This article is from page 2 of the 2012-01-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
THERE have been calls for new emergency access points to be introduced on a section of the M18 near Barefield. The National Roads Authority (NRA) has been urged to carry out the “retrofit” works to ensure that emergency service vehicles can reach accidents on the road.
The call came after it emerged that an emergency vehicle had to travel almost 20km to Crusheen to attend a single vehicle crash that occurred near the Barefield interchange last week.
Despite the accident occurring close to Ennis, the ambulance was forced to travel north to Crusheen in order to gain access to the southbound carriage of the motorway. Councillor Johnny Flynn (FG), said that in light of recent accidents in the area, the NRA should look at providing access points on the M18.
He explained, “Because of the concrete median there is serious difficulty for emergency vehicles trying to get to accidents. In that case the journey had to be extended by almost 15 to 20km. When the NRA were designing the motorway they didn’t leave room for sufficient ac- cess points. It could have been done at Tubber or Dromore.”
He added, “It would be a matter of retrofitting the motorway. There would be access points every 5km across the concrete barriers. So instead of travelling 20km, if you had multiple access points, you would have a facility to access it.”
Cllr Flynn warned that the situation could be exacerbated if accidents occurred in both the north and south carriageways. “On a foggy day or a day when the weather is really bad, it’s conceivable that you could have accidents at points at either end of the motorway and you would have serious difficulties trying to get to them.”
Cllr Flynn added, “The delay in getting to the accident site would impact on the ‘golden hour’ – which is the critical time frame from the time of an accident to receiving treatment.”
Concern had previously been expressed over the length of the slip roads from the M18 at some of the road’s main access points.
Cllr Flynn said safety works carried out by the NRA were welcome. He added, “the motorway system is much more safer but the frequency of accidents at that location that is quite worrying.”