Questions over why ‘crash map’ was pulled from road safety campaign

The Road Safety Authority has been accused of covering up accident blackspots in County Galway – after a map outlining where the majority of crashes take place in the county was pulled.

The map, outlining the county’s main accident blackspots and collision locations was to be presented at a meeting earlier this week – but the RSA refused to release it, saying said that the map did not provide up to date information and that more detailed statistics would be released shortly.

The map was supposed to form part of the County Galway Road Safety Plan, designed to help reduce collisions on the roads.

Its withdrawal has led to Independent Cllr James Charity putting down a Freedom of Information request looking for details from the RSA with regard to where the accident blackspots are in County Galway.

Cllr Charity’s comments follow a major crash near Bawnmore National School near Claregalway in which a lorry overturned on a bad bend. He said that this was one of several crashes to have occurred there in recent years.

This was why he was confused that the Road Safety Authority was reluctant to release the map. He said that they should be “shouting from the rooftops” about accident blackspots in an effort to prevent fatalities from occurring.

“I was shocked when I learned that the Road Safety Authority were withdrawing their report on the location where major accidents happen in Galway. I have now requested a reason for their decision because lives are at risk.

“Why a body tasked with promoting road safety has a problem releasing this information is staggering to me, especially at a time when a speed limit review is ongoing county wide.

“This is the very information needed to feed into that decision-making process. This data would also assist in highlighting accident blackspots which require safety works, such as that at Bawnmore.

“It is outrageous the RSA did not include the report in the adopted Road Safety Plan, which appears in its final version. This plan says a lot about nothing other than providing, at considerable expense to the taxpayer, general information which is already in the public domain,” Cllr Charity said.

But Brian Farrell of the Road Safety Authority said that the map which Cllr Charity refers to was out of date and they intend publishing details regarding locations of road traffic collisions and where the accident blackspots are in Galway.

He said that this will be made available within a week or so when all of their information is validated. “We want to ensure that all of the information is quality assured. To suggest that we do not want to share our data is absolutely wrong”.

Mr Farrell added: “We are working closely with the officials of Galway County Council and our priority is to provide them with quality and accurate information and that is what we will be doing”.