Motorists Warned to Remain Cautious as Nation Recovers From Storm Emma
Motorists are being advised to continue to drive with caution in the coming days, as Ireland recovers from the large snowfall seen during Storm Emma.
With Snowfall expected to continue over Friday and into the weekend, motorists are being urged to avoid non-essential travel and heed the advice of Met Eireann. While the snow is due to ease from Saturday, the AA is warning that as the snow thaws there is a significant risk of surface moisture building up on roads and potentially instances of localised flooding where larger accumulations of snowfall built up.
“While the ‘Stay Indoors’ warning has been lifted, the Status Red warning is still in effect until later this evening and driving conditions will still be poor over the weekend. Until advised otherwise we do encourage motorists to avoid non-essential travel, especially until the Red warning is lifted,” Conor Faughnan, AA Director of Consumer Affairs stated. “Even once the warning is removed, however, we can expect some further snowfall and even as temperatures start to warm back up thawing snow and ice will lead to a risk of excess surface moisture on roads across the nation.”
Motorists are being encouraged to follow the advice of Gardaí and to stay up to date with the latest information from AA Roadwatch to ensure their safety when travelling over the weekend. Meanwhile, AA Rescue, the Insurance Intermediary’s breakdown assistance unit, is expecting a surge in callouts over the weekend and particularly early next week as people return to their normal routine.
“Our AA Rescue Patrols stayed on the roads Thursday for as long as it was safe to do so and dealt with close to 200 breakdowns, a significant number but thankfully most people heeded the advice to stay off the roads. However, as people return to work or normal travel in the coming days we do expect the number of callouts to surge as a result of cars being stuck in snow or sitting idle in this extreme weather for a number of days,” Faughnan added.
“We do encourage people to stay off the roads for now, but if you can safely do so it may be worth starting your car and leaving it run for a few minutes just to give your battery an opportunity to tick over. These temperatures can leave weaker or older batteries struggling to work and starting the car for a few minutes now could be the difference between you being able to get to work on Monday or being stuck in for another morning.”
Motorists can stay up to date with the latest traffic information over the weekend by visiting the AA Roadwatch Newsroom.
