“I lost my twin sister in an accident on a dangerous road”

A woman whose twin sister died in a crash on a County Tyrone road before it was upgraded said she believes new investment in the A5 will save lives.

Natasha Murray was 16 when a truck collided with her school bus on the A4 in 2008, before the road was improved.

Her sister Nicola died in the collision and shortly afterwards the stretch of road between Dungannon and Ballygawley was given a new dual carriageway.

After this work, the number of road deaths fell dramatically.

The A4 joins the A5, which connects counties Tyrone and Londonderry. 57 traffic fatalities have been recorded on this road since 2006.

Reacting to the news, Natasha said it was “bittersweet” and also called for the entire route to be upgraded to a dual carriageway.

She said: “My sister died on a road very similar to the A5 and just as dangerous. It was quickly made safer and that’s why the A5 is so important to me.”

“Of course I think the upcoming A5 upgrade is positive, but it shouldn’t have taken so long.

“People have lost their lives waiting for this road to be expanded.”

Natasha has before described how she held her sister as people tried to save her life.

She said: “It's been 16 years since the accident so Nicola has been gone for as long as she's been here and some days I still wake up and don't actually believe she died.”

“I was able to escape the accident that day and I never take that for granted. I just try to live up to her by living my life to the fullest and she takes part in my family's daily conversations, so very alive in that sense. “

The A4 route from Dungannon to Ballygawley where Nicola died was expanded to a two-lane road in November 2010.

Since then, Natasha and her family have supported the campaign for a similar upgrade to the A5, a road she can see from her living room window.

She said: “The upgrade to the A4 comforted me and my family because we knew it was safer and that is what I have always wanted for the families affected by deaths on the A5.”

“The A4 expressway is now a road that is well equipped to handle the volume of traffic on it, while the A5 in its current form no longer leaves any room for error, meaning modernization is long overdue.”

Building the entire 85km A5 carriageway would require around 1,200 hectares of land with more than 300 working farms.

Groups such as the Alternative A5 Alliance (AA5A) have repeatedly raised concerns about the loss of land that has been in their families for generations.

They had called for improvements to the existing A5 road, pointing out the environmental impact of building such a major project as well as unresolved issues with building the new road near potential flood areas.

Meanwhile, police officers have shed light on the cause of the accidents on the A5, focusing on the driver's responsibility.

Driver error is the leading cause of fatal road accidents on the A5, but is also the leading cause of fatal accidents on most roads across Northern Ireland.

In the meantime a previous BBC News NI investigation found that the A5 had the highest death rate per kilometer of any road in Northern Ireland between 2012 and 2024.

Natasha Murray said she understood the concerns about building a new A5 but believed the success of the A4 dual carriageway was evidence of what could be achieved.

Figures show there were 37 fatalities on the A4 road in the decade before an upgraded expressway opened in 2010.

After the expansion, there were two fatalities on the new A4 expressway between 2011 and 2018

“I’m not naive in thinking that human error isn’t at play here,” Natasha said.

“But the evidence shows that the consequences of an accident on the A5 are much more serious anyway,” she added.

“I understand that there have been objections regarding environmental and land concerns, but my position has always been that one life is always more important than anything else.”

The Alternative A5 Alliance said it would comment further once it had the full website of the Public Appeals Commission's recommendations regarding the A5.