This article is from page 4 of the 2006-06-06 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
CLARE County Council has rejected calls by worried parents to have the speed limit on a section of road in front of a west Clare primary school reduced.
The area of road in St Senan’s National School Knockerra, described as “an accident waiting to happen”, is to remain as an 80 kilometre per hour speed zone, parents learnt this week.
In a letter from the local authority, the parents’ council was told that “the imposition of speed limits in most such areas, unless they can be strictly enforced, is not alone pointless, but also brings the speed limit process into disrepute.”
The response has angered parents who claim that the highest speed recorded just metres from the church and school, at Power’s Shop, was 90 kilometres per hour.
Chairperson of the parent’s council, Jackie Bonfield, said that the 15-foot wide road was too narrow to take the legal speed limit (80 kilometres per hour).
She pointed to the flashing warning lights, adjacent to the 32-pupil school, which were hidden behind trees. Two of the lights were broken.
According to a traffic survey carried out by parents, as many as 72 vehicles use the route between 9 am and 9.30 am, the same period that children arrive at school.
Secretary of the council, Sue Mepham, explained that cars were coming from Moneypoint and that the road was also one of the main routes to the Killimer ferry.
The council conceded in the letter, that a “special speed limit” was “likely” to be introduced at the school at certain times of the day, but this would be “part of the next stage of the process”.
Councillor Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) said that the suggestion for a special speed limit now being advanced by the council, was a dilution of what was agreed at a meeting of the authority’s western area.
She said the councillors agreed to widen the road, draw white lines, add footpaths, and introduce traffic calming measures.
“Are they going to wait for a child to be killed before they act?” she asked.
“It is one of the worst (situations) in the country and an accident waiting to happen.”
The council letter cited a report carried out by the council and the Garda advising against reducing the limit, on the basis of Department of Transport guidelines.
However, the gardaí also sent a letter to Ms Bonfield in March, indicating that the speed limit should be reduced due to traffic from Moneypoint.