'Speed up bypass' call follows nine-car pileup

Renewed calls for a ban on heavy vehicles and a speeding up of the proposed bypass for Slane have followed in the wake of Monday morning"s nine-vehicle pile-up in the centre of the village which has left the local community in shock. The collision, just yards to the north of the main junction in the village, involving two trucks and seven cars, led to the hospitalisation of five people, including a woman who had to be extricated from her destroyed vehicle by fire service personnel. Gardai said it was a miracle no-one was killed in the dramatic incident. There are diverging opinions among public representatives about the progress of a bypass for Slane. Fianna Fail TD Thomas Byrne said that the preliminary design for the Slane bypass had been reviewed and redesigned to dual carriageway standards and €700,000 had been allocated by the Government under the 2009 National Roads Programme to this end. This would not affect the timescale for delivery of the project, he said. However, independent councillor Jimmy Cudden said that money had been allocated for route selection before the last general election, 'giving the impression that the project was about to start', but that the project had been 'stalled' since then. Villagers were confronted by scenes of confusion and chaos in the immediate aftermath of the crash, which happened shortly after 9am. Gardai are investigating reports that the brakes may have failed in one of the trucks which then ploughed into a Galtee truck. This was followed by a shunting effect which left one vehicle jammed against a telephone kiosk with its driver trapped inside, and another upended on its roof. The Hyundai car pushed up against the phone box was in a wrecked condition after the collision. The woman driver was trapped in her vehicle for a time and was comforted by people from the village. She was removed from her vehicle after fire service personnel cut off its roof. Five motorists and a child in total were taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda for treatment by a number of ambulances. The N2 Dublin to Derry Road was closed for several hours, save for pedestrian access on one side and traffic had to be diverted over a wide area. Villagers stood around in shock as fire and ambulance personnel arrived to extricate the injured from the badly damaged vehicles. Slane Garda Oscar Reynolds said that it was a miracle that no-one was killed, Local public representatives also expressed their shock and sympathy for the injured but there were angry calls for renewed road safety measures in the village which has suffered a number of major crashes over the years, most notably those on Slane Bridge. Fine Gael"s Cllr Ann Dillon Gallagher said that every location in Slane had potential for a serious accident because of the long hill running from north to south in the village. Part of the problem had been alleviated on the hill down to Slane Bridge where special traffic control measures have been in place for a number of years. 'What we witnessed on Monday morning was beyond belief. The dangers presented to the people of Slane are constant and unbearable. They simply don"t know what faces them when they go out in the morning,' she said. The councillor said that a potential diaster was in the making unless heavy vehicles were diverted away from the village pending the arrival of the proposed bypass for Slane. 'From what I have heard so far, the driver of one of the trucks in this accident could do little about the crash because his brakes failed. That could happen to anybody but wouldn"t it be better for everyone if trucks were diverted away from Slane altogether?' she said. Fine Gael Spokesman on Road Safety, Shane McEntee, warned that a massive loss of life was waiting to happen in Slane. 'How much longer will the residents of Slane have to wait for heavy traffic to be diverted from the village? A further warning was given on Monday when the brakes failed on that lorry travelling down the steep hill.' He added: 'I have repeatedly warned Minister Noel Dempsey that if something is not done to reduce the large increase in heavy goods vehicles using Slane Bridge, we will have a major accident in the near future. It is a miracle that people were not killed on Monday.' Wayne Harding, secretary of Slane Forum, said that there was an outstanding need for weight restrictions on vehicles entering Slane village. 'We have that long descent from Slane School right down to the bridge and there is always potential for an accident,' he said. Mr Harding, who is a local election candidate, and Fianna Fail TD Thomas Byrne said that they were renewing calls for Slane bypass to be delivered as soon as possible. Deputy Byrne said that the preliminary design for the bypass had been reviewed and redesigned to dual carriageway standards. Some €700,000 has been allocated by the Government under the 2009 National Roads programme to this end. 'I am determined that shovels and spades will be out and that work will commence on the bypass during 2010,' said Deputy Byrne.