According to the RSA, the State could face an increase in legal action due to an increase in fatal crashes caused by road conditions
As reported by The Irish Times, in a letter to the Department of Transport, RSA Chief Executive, Noel Brett warned, “I anticipate that there will be increased litigation arising out of collisions where road factors are the main contributory factors.”
The RSA also said that fatal collisions caused by road conditions rose from 1.2 percent of all fatal road accidents in 2005 to 5 percent in 2008.
The RSA also expressed concern that the worrying trend would continue, “the 5 percent figure for 2008 is of concern, especially in light of the upward trend since 2005.”
While measures are in place to ensure that an engineer is assigned to fatal crash sites within 48 hours to identify and rectify outstanding road problems, Brett argued that there are “inherent conflicts” in expecting local authority engineers to inspect sites within their own localities.