Guth & Tuairim, Meitheamh 1984

IML. 6 Uimh. 1 Meitheamh 1984 ACCIDENT PATTERNS IM -~·~Tii.lf~DONECAL CAELTACHT At the requeat or Udaraa na Gaeltachta, An Foras Forbartha undertook to examine accident patterns in Gaeltacht areas in Galw&J and Donegal. In Donegal attention was focussed on the roads north from Dungloe, including the 156 road to beyond Falcarrach. While it is onlJ a preliminar,r ex&mination it is of great interest to this community aD4 we publish below the parts of it dealing w1 th Donegal. IncidentallJ, readers of this paper will remember that we used to feature a regular Accident Black Spot column a couple of ;:rears ago. Our columnist, •the Wheel" highlighted lliaq dangerous spots in this localit:r and we vera illdeed iutl'UIIental in getting action taken on ae.ey or them. :Perhaps it would be a good idea to rerin the cohtmn. Over to ;you "Wheel"t We also ran a campaign a fw ;years back to encourage people to wear armbands when uaiag the roads at night. Fatal and iDjur;y accidents occur,ri~ on the roads in question and reported b;:r An Garda $iochana on the standard C (T) i)8 101'1118 for the six-;:rear period 1976 - l98l were exaained. These were plotted on half-inch aapa to determine where - if &D1Where - ac~idents tend to cluster. A preliainar;y check on the C(T)68 accident report forma indicated that ~ accidents occurred in Dungloe, in Burtonport, and all along the road between Bunbeg and Derr;ybeg. The report states: l. There is a nr;:r high frequency of reported traffic accidents on the BuDbeg - Derr,ybeg road. There were 23 reported accidenta on some 2.5 lliles of road, with couiderable aumbers of accidents on the Bunbeg road south towarda Croll7 as well as north towards Bun a Leaca. While much or this road is Ul'lder a 30 or 40 apeed liait, there is no doubt that the reequenc;y of accidenta on this section merits investigation, expeciallT when compared to the accidents on the neighbouring National route, the 156. 2. There is also considerable frequencies of accidents ·· in Burtonport and Dungloe. These are both towns with populations (1981) of 330 and lOOS respective~. The frequenc;y of accidents in and arpund these towns would seem to merit investigation and to offer opportunities for accident reduction. It mnst be evident from the map below that the examination of accident patterns described _above is in essence preliminary. No field work has been carried out. All that has been atte111pted is to isolate relative~ short sections of roada where a disproportionate uumber of accidents have occurred, . relative to other roads in the area, as well as to accident rates on the relative~ light~ trafficked roads on National roads where both actfdent and traffic flow information i8 available .~n a .regular and systematic basis. · ,. From this preliainary assessment it seems clear that the Bunbeg - Derrybeg road has proportionately too many accidents. Also, traffic and pedestrian beh~viour around the towns of Dungloe and Burtonport would seem to be worth studying because of the high frequencis of accidents in those towns. Detailed investigations ·in conjunction with the local authorities is called for'in . order to identif';y appropriate countermeasures to reduce this disproportionatel;y high frequency of accidents. Specifical~, it seems worth examining in more detail accident patterns as well as driver and pedestrian behaviour. N 0 •