The National Roads Authority says it has no plans to erect signs warning motorists about a road surface material that has caused safety concerns in Ireland and Britain writes Chris Dooley.
The material - stone mastic asphalt (SMA) - has been used to surface roads in Kildare, Leitrim, Kilkenny, Kerry and other counties.
In future, however, its use is to be restricted to roads with 30 miles-per-hour speed limits after a survey carried out by the NRA identified potential skid resistance problems in a number of locations.
A spokesman for the authority said the problems only arose when the material was not manufactured and laid to correct specifications. The decision to stop using it on non-urban roads was taken as "a precaution" and there were no safety implications for major roads already completed.
A different view has been taken by Derbyshire County Council in England, which commissioned tests last September on SMA surfaces after two accidents in separate parts of the county.
Initial trials, carried out by the Transport Research Laboratory in Berkshire, found that newly-laid SMA provided "satisfactory" skid resistance in wet conditions, but "lower than expected" resistance in the dry.
The council suspended the use of SMA pending further investigations by the TRL. These were carried out over a two-month period and concluded that SMA was a suitable road surfacing material, but that extra care was required where it was newly-laid.
A spokesman for the council told The Irish Times that signs were currently being erected warning motorists of the danger on every road surfaced with SMA in the past year. The signs say: "Slippy Road on New Surface".
He said the surface should not pose a problem where motorists observed the speed limit and good driving practice, but the council was taking a realistic approach to the issue.
The NRA said warning signs were not being considered in Ireland. "If there was a problem with a road we would resurface it, not put up signs telling people 'you're driving on a skating rink'."