FINAL STRAW FOR NEW ROSS DRIVERS
AN INVESTIGATION AFTER FOUR-HOUR TRAFFIC HOLD-UPS
A GARDA investigation is under way into how numerous bales of hay fell from a truck on O’Hanrahan Bridge on Tuesday, taking four hours to clear away.
Drivers endured up to two hour tailbacks coming through New Ross and one driver narrowly avoided being injured, after the truck shed part of its load on what turned into ‘O’Hayrahan’ Bridge during rush hour.
The truck was turning the corner at O’Hanrahan Bridge, travelling in the direction of Waterford, when a strap holding bales of hay in place snapped, causing the hay to tumble onto the road at around 5.40 p.m.
Gardaí and council roads workers attended the scene as traffic ground to a halt on either side of the bridge where only one lane was open to traffic. Fortunate motorist Kevin Gaffney wrote on Facebook: ‘I just passed him from the opposite before they fell off luckily.’
Sergeant Eddie Wilde said: ‘ There were serious tailbacks. It was a four hour episode. An investigation is ongoing as per every incident on a national primary route and a file will be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions.’
The Health & Safety Authority has issued an appeal to owners of high sided vehicles carrying loads to take time to ensure that they have safety procedures in place. Deirdre Sinnott from the Health & Safety Authority said: ‘ This is a prime example of what can go wrong if a load is not properly secured. A day doesn’t go by when there isn’t a headline about a truck shedding its load or a truck overturning. There have been some spectacular incidents. Our clear message is that a load must be properly loaded or secured, whether it’s a pallet or a bale. The potential for them to kill people is massive. Somebody could have been walking by and something could have fallen on them.’
Ms Sinnott said hay bales should never fall off of vehicles unless they are poorly secured. ‘ There is also the potential if it’s very high or the centre of gravity is extremely high, the lorry can potentially overturn going around bends at particular speeds. This potential is there at the bridge in New Ross.’
She said health and safety legislation puts an onus on employers to have a safety system in place and to carry out risk assessments. She called on truck company owners to take the time to assess the safety of their loads, their straps or chains and their health and safety systems.
‘Particularly for high loads, it is important that straps are long enough. A lot of people might not have training and not be aware of the latest standards. We have a range of resources available for people.’
Cllr Michael Sheehan praised the speedy response of the gardaí and council staff, adding that luckily nobody was injured.
He said there was relief in New Ross when people heard no tragedy had occurred.
‘One of the straps keeping the back area of the hay load on the lorry fell off. The load didn’t look excessive. At the same time as this there are massive road works in Glenmore where a stop/go system is leading to significant delays. There is also frustrtaion for drivers because of the traffic coming into Ballinaboola due to road works there. What happened was the last straw for a lot of drivers as there were quite significant tailbacks. There will probably be an investigation into it.’
He said as Wexford is an agricultural county, events like this will happen, urging drivers to take an extra few minutes to secure their loads.
He said: ‘ These things do happen. Thankfully everything went according to plan and thank God nobody was injured. I am sorry for all of these people who were caught up in the traffic. These things can happen in any place at any time. It happened a month ago in Scarawalsh.’