A lorry driver “stood no chance” of avoiding a crash which claimed the lives of two American tourists, an inquest has heard.
Their rental car made a right turn in front of him as they made their way to Blarney Castle in Co Cork.
A Garda crash forensic expert indicated Stephen Murphy couldn’t possibly have avoided the crash which resulted in the deaths of James (Jim) Baker, 62, from Columbia City in Indiana and Peggy Sue Bockey Adams, 59, from Delphos, Ohio.
Mrs Baker and her husband James and friends Mrs Adams and her husband Jack had travelled to Ireland in September 2017 for a dream holiday.
The inquest in Blarney heard the couples rented a 161-registered Skoda Octavia with a sat-nav device in Dublin Airport.
They travelled around for a few nights before going to Blarney Castle from Limerick on September 11, 2017.
Mr Adams was driving southbound on the N20 heading towards the Waterloo Junction at around 11am.
He turned right and went straight in the path of a lorry coming from the other direction. His wife was in the rear seat behind him with Mrs Baker. Mr Baker was in the front passenger seat.
Mr Adams was not in attendance at the inquest.
In a statement read out he said he couldn’t remember receiving instructions from a sat-nav device or from any of the occupants of the car. He stated his car was hit from the left-hand side “without warning”.
Mrs Baker said in her statement she couldn’t recall any details of the accident.
She added: “I just feel bad for everyone in this situation.”
The inquest heard from Dermot Carroll, a Garda forensic collision expert, who stated Mr Murphy had just 1.6-seconds from when be braked to the point of impact with the tourists’ car.
He was driving well within the speed limit and had no chance to avoid an impact
Mrs Baker hugged Mr Murphy at the conclusion of the inquest.
Coroner Frank O’Connell extended his sympathies to the Baker and Adams families.
He said: “It was a split second thing. This holiday could easily, half a second either side, continued uneventfully, but it wasn’t to be.”
