Getting tourists up to speed on the Pass
SNOW, ice, mist and rain are only minor inconveniences compared with the greatest hazard on the Conor Pass road – the tourist driver who doesn’t know when to stop.
It’s a familiar scenario: The tourist driver sees an oncoming car but, rather than stopping where there’s space, he keeps going until he gets to the narrowest possible bit of road and then freezes behind the wheel, unable to go forward and definitely not able to reverse.
It’s bad enough when tourist meets local, but when tourist meets tourist in this way it’s a disaster and a traffic jam is the inevitable outcome until local drivers sort out the problem, sometimes by reversing the tourists’ cars for them.
The problem of summertime traffic has previously prompted calls for such draconian solutions as traffic lights on the narrowest stretch of road, between Peddlar’s Lake and the top of the Pass. However, Kerry County Council has come up with a laudably simpler, cheaper and infinitely less ugly solution - signs telling drivers where to pull in to avoid blocking oncoming traffic.
The signs were erected two weeks ago and over the June weekend they appeared to be working pretty well. A couple of signs on the approach roads, warning tourists that they really don’t want to go up the Pass when the mist is down would be another cost effective and useful addition that’d make for happier tourists – and locals!