BY CLLR NIALL MURPHY, Green Party
It might seem very illogical, but road safety measures are often unpopular. In theory we all favour safer roads but if safe roads inconvenience the average motorist then the political pressure is to favour the motorist.
Last Monday the Galway City Council engineers proposed a scheme to make the junction beside Scoil Fhursa safer for those walking to school. By making walking safer, the goal was to encourage parents to park further away, or for those with shorter journeys to simply walk the whole way. Ultimately this would lead to less traffic at the school gates – a win for everyone, or so you would think.
The scheme removed a slip road which did not conform to modern road safety standards. In its place the design added a footpath, and removed the most dangerous part of crossing the junction.
The design also removed a small number of designated parking spaces, and prevented illegal parking by using bollards.
While all our national design standards encourage safer design and measures to reduce traffic speed at junctions, the majority of councillors were not prepared to accept any impediment to cars at this junction. Traffic studies showed that the slip lane made negligible contribution to the traffic flow, but this fell on deaf ears.
A motion by Cllr. Peter Keane to retain the slip lane and all parking was carried by the majority of councillors. A minority of councillors, myself included, defended the design which had been through a public consultation process where the majority of submissions were in favour of the scheme.
Removing these aspects of the design means that the junction cannot be made safer. It is hard to see how the engineers will be able to include other aspects such as adding a footpath on the western side of the Crescent. It is also possible that the NTA will refuse to fund a scheme which fails to conform to national standards.
In the wake of an increase in road fatalities, the Government reported last week on the need for lower speed limits and the need for drug testing at the scene of accidents. It is ironic that in the same week that the government prioritises road safety, the Galway City Council voted to prioritise driving over the safety of children walking to school.
Details of the Crescent / Sea Road scheme as originally proposed are available at https://www.galwaycity.ie/the-crescent-sea-road-junction-upgrade
