Drivers heading wrong way on motorways a 'daily' peril

MOTORISTS DRIVING in the wrong direction on motorways was now “a daily occurrence”, Road Safety Authority chief executive Noel Brett has said.

Up to 20 such incidents per month were occurring on a stretch of new motorway in Co Limerick. The most dangerous drivers on motorways, gardaí say, are “middle-aged and older drivers”.

The figures, outlined at the announcement yesterday of a new road safety campaign aimed at motorway users, came as it was revealed three pedestrians and three car-users had already been killed on motorways this year.

This compares with four pedestrians and two car-users killed on motorways through all of last year. Two goods vehicle drivers were also killed on motorways last year.

“These figures mean that we have to launch this campaign,” said Harry Cullen, senior project manager with the National Roads Authority. The motorway network, he said, had grown massively from 300km in 2006 to 1,187km, and many people simply did not know how to use it safely.

Mr Brett said there were 2½ million driving licence-holders, and the vast majority had had no formal driving instruction, particularly older drivers, who he said may be used to driving in a way that was not suitable for motorways. “If someone misses their exit they may feel it’s okay to do a U-turn, or try and reverse back. One simply cannot do that in the high-speed environment of a motorway,” he said.

The most common and dangerous practices on the motorways were driving or reversing in the wrong direction, driving or parking on the hard shoulder for unnecessary reasons such as seeing to a child, and walking on motorways, said Chief Supt Gabriel McIntyre of the Garda National Traffic Bureau. “On one new stretch of motorway, the approach road to the toll plaza at the Limerick tunnel – which goes under the Shannon – there are 20 incidents a month of people driving against the flow of traffic,” he said. “To do that they would have to ignore six warning signs. This is really alarming.”

Limerick traffic bureau garda Tony Miniter said he had not met a young driver “making that mistake. It is middle-aged and older drivers mainly who perhaps panic when they realise they going a way they don’t want to, and try to reverse away or turn back”.

The new 40-second ad will run on TV and in cinemas and focuses on lane discipline, overtaking and what to do when a car breaks down on a motorway. A further ad focusing on not driving the wrong way on a motorway is also due.

More details on rsa.ie