Derry school bus driver asks: 'Will it take a serious accident for action to be taken?'

Philip McKinney, who is also a Derry City & Strabane District Council Alliance Party Councillor, said he was also shocked that Department of Infrastructure is refusing to grit the routes after he write to them urging them to address the situation.

Colr. McKinney, who drives a 35 seater Education Authority coach to several schools, told the Journal that on several occasions in the run up to Christmas he had to inform the Education Authority that the ungritted roads were too dangerous to drive on due to ice during the freezing weather.

He explained: "My route starts at 07.15 and I drive the following roads: Craigatoke, Ervey, Highmoor and Slaghtmanus. I cover a feeder bus meeting up with a Translink bus on the Tamnaherin Rd, taking the pupils to the Grammar Schools in the City. I then pick up pupils for Listress PS, St Patrick's and St Brigid's in Claudy, some 25 passengers.

"Not one of the roads mentioned which I travel on is gritted leaving them in a dangerous state.

"A couple of mornings I didn't do it, I flatly refused, it was too dangerous. I informed my boss it was not safe and they were very supportive. I was thinking of the children."

On several occasions Colr. McKinney has actually gone out in his own vehicle and salted part of the network including a steep section of road from Slaughtmanus crossroads and Ervey Road crossroads. He has come across treacherous sections of road while driving the bus and has also got stuck in the Baranualt/ Slaughtmanus area. He also said the Craigatoke Road was "like a ski slope" during freezing conditions.

Colr. McKinney wrote to DfI urging them to act in light of the dangerous state of the roads.

He added in his letter: "I appreciate monetary constraints departments are under but this is a case of a regular bus route being unsafe for buses due to no gritting and the Education Authority being unable to carry out their obligations to deliver these pupils to their destinations. I would like to think you will give this serious consideration."

He said he was "totally shocked" to get a response stating that these roads did not meet criteria and would not be gritted.

He asked: "Will it take a serious road traffic accident involving a vehicle carrying a child to school for you and your department to consider the proposals I suggested or will I end up visiting an injured constituent or even worse a grieving family?"

A DfI spokesperson said: “The decision to grit roads is based on traffic volumes and, under current policy, the Department grits main through routes that carry more than 1,500 vehicles per day and in exceptional circumstances, roads with difficult topography and carrying between 1,000 and 1,500 vehicles per day. These exceptions however will only qualify when there is no availability of an alternative or parallel route. Unfortunately the roads in question do not meet this criteria.

“On public roads which do not meet the criteria for inclusion within the treated road network, salt bins or grit piles may be provided at difficult locations for use by the public on a self-help basis.

"The Department deploys and maintains approximately 5,500 salt bins and 52,000 salt piles each year to assist those not living on a gritted route.

"Arrangements are also in place to provide priority secondary salting to schools which have had to close due to inaccessibility, associated solely with the presence of snow or ice on the adjacent network.”

“Any extension of the salting schedule would put increasing pressure on the Department’s already challenging budget position and would be at the expense of other functions delivered by the Department, many of which are also safety related.”