Ballygawley Road which saw yet another accident

CONCERN is mounting about the dangers caused by foreign lorry drivers and haulage companies on the A4, after a local man miraculously cheated death in a collision on Tuesday evening.
Anthony Kelly, from Mullaghbawn, escaped with minor injuries even though his car was left 'a mangled wreck' when a lorry ploughed into it from behind.
The accident, which occurred on the notorious A4, is the third in recent weeks involving a foreign truck driver. The vehicle belonged to a Czech haulage company.
According to a concerned local solicitor many drivers from the continent were inexperienced with driving on UK roads and were thus more inclined to make fatal driving mistakes.
"As they normally drive on the right-hand side, it's their instinct to veer right when trying to avoid an obstacle.
"Unfortunately this often means they are driving into oncoming traffic."
The solicitor went on to say he had serious concerns regarding the safety of the A4 and the heavy volume of lorries it carries.
"Lorry-drivers from Eastern Europe are driving up through Dover and across from Stranrear. When they hit Dungannon they are suddenly on an A road, probably for the first time in their long journey.
"All the have to do is take their eye off the road for one second and then it's bang - and we're left with another fatality.
"Very often these drivers have only committed careless driving, rather than dangerous driving.
"But given the number of turn-offs on the A4 and the amount of local traffic all it takes is the slightest mistake to cause carnage."
The solicitor stressed that he was not accusing foreign nationals of being dangerous drivers or of deliberately flouting the law.
Tuesday's accident bears a striking resemblance to the collision which killed Michael Tierney at Killeeshil cross-roads on the A4 last month.
According to legal sources, the driver involved in the fatal accident was a Polish national, and had been making the same journey every fortnight from the Continent.
Half the foreign lorries checked on UK roads last year had serious safety defects that could have resulted in crashes, according to official figures from the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa).
Eastern European lorries were the worst offenders, with prohibition notices placed on 62 per cent of those from the Czech Republic, 61 per cent from Romania, 55 per cent from Latvia, 52 per cent from Bulgaria and 49 per cent from Poland.
Foreign lorry drivers were more than twice as likely as UK drivers to have breached rules on the maximum time spent behind the wheel without a break. More than 37 per cent of drivers of lorries registered in Greece had exceeded that limit, compared with 9 per cent of British drivers.

Source - Tyrone Times

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