Over 4,000 accidents, breakdowns and incidents on M50 — Ireland's busiest road
Heavy traffic on the M50 at the N4 interchange on what is the country's busiest road. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
Ireland's busiest road has seen more than 4,100 accidents, incidents, and breakdowns since the start of January last year.
Spills of hazardous material, burning cars, loose animals, and vehicles driving in the wrong direction were among the incidents logged.
There were 21 'major' incidents recorded on the M50 ring road, according to figures released by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII).
Another 969 high priority incidents were also reported over the course of the past 21 months.
A log of incidents reveals there were two incidents involving spills of hazardous chemicals and 24 reports of vehicles on fire.
In seven cases, a car or truck was reported to be travelling in the wrong direction on the road, which has for most of its length a 100 km/h limit.
There were 23 cases involving a live animal on the road and another 11 instances where a dead animal was causing a hazard for motorists.
Two cases of serious anti-social behaviour were listed where there was a 'moderate' risk caused to people travelling on the road.
In 188 cases, a car was reported abandoned or missing along the motorway while there were 1,538 cases of a vehicle breaking down.
Collisions — from minor prangs to serious multi-vehicle crashes — numbered 901 while 210 cases of a cyclist or pedestrian on the road were also reported.
There were 594 cases of debris on the road and five fires, not involving vehicles, but which were also listed in the TII log.
Some 114 motorists suffered a blow out or a flat tyre on the ring road while 14 cases of flooding were also reported.
There were 15 cases of “medical emergency” and eight incidents recorded where there was a call from a roadside helpline but no caller on the other end.
The M50 also saw 34 motorists run out of fuel and 25 times where a queue for a slip road was so long, it was backing up onto the motorway itself.
There were also 34 incidents logged of spillages on the road and 192 occasions where surface water was causing a hazard.
Of the 4,109 incidents logged between January 2019 and the end of September, nearly a quarter were classified as “major” or “high priority”.
There were 1,439 moderate priority incidents, 1,429 low priority incidents, and 11 with no classification.
Sean O’Neill of TII said the M50 remains the most travelled road in the country.
He said: “It is a critical regional and national corridor responsible for assisting with the transport of goods and services throughout the entire country taking a significant amount of heavy goods vehicles to and from Dublin Port via the Dublin Tunnel.
"That is why [we] through our service provider M50 Concessions maintain 24/7 coverage every day of the year.”
Mr O’Neill said plans for variable speed limits on the road, which can change according to traffic volume and driving conditions were well advanced.
“People will start to notice some additional signs going up before the end of this year,” he said.
“The full system install and system testing will take a few months and we would anticipate the live variable speed signage to be operational by late spring or summer 2021.”
