Authority fails to fit road safety barriers

NO new safety barriers have been fitted on existing motorways and dual carriageways in the past 18 months even though experts say they can save lives.

The National Roads Authority admitted yesterday it still had not begun a €51m programme of refitting and installing barriers on all major two-lane roads where the central reservation was less than 15 metres wide.

According to official figures, 16 people died and a further 97 people were seriously injured between 1996 and 1999 as a result of vehicles entering the central reservation due to the absence of safety barriers.