A school bus carrying students from Rathgormack to school in Carrick-on-Suir skidded off the icy road during the cold snap last week, Waterford County Council was told in Dungarvan this week.
Calling for the gritting of country roads, Cllr Mary Greene said that, luckily, nobody on the bus was injured. There had been some near misses on icy roads around the county and one accident had occurred outside a school due to the treacherous road conditions.
Director of Services Michael Quinn said it just wasn’t feasible to grit every icy road in the county. He added that there was a limit to the amount of gritting funds available to the Council which concentrated its gritting operations on the busiest roads.
The weather forecast system had proven very reliable but it was possible to be caught out by early morning frost, he said. The Council would consider frost warning signs in areas of particular concern.
Meanwhile, Council members were informed that the Portlaw-Carrick-on-Suir road at Brownswood would be re-opened for traffic in early March after being closed for a period of four months for urgent repair to a bridge.
Mr Quinn said the regional road has been closed since December last due to damage to Brownswood Bridge and Councillor Brendan Coffey (FG) had called on the Council to act without delay in carrying out essential repairs.
Mr Quinn added that the issue over access to lands adjacent to the bridge had been solved and the contractor was now on site.
