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THE ROAD SAFETY AUTHORITY (RSA) has published advice on its website for drivers who encounter a car travelling towards them in the wrong direction, after initially saying earlier this week that it was “not in a position” to do so.

The advice was not promoted on the organisation’s social media channels nor publicised in any way, beyond being placed on the RSA website. It can be found as a link at the bottom of an RSA page titled ‘Motorway Safety’.

Its publication comes after a spokesperson for the RSA told The Journal on Tuesday that the RSA had “never developed any guidance for drivers who may encounter vehicles driving towards them on the wrong side of the road”.

“This kind of crazed criminal behaviour that we saw at the weekend, what advice can you give? What can you say?… It’s an impossible situation,” the organisation’s head of communications, David Martin, said.

The following day it emerged that Minister for Road Safety Seán Canney contacted the RSA this week to convey his unhappiness with the organisation over its absence in the aftermath of the M9 motorway collision on Sunday.

Five boys aged in their teens died when the car they were travelling in drove into oncoming traffic on the motorway, causing a head-on collision.

Four people in another vehicle, including a mother and her seven-year-old son, were seriously injured.

The Journal contacted the RSA again today to ask if it was now in a position to provide any advice, and received the following response:

“Following on the weekend tragedy in Kildare, the RSA has this week published advice for people who encounter vehicles travelling in the wrong direction on motorways. It was published yesterday on the RSA website and can be found here.”

The document states that should you encounter a vehicle travelling towards you in the wrong direction on a motorway, you should:

The Journal sought a follow-up response to clarify what was meant by ”create as much space away from the oncoming vehicle as possible” and were told that this is dependent on the situation and the location of the oncoming vehicle.

“Some of these are driven on the hard shoulder and in such a situation the advice would be to move to either lane two or three away from the ‘wrong way’ vehicle. By slowing down you are also giving yourself more time and space to anticipate and complete the manoeuvre safely,” a spokesperson for the RSA said.

Asked if this information will be promoted beyond the RSA website, the spokesperson said the RSA’s guidance on safe motorway use had been updated and published on the RSA website and would be shared through the RSA’s public information channels.

“Our education teams have also been briefed and will incorporate these messages into their ongoing programmes,” the spokesperson said.

Social Democrats transport spokesperson Aidan Farrelly told The Journal he was “surprised” and “disappointed” at the initial approach taken by the RSA in relation to advice. 

He said it was surprising that the organisation not only had no advice, but that it “gave no indication that they would be working with colleagues in different jurisdictions to develop advice”.

“The Minister should be meeting with the RSA to communicate this asap.

“We are lacking political leadership when it comes to road safety, and this must change,” he said.

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