Road experts tell inquest road ‘not safe’

Road experts tell inquest road ‘not safe’


Anton McNulty

AN expert on road surfaces told the inquest into the death of an Achill woman in a road traffic accident that the road surface on which she was driving did not provide the necessary skid resistance for the location.
Dr John Bullas was speaking on the second day of the inquest into the death of 22-year-old Ashling Gallagher of Askill on Achill Island who died on December 22, 2004 when the van she was driving collided with a cement truck on a bend along the N59 near Mulranny.
Day two of the inquest in Castlebar heard evidence from two consultants from Atkins Transport Solutions who were commissioned by the Heath and Safety Authority to carry out an independent review of the road where the accident occurred.
At the time the stretch of road had been resurfaced with Dense Bitumen Macadam (DBM) binder course, which was a temporary surface. The family of Ms Gallagher claim that the temporary road surface was not suitable for open traffic in an 100km/hr zone and that this resulted in the van going out of control.
Dr Bullas, a Highway Research Consultant, said the surface did not satisfy the NRA standards for a permanent high speed road and the loss of wet skid resistance was ‘significant’.
“The DBM bind course did not provide the high speed skid resistance necessary for this location,” explained Dr Bullas. He said that the DBM surface would never be opened to traffic in the UK with a speed limit.
At the time of the accident there were road markings on the temporary surface and Dr Bullas said that Mayo County Council's failure to provide an approved road surface was ‘compounded by the appearance of final road markings which suggested the road was complete’.
Mayo County Council and the NRA accepted that the surface was temporary but deny that it was not suitable for traffic. Mr Aongus Ó Bronlchain, senior counsel for Mayo County Council, said that the bad weather prevented them from applying the final surface but this surface was used in this fashion.
However, Dr Bullas said that if this was the case it should be used for low speed roads and marked accordingly. He added that DBM was not designed to shape the road and not to be driven on. When it was put to him by Mr Ó Bronlchain that the surface ‘may’ have skid resistance, Dr Bullas replied that it would be ‘exceptional if it did’.
Dr Bullas’ colleague, Mr Peter Faherty, who investigated the construction of the road, said the surface should not have been opened to traffic without measures in place to reduce speed to under 50km/hr.
Mayo County Council and the NRA claim the surface was capable of dealing with traffic at the 100km/hr speed limit but Mr Faherty responded that he would not open the road for ten minutes without speed controls on it. The inquest continues today in Castlebar.