Calls for zebra crossing at ‘exceptionally’ dangerous location in North Cork town

FEARS ARE THAT MOTORISTS DON’T KNOW WHO HAS RIGHT OF WAY AT FERMOY CROSSING

A MOTION from the Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Frank O’Flynn requesting that Cork County Counci put in place a zebra crossing at the existing crossing in Patrick Street, Fermoy, in the interest of safety of all road users was brought before a recent Fermoy Municipal District meeting.

Mayor O’Flynn highlighted the current courtesy crossing in Patrick Street as ‘exceptionally’ dangerous:

“People are worried and concerned. Numerous people have been on to me saying it is exceptionally dangerous. A zebra crossing is the answer. Is it possible to do when we are doing the resurfacing of Patrick Street or would it take separate funding? It is a very busy road, and ahead of the tourism season, people are concerned there could be a possible accident.

“Some motorists who may be strangers to Fermoy may not know that there is actually a crossing there. People are enjoying the shopping experience in town. It is important we make it as safe as possible.” he said.

Fine Gael councillor Noel McCarthy agreed, saying the crossing is causing confusion to motorists:

“I understood why it was put there, it is the most popular crossing in the town. You have very busy businesses in that particular area. It is a crossing that is used so many times a day.

“It is causing concerns to motorists because they don’t know who has right of way. It is really causing confusion.”

Cllr McCarthy wondered if there was a need to have two zebra crossings in Fermoy town.

“Should we consider writing to the Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) and asking them would they take away the other one by Centra and where the old post office was. Do we need two? The longer it goes on, the longer we are in danger of an accident happening. We need to address it. It is our town. It is our problem to get the TII to act on this fast.”

“We need a very obvious crossing,” said his party colleague, Cllr Kay Dawson. “I live in fear that someone steps out and the motorist or the truck driver can’t see them because they are stepping out between cars. We need to re-educate people how to use a crossing. We need to make it as clear as possible where our crossings are. I find those undefined crossings can be nearly more dangerous that having nothing.” Fianna Fáil councillor Deirdre O’Brien said she has raised the issue of standardising pedestrian crossings numerous times, while Independent councillor Frank Roche agreed that people venturing out between cars is lethal.

Senior Engineer with Cork County Council Brendan O’Gorman provided the councillors with an update: “This is on a national road, and any safety-improvement scheme here will be advanced by the National Roads Office (NRO) and TII. We have already asked for this project to be advanced on foot of previous councillor representations. We would have instructed the National Roads Office to undertake an inspection and to bring forward a safety scheme proposal for the area. They haven’t done that yet. We will have an update at the April meeting.”

Mr O’Gorman said, in his opinion, two controlled crossings are required on that street:

“If you take away the crossing by Centra you are going to create a much more dangerous scenario.

“It is our highest priority to convert it to a controlled crossing. We have instructed our national roads office to take this on board again. I would be very hopeful that it could be done in conjunction with the planned resurfacing on the street.

“It would need a Section 38 so there would be a bit of planning and design in the background. There would be very limited [scope for] any further removal of car-parking spaces.

“The one issue might be the loading bay. That is not ideal to have that adjacent to a pedestrian crossing. We might need to relocate that.

“We will reiterate it to the National Roads Office. That is our highest priority in the town,” he added.