Accidents at Kyle Cross being caused by ‘poor driving’
A senior roads engineer told Wexford District Council that dangerous driving was responsible for two traffic accidents at Kyle Cross which has been a cause of safety concern among local residents.
Noel O’Driscoll briefed a local authority meeting on the junction at the request of councillors and said it was re-designed as part of a roads scheme in the area.
The width of the road was narrowed as it was very wide for motorists crossing at that location and there was an incident soon after it opened, when a south bound car overtook another south bound car that was attempting to turn left towards Castlebridge.
A north bound car went into the right turning lane from the opposite side and met the oncoming car which had overtaken.
‘Basically, that was dangerous driving. There was no excuse for it’, he said.
‘We got a safety audit done on the junction and it came back with a clear bill of health. There was no issue in relation to the design and no issue in relation to safety,’ said Mr. O’ Driscoll.
The Council subsequently erected additional signage on the north and south approaches, advising people that no overtaking is allowed for 300 metres.
The engineer said the local authority is looking at an ongoing trial in Blarney, County Cork, involving the use of pencil bollards to prevent people overtaking.
‘We are looking at them. We have a few reservations but we are going to visit Blarney and have a look. Other than that, there are no plans to do anything else with the junction. There are certainly no plans to redesign the junction,’ he said.
Mr. O’Driscoll said if people obey the signs there is no issue with the junction.
Cllr. Garry Laffan, who has raised safety concerns about the junction on behalf of residents, said he is from the area and he agreed that absolutely by all guidelines, the road is as it should be but it doesn’t have the confidence of the community on either side of the junction.
‘I think the pencil cones would help the situation. It’s not just the two traffic accidents that have been recorded. There have been dozens of near misses on it. I’m getting phone calls on a weekly basis about it. I think the pencil cones are a good idea,’ he said.
‘ The junction is designed for an ideal world but that doesn’t happen all the time and that’s why we get accidents,’ said Cllr. George Lawlor.
‘Everything we can do to enhance the safety and slow down traffic would be good.’
Cllr. John Hegarty said that in the minds of local people there is a problem. ‘It’s not going away until we can show that we have made a gesture. The pencil bollards sound like a good idea.’
Mr. O’Driscoll said the Council only had a record of two incidents and the second one was also poor driving.
He said there is an issue with pencil bollards but they would go to Blarney and take a look and they could possibly go in on a trial basis.
Borough Engineer Sean Kavanagh said there is more traffic on that section of road than on any other section of national road in the country apart from Castlemartyr in Cork.
‘ There is a significant volume of traffic on that section of road.’ ‘Can we get something laid down on this? I need to go back to people with something definite. I would like to tie something down,’ said Cllr. Laffan.
Mr. O Driscoll said he would have an answer one way or the other by the next meeting.