![\"Stock](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/c71dc124-1c38-407d-985f-914b6e21fa1e.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe collision occurred around 12 noon on Saturday at Pickardstown Cross on the Waterford-Tramore Road.<\/p>\n
It involved a van and a car with the accident scene located less than 5km from Waterford city.<\/p>\n
The two deceased are understood to be a man and a woman, both aged in their 50s.<\/p>\n
Both were the occupants of the car involved in the collision.<\/p>\n
They are believed to be originally from the Leinster area.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Stock image.<\/p>\n
Today’s News in 90 Seconds, Saturday, February 21 <\/p>\n
Two occupants of the van, a man and a child, were treated for injuries which are not described as life-threatening.<\/p>\n
Garda, Waterford Fire Brigade units and Health Service Executive (HSE) ambulances were immediately deployed to the scene.<\/p>\n
The road involved was closed to facilitate the work of the emergency services.<\/p>\n
Traffic diversions were put in place as Garda\u00ed urged people to avoid the Ballykinsella Crossroads by the Robin Hill\/Pickardstown Cross.<\/p>\n
The injured were treated at the scene before being transferred to University Hospital Waterford (UHW) at Ardkeen.<\/p>\n
Major traffic delays have been reported from the area.<\/p>\n
Garda accident investigators have sealed off the scene for a detailed examination in a bid to determine the precise circumstances of the collision.<\/p>\n
The vehicles involved will also be removed for an examination by public service vehicle inspectors.<\/p>\n
Garda\u00ed have appealed for anyone who witnessed the collision to contact them to assist their inquiries.<\/p>\n
They are particularly appealing to any motorist who was on the road at the time and whose vehicle is equipped with dash-cameras.<\/p>\n
Anyone with information is asked to contact Waterford Garda\u00ed at Tramore on (051) 391620 or their local garda station.<\/p>\n
Post mortem examinations will now be conducted on the two deceased at UHW.<\/p>\n
The Waterford tragedy brings to 20 the number of people who have died on Irish roads so far this year.<\/p>\n
Of the 20 deaths, ten involved drivers with seven involving pedestrians.<\/p>\n
Three passengers have also died.<\/p>\n
Traffic fatalities are now one above the total for the same period last year (19) with 2025 ranking as one of the worst years for road fatalities over the past two decades.<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin admitted he was very concerned at the rising level of fatalities on Irish roads.<\/p>\n
Road safety groups including PARC have called for greater resources and recruitment for the Garda Road Policing Units.<\/p>\n
PARC founder Susan Gray warned that only through the strict enforcement of traffic safety regulations, the proper resourcing of Garda traffic units, the closing of loopholes in respect of road operational issues and enhanced driver education will Ireland reduce the death toll on the roads. <\/p>\n
Despite the increase in the number of vehicles on Irish roads since 2009, the overall number of Garda\u00ed dedicated to full-time traffic duties has fallen by 40pc.<\/p>\n
Former Garda Commissioner Drew Harris was so concerned at the rise in the number of deaths on Irish roads that he directed all uniformed personnel to undertake 15 minutes of traffic duties each day.<\/p>\n
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has also expressed concern at risky behaviour by Irish drivers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The collision occurred around 12 noon on Saturday at Pickardstown Cross on the Waterford-Tramore Road. It involved a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,898,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-310127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-latest-news-ticker","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}