Freak hailstone storms have been blamed by the National Roads Authority (NRA) for a spate of traffic accidents and road closures on a €207 million stretch of motorway.
In a letter to Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Carey, the authority's programme and regulatory manager Gary Lynch has attributed incidents along the M18 route to intense hailstorms.
Mr Lynch was responding to Mr Carey’s concerns over the high number of incidents on the route between Crusheen and Gort. The road first opened to traffic in 2010.
Mr Lynch wrote that “there would be a particular problem associated with hailstorms along the M18 which seem to be more frequent along this route than at other locations throughout the national road motorway network”.
He wrote: “It was such a hailstorm on January 13th, 2015, which resulted in skidding accidents and the closure of the road for a time by the gardaí.”
An earlier hailstorm on the M18 route near Newmarket-onFergus in February 2014 resulted in five separate car crashes during a 10 minute period that resulted in Gardaí, six units of the fire brigade and two ambulances arriving at the scene.
Intensity
Mr Lynch said “it is worth noting that some of the hailstorms recorded had such intensity that at one time they caused the road temperature to drop by approximately 5 degrees Celsius in a 30 minute period”.
Mr Lynch discussed the conditions experienced on the M18 with the head of forecasting at Met Éireann, Gerald Fleming who "noted that these localised, short and intense hail showers are virtually impossible to predict or forecast even with Co Clare being well covered with the Met Éireann station and radar at Shannon".
Mr Lynch said that “with this in mind, the only action for a road operator when faced with these conditions is to implement operations to mitigate the hazard for the road user as far as frequently practicable . . . On many of the days that hail has occurred, the gardaí have taken the decision to close the road – in some cases as a precaution and on others in relation to the response of incidents on the network”.
Adverse conditions
Mr Lynch said the authority was firmly of the view that driver behaviour in those type of adverse conditions was a significant factor. Deputy Carey said he was disappointed with the response. “It is bizarre that the NRA would blame hailstones for the accidents on one particular stretch of road in the country and not say what plans they have in place to reduce the number of accidents on the route.”
Head of the Clare Garda Traffic Corps Insp John Ryan said that there was a higher incidence of crashes between the Barefield and Gort section of the route “and it is unusual that there are more accidents on that section as there is a higher volume of traffic on the route between Ennis and Shannon and Limerick” .
Insp Ryan said the route was “accident- free and a very safe road when there are no downpours of hail or sleet”.
