Traffic accidents four times more likely to be fatal on N20 Cork-Limerick road

Road traffic accidents on the main N20 road between Limerick and Cork are four times more likely to be fatal than on the average road in the country, new figures show.

An analysis of traffic collisions on one of the country’s most dangerous roads – notorious for fatal crash blackspots – confirms the high risk of injury or death in accidents on the road.

The data is the clearest indication yet of the major safety risks facing motorists on this route.

Where nationally fatal road traffic accidents account for 2 per cent of all collisions in which personal injuries are recorded, the proportion jumps to 8 per cent on the Limerick-Cork road.

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Drivers are also more likely to be involved in a collision leading to personal injury on the N20 than on other national roads in the country, figures from Limerick City and County Council show.

Traffic accidents on the road were analysed as part of an assessment of plans to figure out how to improve the road with a new motorway, dual-carriageway and other options being considered.

Some €850 million has been earmarked for an upgrade to the Cork-Limerick road, but it is not expected to be completed until 2027 at the earliest, once the design phase is agreed.

The high number of access points - some 625 roads, or seven for every kilometre on the N20 - are a major cause of accidents along the route as vehicles must take dangerous right-hand turns into traffic on a route with high volumes of vehicles travelling at speed leaving minimal gaps.

This results in a high proportion of head-on or side collisions that can result in serious injury or death because the road has no dividing margin and safety issues at many junctions.

‘Not going away’

Of 87 collisions resulting in injuries along the N20 between 2016 and 2018, seven were fatal, 13 resulted in serous injury and the remaining 67 involved minor injuries.

A significantly higher percentage of crashes happened on rural sections on the N20, 63 per cent of collisions, compared with the national average of 39 per cent for similar routes.

Provisional statistics for more recent years shows that there were three fatal collisions on the road in 2019 and four in 2020, which is higher than the average over the previous three years.

"This problem is not going away. The figures are getting worse, even through Covid with lower traffic volumes," said Jari Howard, project coordinator of the "N/M20" plan at Limerick City and County Council.

“The figures are going up with the number of fatal collisions. Everyone has a view on the M20 in the country but at the end of the day something has to be done to address the safety issues.”

Mr Howard said that some of the upgrade options for the road offered greater safety benefit with a divided dual-carriageway being the safest, preventing head-on and right-turn collisions with the removal of private access roads along the route.