Truck driver"s amazing escape after Slane bridge plunge

A lorry driver had a dramatic escape when his truck crashed through pillars adjacent to Slane Bridge on Monday moning and plunged into a millrace beside the Boyne. The accident, which occurred at the notoriously dangerous bridge at around 8.15am, sparked renewed calls for the urgent provision of the new bridge and bypass of the village. According to the Gardai, the vehicle"s brakes may have failed as it travelled downhill and the quick-thinking driver attempted to take evasive action through the gates of the Old Mill. The driver was taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda by ambulance but his injuries were not life-threatening. Slane Bridge has been the scene of countless accidents, many of them fatal, over many decades and villagers have been campaigning for a new bridge for decades. John Ryle of the Slane Bridge Action Committee was relieved that the driver esaped serious injury on Monday but said the accident underlined the ongoing safety problems at the bridge. 'It shows again just how dangerous the place is and yet we still have prevarication from the National Roads Authority (NRA),' he said. 'They went through all the stages and designs and when the project was ready to go, they decided to review it and look at enlarging the project to a four-lane highway,' he said. Mr Ryle said he believed the decision had now been taken to provide a four-lane carriageway, but it could be some time before the project went ahead. 'We cannot afford any more delays. The people of Slane are sick of all the traffic passing through. You would never see a child out in the village anymore. It is just too dangerous,' he said. Mr Ryle added that, for generations, the people of Slane had to endure the horror of tragic accidents happening on their doorsteps, as one crash followed another on the bridge. 'My own son spoke just recently of seeing a man die in his cab in the middle of the river as he walked home from school. He saw a priest going out to the truck in a dinghy,' he said. Mr Ryle said that residents fear there will still be a sizeable delay before the bypass is completed. 'In the meantime, the people of Slane have to wait and worry. The situation is now worse than it has ever been. It is not just the trucks crossing the bridge that is causing problems, but there is a huge flow of traffic between Drogheda and Navan passing through the village. In fact, we estimate that up to 200 trucks pass through Slane every hour,' he said. 'We are so relieved that the driver on Monday wasn"t killed. We have had too many tragedies on Slane bridge and there will be more if we don"t get the bypass,' he warned. Mr Ryle expressed concern that there was no mention of Slane bridge or the bypass in Transport 21. 'The Government don"t seem to realise how serious this is,' he added.