Stark warning about dangers of speeding traffic in local village

Photo: Fine Gael Cllr John Dolan.

Sharp focus has been put on the dangers of speeding traffic coming into Ballinahown village after a recent accident that saw a car crash into the entrance of the local playground in the village close to the Offaly border.

Fine Gael's John Dolan has called on TII, formerly the NRA, and the Gardai to put an end to traffic travelling at speed after a car failed to make it around the corner and crashed into the popular playground entrance.

He is fearful "someone will be killed in the village" if something is not done to tackle the problem.

“On last Sunday a car coming from the Doon direction, unfortunately, failed to make it around the corner heading for Athlone on the N62 and crashed into the entrance to the playground.

“Thankfully, no one in the car was injured, and luckily no children were exiting the playground at the time or they certainly would have been a serious injury or a fatality,” he warned. This is certainly not the first time that we have seen a vehicle fail to round the corner and crash into either the wall or the gate at the entrance to the wonderful playground in Ballinahown, he added.

“I have asked TII personally numerous times to either put a ramp or traffic lights or both at the pedestrian crossing in an effort to slow down traffic coming through Ballinahown.

“I brought this up at a meeting with TII last year and they told me that they don’t put traffic lights or ramps on a national road, I told them that this was not true as there are lights in Glasson and ramps in numerous villages on national routes,” he added.

Cllr Dolan, who lives in nearby Kilgarvan, close to the village, also called for “better enforcement” of the speed limits by the authorities in the village, "traffic coming from both directions are routinely going too fast at it is often unsafe to even use the crossing that is there," he claimed.

“Will it take a tragedy to finally get something done about the traffic dangers in Ballinahown or can these issues be dealt with quickly? We all understand that accidents can happen, but we have a duty to make Ballinahown as safe as possible for everyone,” he ended.