The Road Safety Authority has urged drivers in the west of Ireland to take extra care during hailstone showers on motorways in the winter months.
These intense localised bursts have already caused a number of incidents this year.
Eric Burns runs Garbally Oil based in Ballinasloe.
Both he and his drivers regularly experience the dangers of sudden, intense hailstone showers on the motorway.
In March of this year, up to a dozen vehicles were involved in a collision on the M6 motorway as a direct result of these microbursts.
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Met Éireann forecaster Joan Blackburn says she experienced the west of Ireland phenomenon firsthand when she was driving from Dublin to Limerick.
As she approached the Limerick tunnel she came through a heavy rain shower which had turned into freezing compacted ice by the time she came out the other side.
She described the hailstones as lumps of ice and advised road users to slow down gradually and not to brake suddenly.
The Road Safety Authority has advised motorway users to drive slowly in high gear to help tyres maintain grip even as they move over compacted pellets of ice.
