Sir, – While I agree with Tony Greany (Letters, July 15th) that in single-vehicle motorcycle crashes, sometimes it is the rider’s actions which lead to the crash, there is a common practice known as “top dressing” carried out by county councils at this time of year which is highly dangerous to motorcyclists.
Top-dressing is the practice of covering a road surface with an excess of stone chippings during summer when tarmac is softer and relying on passing traffic to push it into the road surface.
What then happens is that the excess chippings get moved by four-wheeled traffic to the space of the road between their wheels and piles up in unstable heaps, on the exact part of the road where the motorcyclist is likely to place their wheels.
These heaps may remain for many weeks and can be very difficult to see, signage can often be highly inadequate and in any event, warning signs don’t take away the danger, as even if being careful, a deep pile of chippings can cause the wheels to lose all traction and result in a crash.
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It’s about time councils stopped this dangerous practice.
It may be a “handy” way for councils to resurface a road in the summer, but it is dangerous for motorcyclists, as well as being responsible for chipped and cracked windscreens, and also presents a missile hazard to pedestrians and cyclists.
Yes, some motorcyclists do drive too fast and recklessly and die as a result, but councils are making the roads more dangerous by their practice of “top-dressing” and leaving an unstable surface with an excess of loose stone chippings on which to lose grip and crash.
The practice of “top-dressing” needs to stop.
I’m also quite sure that far more motorcycle crashes are caused by top-dressing, oil spills, potholes and cars pulling out of junctions into the path of motorcycles, and bad rider behaviour, than are caused by a lack of a motorcycle NCT. – Yours, etc,
DAVID DORAN,
Bagenalstown,
Co Carlow.