Road Safety - Part 2

Tuesday 16 May 2017

Nearly 300 school children attend Ballon National School and due to the concern about the level of risk those children are being exposed to when crossing the N80, to and from school throughout the day, it was decided that a meeting should be held to address concerns. The meeting, which took place at the school, was well attended by parents and everyone had great ideas on how to make the road through the village and the school crossing, safer for everyone to use.

The problems identified were:

·         The crossing at the school is very poorly signposted, with reduced visibility.

·         All of the housing estates in the village are on the opposite side of the road to the school, therefore a large majority of the children attending school, need to cross the road. 

·         There is a huge volume of traffic through the village, and the 50kph speed limit is simply not adhered to by the cars and large trucks that are constantly using the road.

·         Children and teenagers need to cross the road morning and evening to catch their secondary school buses.

·         Children leave the school throughout the day to attend various out of school activities including church services, nature walks

·         The current crossing is wide and dangerous and only manned by a School Warden at 9am and at 2 & 3pm.

A number of possible solutions were proposed:

·         A raised crossing, signalled by traffic lights.

·         Speed bumps on entry and exit to the village, in order to slow traffic down.

·         Reduce speed limit to 30kph through the village and clearly identify the cross with signage and lighting.

·         Improved road markings, signage and lighting to alert oncoming traffic to the existence of a pedestrian crossing.

·         A possible repositioning of the pedestrian crossing, as currently the school crossing is on a very wide stretch of road, which facilitates traffic from three different directions.

It was agreed that a working group would be established and that as a matter of urgency a petition would go out to all families in the school, outlining the changes needed to ensure our children’s safety getting to and from school. The Ballon Improvement Group, as well as local businesses are also on board with making our village a safe place to live and work.

The petition, along with a report outlining areas of concern will be forwarded to all county councillors, the NRA, and county engineers. Several councillors are aware of the situation and have agreed to raise the issue within council meeting.  Senator Jennifer Murnane O’Connor has also met with a delegation from the working group. 

The Gardai did come along to observe a school finishing time, as did representatives from the council and the road safety engineering inspector but quite simply, a one off, ten or twenty minute observation is not an accurate reflection of the dangers we witness on a daily basis, and it simply isn’t good enough to base the safety of our children on such observations.  We need a proactive approach to road safety.  We cannot, and will not wait for the unthinkable to happen before these issues are addressed.