Madam, - While travelling on the long-awaited Kildare town bypass recently, I was appalled to see that the crash barriers installed on this new stretch of the M7 are a potentially life-threatening hazard to motorcyclists.
This type of wire-cable barrier is known as a human scale "cheese cutter" and has been identified by the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) as the worst possible choice from a motorcyclist's perspective in a recent report supported by the European Commission. Not only is contact with the cables a serious danger to a fallen motorcyclist but the "point impact" which occurs when a victim collides with the post which support the cables has been shown to cause very serious head injuries.
It defies logic to install a barrier that could pose a greater danger to users of the new motorway than the hazard it is intended to protect them from. If the Minister for Transport, Seamus Brennan, is sincere about reducing the numbers of motorcyclists killed and seriously injured on our roads he should immediately call for this barrier to be replaced with a more motorcycle-friendly alternative. To do nothing to rectify this situation is effectively to say that the safety of drivers of cars and lorries is more valuable than the lives of motorcycle riders. - Yours, etc.,
KAREN KIELY, National Campaigns Officer, Irish Motorcyclists' Action Group, King Terrace, Inchichore, Dublin 8.