Cars ‘sliding sideways’ down hills during frosty period

Serious concerns over the dangers facing motorists on local roads during prolonged icy periods have been raised by councillors.

A meeting of Roscommon Municipal District heard that vehicles were going sideways down untreated hills during a recent frosty spell.

Cllr Ruth Conboy thanked the council for its winter roads programme on the regional and national roads, but highlighted that problems occurred on local roads.

“It is particularly frustrating if there is a prolonged cold snap,” she said. While she accepted that it was often a budget issue, she asked that a way be found to tackle key routes such as the Ballintubber to Castlerea road, and the Ballinagare to Castlerea road.

“There are a number of schools and childcare centres as well that are not on national or regional roads,” she said, adding that these roads needed to be gritted.

Cllr Michael Holland said that on a stretch of the Ballintubber to Castlerea road, forestry had gone “wild”.

“It is shaded so the road is absolutely lethal after frost. It takes two days for it to thaw out. There was an accident there two weeks ago,” he said.

He warned that there could be someone killed on the road, and he asked if some of that forestry could be cut back. He said that a local farmer offered to grit the road for free if there was a bin of salt available.

Cllr Holland also said that he received a report of an articulated lorry “coming sideways” down the Walk road in Roscommon Town. He said that this area was home to a number of large businesses.

While he praised the council’s outdoor staff for their work, Cllr Paschal Fitzmaurice said he had motions previously down calling for salt bins near schools, but had received a poor response to these requests.

He accepted that not all roads could be salted, but “the big issue for me is we have gotten commitments in the past about salting certain hills, like Cashel Park in Castlerea but suddenly it got forgotten about again,” he said. “It is too steep of a hill, and cars were sliding out on to the main roads. There was a commitment given that the hill would be salted.” He said he went out himself numerous nights with a “bucket of salt” to try and grit the area.

“We were given a commitment from the council about salt bins for hills and housing estates, “and it was forgotten about again”.

He said that vehicles could not get up or down hills in Granlahan or Ballindrimley, Castlerea during the recent frost.

“In Ballindrimley the cars were sliding down sideways,” he said. “It’s very frustrating when you drive down by the council depot and you see a mountain of salt and we can’t get a bit of salt for those hills.” In Fairymount, an elderly woman’s car flipped over twice and went into a drain, “it was lucky she wasn’t killed,” he said. “We need action on this.” The meeting heard that the proposal for salt bins had been referred to a strategic policy committee, and Cllr Fitzmaurice called for it to be dealt with “rapidly”.

Cllr Nigel Dineen highlighted that salt bins were provided in other counties. He also said that companies based at the Walk were paying “massive rates” and that the road needed to be gritted.

“That is not right.” Cllr Marty McDermott said that the Square in Roscommon Town was “like a skating rink during the frosty period”.

MD co-ordinator Tom McDermott said that there were resource constraints, and he also highlighted the issue of civil liability.

“If you grit a path today and don’t do it tomorrow, there’s a liability there,” he said, continuing that this could also be an issue for people gritting roads and paths themselves.

*Published under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme