There was a fortunate escape on Monday when a school bus carrying sixty children swerved off the road in to a field near Omagh.
Despite the incident, no children were injured when the bus came off Drumlegagh Road South, Omagh. However, this wasn’t the only incident in the area, as shortly before the bus accident a car crashed into a field on the other side of the road. According to the BBC, the vehicle contained two people, neither of whom was hurt as a result of the accident.
Initial investigations in to what caused the crashes have indicated that poor road conditions were a contributory factor.
The repair and maintenance of road surfaces in Northern Ireland fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Environment. In England and Wales, the requirement to maintain the roads in your locality is usually the responsibility of your local council, provided that they do not form part of the motorway in which case they are the responsibility of the Highways Agency.
In order to analyse roads and make sure that they are fit for purpose, both councils and the Highways Agency will deploy people to regularly inspect roads and report back on any problems or issues with them and the urgency of any required maintenance.
The recent barrage of snow and ice has contributed to unsafe roads throughout the winter and conditions such as these obviously require a more frequent system of inspection to ensure that roads are useable, but other potential problems might include a lack of road markings or potholes in the roads.
When roads are poorly maintained road traffic accidents are likely to happen and as such it is important the Department of the Environment ensures that they send someone to examine Drumlegagh Road South to ensure that it is not endangering any users.
