Motorway pile-up inevitable: experts

IT is nearly inevitable that there will be a catastrophic motorway pile-up in Ireland similar to one on the M5 in England last month if tailgating does not stop, a leading road safety researcher has warned.

The Road Safety Authority has already said “the margin for error” on our motorways is “very small” if something goes wrong because of the high speeds involved.

The warning of a catastrophic pile-up was made by Colm Conyngham, whose research earlier this year at Stirling University in Scotland found that TV adverts emphasising the horrific effects of car crashes have little effect on driver behaviour.

Now he has warned “it is almost inevitable there will be a catastrophic pile-up or even a series of pile-ups with major loss of life in the not too distant future”.

Mr Conyngham, who works as marketing manager with Bridgestone Tyres, said his opinions are based on “my observations of motorway driving in Ireland”, and primarily on the way people drive on the M50 and the M1.

“Typically, what you see is two cars with several feet of distance between them that are travelling at 100kph or more and there is absolutely no way they have sufficient reaction time.”

“A small event could trigger one car having an accident and then it’s a bit like a wall suddenly being built across a motorway,” Mr Conyngham said.

“Cars as far as a quarter to half a kilometre back are still involved in that accident because of the speeds and the reaction times involved.”

He says that on motorways drivers have “almost no expectation of an obstacle ahead of them and the guy who is driving a few feet back from the car in front of him has absolutely no chance of stopping in an emergency situation”.

He said the “simple” way to prevent this happening was staying sufficiently back from the vehicle in front of you and not tailgate. He says all the stopping distances are on the website of the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

RSA communications manager Brian Farrell said: “It is true to say that motorways are the safest roads in the [road] network but when something goes wrong it tends to be very serious because people are travelling at up to 120kph so the margin of error is very small.”

He said: “It is critical people are aware of how to drive on motorways” and when it comes to staying a safe distance behind the vehicle in front, he said drivers should know the stopping distances for the speed they are at and “if you can read the number plate in front of you, you are too close”.

Garda inspector Paul Kiernan, who oversees the garda traffic corps operations on the M1 in Louth, said: “It is crucial and it is the law that you always drive at a speed that allows you to stop in good time and that allows you good reaction time bearing in mind the volume of traffic.” He warned gardaí do prosecute for careless and dangerous driving and that they are “watching out for tailgating”. He said people must always allow the correct distance from the vehicle in front of them.