Safety plea on DBM surfaces

A ROAD-SAFETY advocacy group has called on local authorities not to use certain temporary surfacing on their roads.

The call followed a reserved judgment from Mr Justice John Hedigan in the High Court that the Health and Safety Authority has "no role" in relation to the safety and health of road users.

Mr Justice Hedigan was ruling on an appeal by Cork County Council against a HSA improvement notice in a test case for 34 similar actions involving the HSA and local authorities.

The proceedings arose out of concern by the HSA at the use of a temporary road surface - dense bitumen macadam (DBM) - by local authorities and the traffic management plans used for these sites.

Speaking following the ruling yesterday, Tommy Gallagher, a member of Families of Road Tragedies (Fort), said it was regrettable a local authority would go to the High Court to challenge a safety inspection at roadwork sites.

Mr Gallagher noted the judgment referred to "significant periods" of time between phases of roadworks during which a DBM surface could be open to the public and he called for this practice to end.

The HSA began investigating temporary road surfaces due to concern they may have been a contributory cause in a number of fatal crashes. The authority believes DBM might have less skid resistance and was concerned some local authorities were not immediately covering DBM with a "wearing surface".

The HSA said it was studying the judgment and that, as the District Court case was ongoing, the matter was sub judice.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times