DRIMOLEAGUE residents fear there could be a fatal accident unless something is done urgently to slow traffic speeding through the village.
‘It’s a Drimoleague super highway,’ is how Fachtna Daly described the manner in which motorists are tearing through the village, which is located on the main artery from Bandon to Bantry.
Fachtna and fellow resident Celina Farrell have identified what they claimed are ‘glaring infrastructural failures’ that could result in the loss of life.
At the eastern end of the village, where there were no children seven years ago, Fachtna said there are now ‘nine children on the ground and two on the way.’
‘It is lovely to see the village coming back to life again,’ he said, ‘but with the speed of the vehicles going through the village I fear something is going to happen, somebody is going to be killed.’
Another area of concern is the junction between the main artery, and traffic coming from the Skibbereen direction. Both campaigners suggested that instead of a rusted ‘stop’ sign and a half-visible road marking, that a mini roundabout is what is needed to properly regulate traffic.
‘People who don’t know the road network think they have the right of way,’ said Fachtna, ‘and are driving straight out across the main Dunmanway to Bantry road.’
Traffic at the peak commute time is bad, Celina said, but the speed of traffic going through the wide-open road during the day is every bit as ‘frightening.’
A survey of 50 households revealed the scale of the problem, with three-quarters of those interviewed reporting incidents that resulted in injury, or a close call, due to speeding.
The research claims there is a pronounced risk to the safety of residents, especially school children and people with disabilities, and the residents have called for the immediate intervention by Cork County Council.
Social Democrat TD Holly Cairns has already raised the issue in the Dáil. She said, ‘The speed and scale of traffic going through the village is a major safety concern.’
Much of the filming for the TV adaptation of Graham Norton’s novel Holding, took place last Summer in Drimoleague. Co-writer Dominic Treadwell-Collins told The Southern Star at the time that they were surprised by the large volumes of traffic going through the village.
Celina said they have sent their findings to the Council and asked the local authority to use part of its roads budget to install a couple of flat top speed ramps, more pedestrian crossings, as well as chicanes with trees because that would ‘reduce the optical view of the road and encourage better driving behaviour.’
There was no comment available from Cork County Council.
