jury outlining the difference between 90 degree right angle and the bend where the cyclist died.
The road actually fell as you went round the bend, and this was not the norm, the garda said. There were four less severe bends before it.
"I did not note any warning signs or marking on approach to the severe bend," he said.
Co-incidentally the next day when making a video recording of the scene he observed another cyclist, this time an experienced mountain biker "miscalculate" and fail to take the bend and skid across the road, to the wrong side.
A Toyota Land Cruiser jeep carrying a trailer of lambs and sheep was there and there was sufficient space for the bicycle to pass safely.
The jeep which was on its way up to the Black Valley would have been going "dead slow" in order to take the bend.
In a deposition read to the court, Mr Theiler told how he and his late wife and a friend had hired the bikes in Killarney town and took the world-renowned lake trip from Reen Pier at Ross Castle through the lakes to lunch at Lord Brandon's Cottage.
"We were not experienced bikers and it was busier than we expected," Mr Theiler said, adding his wife was "around 20 yards ahead" and he did not see the accident. He said she was lying face down when he came upon her.
A doctor form Australia was on the scene and had tried to revive Ms Price until paramedics arrived, but she died at the scene.
Bikes and vehicles were all in good working order, the inquest was also told.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death in accordance with the medical evidence and the Jury and coroner recommended that signs should be erected on the roadway for all road users.
In a statement this evening, Kerry County Council said it will "now consider the recommendations made by the Coroner's Court today."
