“SERIOUS CONCERN” is growing in Kilkishen on the rate of speeding occurring in the East Clare village.
A public meeting was held in Kilkishen on Thursday last with members of the community keen to see some form of measures brought in to slow down traffic coming through the village.
At this month’s sitting of the Killaloe Municipal District, Cllr Joe Cooney (FG) tabled a motion calling on the local authority “to put speed ramps in the village of Kilkishen to slow traffic in the interest of road safety”.
Acting senior executive engineer in the Killaloe MD, Declan Flanagan said that a speed survey was conducted on the main street in Kilkishen within the past two weeks. “The 85th percentile speeds are in line with the adopted speed limit of 50Km/hr in the center of the Village. On the approach roads to the village, there are issues regarding speed of traffic,” he stated.
Flanagan outlined, “In early 2023 new gateway signs and line marking were introduced as a measure to slow down vehicles entering the Village. On foot of this Notice of Motion over the next few weeks we will be installing 50km/hr text on red circle backgrounds on the road surface throughout the village as a reminder to drivers to comply with the speed limit and we will monitor to see if this will be effective over the course of the next few months”.
Long-term plans to tackle speeding in Kilkishen are being reviewed, the engineer stated. “On a long-term perspective, we have engaged with a consultant to review the entire village, we had a recent site meeting to discuss appropriate measures to reduce speed with build outs, tree lined landscape, the possibility of raised tables at Junctions and road narrowing in places. This is a long term plan which will be focused on measures to reduce speeding. A funding stream will need to be sourced following approval from the local community and elected members”.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Cooney requested an update on what needed to be done to get speed ramps for Kilkishen. “There is serious concern there and there is no point saying there isn’t”.
In response, Flanagan said there were “a couple of measures” but that the village needed to be assessed first. “It is speeding from both approaches. We will come up with a plan and present a plan and go to seek funding”. Once this plan has been formulated, officials from the Council will sit down with members of the community in Kilkishen.
Traffic control measures were in “every village in Cork I went to,” Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) told the meeting. “In Dromindoora people have to slow down when they see a truck coming,” he commented. He added, “every councillor got hell on the election canvass over speeding and if they didn’t they weren’t listening to the people”.
