The National Roads Authority is to review its policy on crash barriers on motorways' central reservations following a crash on the M1 over the weekend.
The crash happened on a section of the MI where a "chicken-wire" barrier failed to stop a car crossing over into the path of oncoming traffic. Four people were injured, one critically.
A €10 million scheme to retrofit crash barriers on all motorways where the meridian is less than 15 metres wide, is currently being completed by the NRA.
A spokesman for the authority said the stretch of the M1 where the crash occurred was over 15 metres wide and therefore was not due to have a barrier fitted.
But he said the authority was now going to calculate the length of motorway without crash barriers and estimate the cost of retrofitting.
The spokesman also emphasised the relative safeness of motorways compared to two-lane roads where the mortality rate among motorists is 25 times higher.
Later this week the NRA will start the first of its "two-plus-one" schemes on the N20 in Co Cork.
This involves building a central barrier on a standard two-lane road. Traffic in one direction is given two lanes for a period of two kilometers to allow over-taking before reverting to a single lane to allow oncoming traffic have a second lane for overtaking.
Oncoming traffic is kept apart at all times by the barrier. The spokesman said the work on the N20 was the forerunner to an investment that would total up to €150 million on a number of national routes including the N4, N2 and N15.
The northbound driver who lost control prior to yesterday's crash was not injured and was arrested and taken to Santry Garda Station for questioning. He was released later and a file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
There were four more deaths on the roads over the weekend bringing fatalities to date this year to 324.
