Urgent action needed as N5 turn-off deemed accident blackspot in wake of fatal crash
Urgent action has been called to implement safety measures and to act on the findings of an inquest into a fatal collision, which ruled that a turn-off along the N5 near Castlebar should be designated as an accident blackspot.
Alfred Barrie Trueman, aged 91, of Carrowmore Meadows, Knock, died in the ICU of Mayo University Hospital on January 9, 2025. 11 days earlier, Mr Trueman was involved in a collision when his car struck the rear of a Ford Transit pickup truck that had stopped and was preparing to turn right for Windsor on the N5.
Mr Trueman, a former teacher at the St Patrick’s Academy secondary school in Islandeady, had been travelling home on the night of December 29, 2024, after visiting his wife Joyce at Mayo University Hospital.
Mayo coroner Dr Eleanor Fitzgerald returned a verdict in accordance with the pathologists' findings that Mr Trueman’s death resulted from recurrent pulmonary thromboembolism due to deep vein thrombosis caused by prolonged immobilisation after major trauma.
Dr Fitzgerald said the death was natural; however, she noted that the underlying cause was the injuries Mr Trueman sustained in the road traffic accident.
She called for the location to be designated an accident blackspot and explained that the evidence did not point to a lack of attention on the part of Mr Trueman, as he did not realise the truck ahead was stationary and about to turn right.
Following the inquest results, Castlebar councillors passed a motion calling for urgent action to prevent another fatal collision on the N5.
“Another life has been lost on the N5, and the coroner has now said plainly that the junction at Windsor should be treated as an accident blackspot,” said Cllr Harry Barrett, who raised the motion.
“That is a stark and serious finding that can’t be ignored. Local people have been warning about this for many years, and it has again taken the fatal crash for those concerns to be recognised," he added.
Cllr Barrett said the coroner identified a key issue whereby drivers are required to slow down and turn off a busy national route without adequate warning or protection, leaving them vulnerable to fast-moving traffic approaching from behind.
“The layout is unsafe, unforgiving, and one mistake can have shocking consequences,” he said, and called on the council and all relevant road authorities to act on the coroner’s comments without delay.
The motion was seconded by Cllr Ger Deere, who said there are several other junctions along this section of the N5 that “are pure death traps” and called for stacking lanes to be put in along the route.
He said he had previously been told that stacking lanes could not be installed along the N5, but pointed out that they were included on the new Westport road to facilitate traffic movements.
“A stacking lane has to be put into these [junctions]. It’s a pity it had to come to the coroner to highlight it,” he said, also calling for proper signage to be installed.
Cllr Michael Kilcoyne noted that the road falls under the remit of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and said the coroner’s report should be forwarded to them to establish whether they accept the recommendations and how soon they will be implemented.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.