Frequent N40 crashes causing traffic chaos across Cork city

Minister and councillors call for crash data review, faster vehicle removal and stronger Garda presence on Cork’s N40

Emergency services at the scene of a multi-vehicle collision on the N40 south ring road. Picture: Larry Cummins

Frequent crashes on one of Cork’s busiest roads are causing traffic chaos and were raised as a concern in the Dáil yesterday.

Every inch of Cork’s N40 south ring dual carriageway has been the site of a crash, Cork’s Local Community Safety Partnership heard recently.

Minister of State for Rural Transport, Community Development and Charities, Cork South Central TD Jerry Buttimer, is calling for urgent action on the N40.

As recently as Wednesday, emergency services attended a multi-vehicle crash outside Douglas, causing delays.

But even relatively minor crashes are causing major traffic problems.

Mr Buttimer has requested a meeting with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and the National Transport Authority (NTA) and he also plans to meet with An Garda Síochána about the road.

“There needs to be a re-evaluation and a recalibration of how we manage traffic congestion and accidents on the N40,” the minister said.

“We need to do a piece of work around the accident points, where are traffic accidents occurring regularly, why are they happening, and what is the nature of them? And then secondly, how can we put together a plan where we can expedite the removal of cars or vehicles from an accident safely on the N40 so that we can free traffic up?

There’s serious concerns about the congestion, in particular caused by small accidents, where there is just no need for an inordinate delay perhaps.

“And I’m concerned about a number of pinch points that I see in terms of people queuing, coming off ramps, where we need to re-educate people. But we need to have a plan with TII in terms of how we can organise the road better from an operational point of view.

“The N40 is a wonderful asset to Cork but it’s becoming gridlocked, in part because of traffic accidents that are small in many cases and that could be moved off the road more efficiently.”

Examining how people are coming off ramps and switching lanes also needs to be examined, he said, with crashes often happening at off-ramps in Togher and Mahon and at the Kinsale Road roundabout.

Minister of State for Rural and Community Development, Charities and Transport, Jerry Buttimer. File picture

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) cannot remove vehicles from a crash site without direction from gardaí.

This is sometimes causing major traffic delays, when TII must wait for garda clearance, even for minor accidents, Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan said.

“There’s a distinction between a serious multi-vehicle collision that will require emergency services versus a small bang, a fender bender,” Mr Horgan said.

He is calling for a garda to be stationed around the N40.

This garda would be available to help TII recovery vehicles more efficiently clear the N40 after a crash.

But a visible garda presence would also deter motorists from speeding and improve driver behaviour, thereby likely reducing accidents, he said.

Mr Horgan said that he has been requesting N40 crash data for approximately four years. Data would show where the crashes are happening and at what times.

“Crash data would inform us if there is an infrastructural issue on the road, that we could then address. Or whether crashes are more down to driver behaviour, which we could then address in another way.

“There was a very bad crash yesterday and the day before, they’re happening regularly.

“We can’t just allow it to continue, we have to take proactive measures. But how can we make adjustments if we don’t have the data?”