CATHERINE BRODIGAN,
Sir, - Your writer Edward Power would do well to further check his facts concerning the recent spate of fatalities on the M1 at Dunleer.
The "young couple" to whom he refers (August 14th) died tragically in November, 2001, not November, 2000, as stated in the article. Furthermore, the accident did not take place on the M1, but on a stretch of the N1 a number of kilometres further south. Repeated calls have been made to Louth County Council to alter the road layout in this area and to provide traffic islands at various points to facilitate right-turning traffic. To date, none of this work has been completed. CCTV cameras currently in place do little or nothing to reduce the speed of southbound traffic into Drogheda; in fact your newspaper regularly details incidences of speed-related prosecutions in this area, with speeds as high as 120 mph reported.
Whilst the use of chicken wire on the M1 Dunleer by-pass is certainly questionable, the lack of appropriate turning-points and speed reduction measures on the N1 immediately south of it are nothing short of appalling.
Traffic levels on this stretch of road will be reduced with the opening of the Drogheda by-pass in 2003; however, measures need to be taken in the interim to prevent further deaths. - Yours, etc.,
CATHERINE BRODIGAN, Drogheda, Co Louth