Dundalk councillor calls for traffic speed surveys for Park Villas and Demense Road

Cllr Seán Kelly has called on Louth County Council, to return to conducting traffic speed surveys at the request of councillors or residents groups. 

Cllr Kelly raised the issue of traffic speed surveys at the Dundalk Municipal District September meeting, saying that the decision to only conduct traffic speed surveys at locations where accident clusters occur, "makes no sense whatsoever".

Cllr Kelly commented "why are we waiting for a number of accidents to occur before conducting a speed survey and putting in place traffic calming measures." The Fianna Fáil councillor said that it made no sense to wait until we know there is a problem before we act.

In comments to the Dundalk Democrat, Cllr Kelly said, "should we not be proactive and take advantage of the local knowledge available to us and try and avoid these accidents? Residents groups and Councillors knowing their local areas know where speed is an issue and we are missing a chance to avoid road traffic accidents.

"Take the example of Park Villas which has been disallowed on the basis of no accident clusters. We do have evidence of accidents and small collisions that were not reported. We also know from any local who uses the road or lives there about the speed of cars on a particular stretch. Common sense is needed here."

The meeting was told in response that a "limited pot of money was available" but that it would look into the issue again and see if funding would allow for more traffic speed surveys to be conducted.