Portarlington families who say they are “living in fear” of further road traffic accidents following a recent fatal accident at Kilmullen Road have called a public meeting to demand safety measures.
Around 22 families live along the stretch, between Portarlington and Monasterevin, where there have been a number of accidents, including the fatal collision which claimed the life of a young Kildare man.
“There are a lot of turns and bends on the road and it can be very deceptive,” local resident Shauna O’Kane said.
“There is a large volume of traffic on the road, 3,000 vehicles use it every day,” she said.
She added that traffic also looks to be increasing there since a survey was previously done and could now be as high as 4,000 vehicles per day.
The mother-of-three recalled another serious accident a number of years back, when an articulated truck crashed into a house at night-time.
“It went into the front garden of the house. All the kids bikes and trikes at the front were crushed. If it happened earlier in the day, it doesn’t bear thinking about what might have happened,” she said.
“At one point in 2012 there was an accident every second day for a week. After the lorry accident, the council did spend money upgrading the road and Kilmullen bridge,” she said.
However, the says the road they live on is “hazardous and dangerous” with cars speeding up once they come over the bridge.
Warn
Parents have to constantly warn their children not to play in the front of their houses.
Shauna said it was also “horribly traumatic” for her neighbour who heard the noise from the fatal accident when the young man’s car collided with a poll. She said she has not been able to sleep properly, since.
“The residents are terrified that a car is going to come through the front of their house,” she said.
“My sister lives just down the road from me but we can’t walk out on the grass verge to visit as it is just too dangerous,” she said.
The fatal accident has prompted the residents to seek a number of safety measures.
They want a speed van put along the road to enforce the speed limit.
“Having a 60kph speed limit with no governance or monitoring is just futile,” Shauna said.
“People don’t observe the 60kph speed limit. They just whiz by our house,” she said.
Traffic calming
The also want traffic calming in the form of ramps.
They also want traffic to be directed to use junction 15, rather than the Junction 14 one, as they feel the road there is safer.
As a long-term measure they want Laois County Council to enact compulsory purchase orders to buy the land and carry out improvements to remove the bends on the road and create a more even surface.
Political representatives from the area have been invited to the public meeting, as well as representatives of the gardai.
The meeting will take place in Ms O’Kane’s house at 7.45.
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