Joe Marroquin killed, woman seriously injured in Westmeath

A US tourist visiting his family in Whitehall, County Westmeath, was killed and his wife was seriously injured when two vehicles collided on the way to Dublin Airport.

Joe Marroquin became the fourth road accident victim in Ireland this week when he was killed in a two-vehicle collision on the Castlepollard to Mullingar road in Westmeath on Wednesday 3 July.

Joe and Cathy are both of Irish descent and were visiting family in Whitehall, Westmeath. The couple were travelling towards Dublin Airport when the accident occurred on the R394 at Gartlandstown, Castlepollard, at around 5.30am. They were travelling home to Texas after their holiday.

The man, in his 80s, was a passenger in one of the vehicles and was pronounced dead at the scene. According to MidlandsFM, his wife is in a “critical condition”. She is being treated at the Midlands Regional Hospital in Tullamore.

Two men in the second car, aged between 30 and 20, were taken to hospitals in Mullingar and Tullamore with injuries described as non-life-threatening.

Police urged the public to “exercise extreme caution and look after themselves.” RTE reports that four people have died on Ireland’s roads since Sunday evening.

Superintendent Liam Geraghty said on Wednesday evening that these incidents “demonstrate once again the tragedy that can affect any of us”.

“No one wakes up and goes out onto our roads with the intention of causing or being involved in a traffic accident. In particular, no one has the intention of causing the death of another or of being fatally injured.”

He further appealed to “all road users, regardless of how they use the road, to exercise extreme caution and pay attention to their safety, especially to all motorists, please slow down and protect everyone on our roads.”

So far this year, 97 people have died on Ireland’s roads, an increase of 12 deaths over the same period in 2023.