Country roads used for early morning school runs will largely remain untreated in icy weather due to a lack of resources, the Department for Infrastructure has said.
The warning comes after a school bus carrying eight post-primary pupils skidded off a road in Fermanagh this week and as NI braces itself for Storm Bert.
The bus had been taking pupils from Lisbellaw to several schools in the Enniskillen when it went off the road and into a ditch along the Tattygare Road on Wednesday morning.
While neither the pupils nor driver suffered serious injury, local residents had said the road presented “an accident waiting to happen”, particularly when it is left untreated during spells of wintry weather.
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Another vehicle, driven by one of the mothers coming to collect her child from a house on the road, to where the owner had taken the pupils to ensure they were all safe, also slid off the road.
The Department for Infrastructure, which has responsibility for gritting and the road network, stressed that it was impossible, given resources, to ensure every road is treated ahead of the morning school run.
“During times of ice and snow, the department deploys around 300 staff and a fleet of 130 gritters, working round the clock when needed, in very challenging conditions, to salt the 107 routes that make up the 7,000km of the network on the salting schedule,” a spokesperson said.
“The main through routes linking towns and villages which carry more than 1,500 vehicles per day and, in exceptional circumstances, roads carrying between 1,000 and 1,500 vehicles per day are salted.
“The application of our policy means the road network which carries around 80% of the traffic is salted.
“Many schools are located off the main salted network, on side roads and rural roads, and while we appreciate the frustration of schools, parents and pupils, we unfortunately do not have the resources to salt all roads where schools are located.
“That said, priority will be given to routes to school which have had to close due to inaccessibility once the primary network has been treated.
“Any extension of the salting schedule at the moment would put increasing pressure on the department’s already challenging budget and would be at the expense of other functions delivered by the department, many of which are also safety related.”
The Education Authority said a review of the circumstances leading to the accident is being carried out.
This follows the recent icy conditions and snow showers over the last week and comes as NI braces for the second named storm of the season.
A number of weather warnings are in place with a yellow warning for rain and snow valid from midnight on Saturday through to to 11am.
A second yellow warning for wind is also in place across Northern Ireland from 5am to 7pm on Saturday.
Storm Bert will bring a spell of rain and strong winds, and snow in places, on Friday night and into Saturday which may cause some disruption.
Popular Northern Ireland beauty spot has said that it will be closed this weekend due to strong winds as a result of Storm Bert.
Northern Ireland Water confirmed Silent Valley will be closed on both Saturday and Sunday and is scheduled to reopen on Monday.
A Met Office yellow warning of snow, ice and wind is in place for Saturday, with temperatures are forecast to fall below freezing with a risk of ice and snow on roads.
Drivers are being urged to exercise caution when travelling on Saturday, particularly on untreated roads.