Reckless driving on major roads a problem, says AA

TWO INSTANCES of reckless driving could have caused major crashes on two of the country’s major roads this week, AA Roadwatch has said.

On Thursday evening, gardaí in Co Westmeath received multiple reports of a car driving in the wrong direction along a carriageway of the M6 motorway between Moate and Athlone.

AA Roadwatch said the car was understood to have travelled at least 12km on the wrong side of the Dublin to Galway motorway “causing chaos and panic” among oncoming motorists.

“This was absolute insanity,” AA director of policy Conor Faughnan said. “It’s is very lucky that no one was seriously hurt.”

This followed an incident in Dublin on Wednesday, which occurred when a number of motorists became confused by a new road layout at the Blanchardstown junction of the M50.

AA Roadwatch said that several motorists, having missed the southbound turn off, attempted to reverse back to the exit.

“I’d like to say that this type of thing is rare, but it’s obviously not rare enough,”Mr Faughnan said.

“Those unfamiliar with motorways can be prone to panic, and they can be very intimidating places for the inexperienced driver.”

Mr Faughnan said the majority of Ireland’s motorway network has only been developed in recent years and that many motorists do not know how to use these roads properly. “Motorway driving is not currently taught to learner drivers, and we also have huge numbers of motorists who learned to drive in the era before the high-speed modern motorways of today’s Ireland,” he said.