A5 WTC (New Road from Aughnacloy to Derry)

[Dougal Maguire]

Somebody mentioned needless risks, what's the defintion of such? Used to drive to Omagh for work from Magherafelt direction. Roughly 30mile from Ctown to Omagh, Over that distance there literally only 2 long stretches of the road to overtake say a slow moving lorry or 2 of such in a row, otherwise you may be driving 40odd mile an hr, the whole way to Omagh. Can get you frustrated trying to get to work.

That might be me you are quoting..I meant needless in the sense if a proper dual carriageway was in place it wouldn't place drivers in that predicament - as you described.

Any idea on the ages of the deceased?

I've driven that road many times and I know exactly what you mean by that term and it sums up very well the exasperation experienced by many motorists who get stuck behind slow moving vehicles for long periods

[quit yo jibbajabba]

At the risk of digressing jees i wouldnt want to sail to Omagh everyday for work via Cookstown. Near had a job lined up there years back, was down the road twice and was already struggling.

But anyway...

[Eamonnca1]

At the risk of digressing jees i wouldnt want to sail to Omagh everyday for work via Cookstown. Near had a job lined up there years back, was down the road twice and was already struggling.

But anyway...

It used to be possible to make that journey by train.

[omagh_gael]

Saw a stat on twitter earlier regarding this...since the a4 from Ballygawley to Dungannon has been opened 2 people have died. Over the same time frame 34 have now lost their lives on the (albeit longer stretch) a5.

Absolutely disgusting that this project has still been stalled due to underhand legal protests by the aa5a.

[marty34]

Who is the group that are against the new road?

Is it a mixture of farmers and environmentalists?

That's the only 2 groups I can think of.  Obviously, I think there's definately unionists who don't want any progress, for obvious reasons.

It's hard to put a cost on a new road when compared to deaths.  One life lost is too many but it's clear that this road is the most dangerous in the north.

[WT4E]

The A5 is a serial killer. One that can be caught. Unbelievable really. I know if I lived in that area I would be scared for my children growing up using that road.

[nrico2006]

Saw a stat on twitter earlier regarding this...since the a4 from Ballygawley to Dungannon has been opened 2 people have died. Over the same time frame 34 have now lost their lives on the (albeit longer stretch) a5.

Absolutely disgusting that this project has still been stalled due to underhand legal protests by the aa5a.

Probably be better to compare the 2 deaths to the number of deaths in the same length of time before the new road was built.

[Wildweasel74]

Well the frosses road on Antrim was a dangerous road to they sorted most of it out. I don't know how nobody's killed on the Ballymena line, they drive faster there than the M2. With multi small roads connecting to it and central crossings.

[Rudi]

This road is an hour plus of misery. Poorly surfaced, few if any hard shoulders. Overtaking lanes no more than 3 quarters of a mile long, where everyone puts the boot down to get away from as much of the slow traffic as possible. Anyone trying to get onto this road from by roads God love them, its dangerous & busy.
Tractors, lads pulling heavy trailers doing 40mph max, with a trail of vehicles 2 miles long. Then there's Strabane, Sion Mills, Ormagh (nightmare) & Aughnacloy. Travelling on this road that's not fit for purpose anymore is a nightmare. I seen a cyclist on it today, brave man. A 3 lane road with hard shoulders is a minimum requirement for the traffic this road gets.

[clawaddy]

This road was a nightmare yesterday evening after the football in Omagh. Traffic crawled, bumper to bumper, at about 15-20 mph for most of the way to Ballygawley roundabout. To finish it off there was an almighty down pour which made it extremely dangerous. Throw in some heavy lorries, tractors towing trailers, tourists unfamiliar with the road and you have a recipe for disaster

[LeoMc]

This road was a nightmare yesterday evening after the football in Omagh. Traffic crawled, bumper to bumper, at about 15-20 mph for most of the way to Ballygawley roundabout. To finish it off there was an almighty down pour which made it extremely dangerous. Throw in some heavy lorries, tractors towing trailers, tourists unfamiliar with the road and you have a recipe for disaster

Even before the game there was another accident not far from  Ballygawley roundabout.

[Mikhail Prokhorov]

the road is not to blame, it's the drivers obviously 

speed (mainly), impatience, bad decisions, phone use, etc all factors

self driving cars which actually adhere to the law cannot get here fast enough

to pass your driving test at 18 and have it for life is an absolute joke

of course everyone will say no to that because it's just too sensible 

[Wildweasel74]

If road not to blame, why do we not get this accident rate anywhere else?

[Eamonnca1]

This road was a nightmare yesterday evening after the football in Omagh. Traffic crawled, bumper to bumper, at about 15-20 mph for most of the way to Ballygawley roundabout. To finish it off there was an almighty down pour which made it extremely dangerous. Throw in some heavy lorries, tractors towing trailers, tourists unfamiliar with the road and you have a recipe for disaster

Omagh used to be accessible by rail from all directions.

All this talk about "upgrading" roads to improve safety. Restoring the railways will make a far bigger impact on safety than highway capacity expansions.

[Eamonnca1]

the road is not to blame, it's the drivers obviously 

speed (mainly), impatience, bad decisions, phone use, etc all factors

self driving cars which actually adhere to the law cannot get here fast enough

to pass your driving test at 18 and have it for life is an absolute joke

of course everyone will say no to that because it's just too sensible 

That's just wishing the problem away. Better road and street design can be there around the clock, traffic enforcement cannot.

And self-driving cars are not going to fix all of our problems. A road worker directing traffic with hand gestures is easily understandable to a human driver. A child running towards the road from a playground can be spotted by a human driver. A ball rolling onto the road, possibly followed by a child chasing it, is easily understandable to a human driver. Will AI ever figure these things out with the same precision? Maybe eventually, but not in the next ten years it won't. Some people have been predicting the brave new world of self-driving cars for the next ten years, and they're still at least ten years away.