Driver behaviour to blame in Castlelyons incidents

According to senior executive engineer Brendan O’Gorman, the key issues at two problematic junctions in the Castlelyons area (Leary’s Cross and Kenny’s Cross) involved ‘driver behaviour’ with people neglecting to stop at the stop junction.

“Regardless of what we do with improving sightlines at that junction, if people continually drive through a stop junction, we are always going to have incidents and accidents at that junction.”

Regarding Kenny’s Cross, where the L1516 Fermoy to Castlelyons road intersects the L1515 road, Mr O’Gorman noted that works had been carried out there and that Garda Authorities had agreed to carry out more enhanced enforcements at both junctions, with Kenny’s Cross to be put forward for future safety schemes.

Local councillors welcomed the news of the improvements for the junctions this week, with Cllr William O’Leary noting that works for Leary’s Cross are both ‘ welcome and necessary’, however, he called for enhanced signage at Kenny’s Cross in the interim.

“Sometimes signage needs to be blunt to impact behaviour. I do think ‘accident blackspot’ or something similar would be the way forward here as an interim measure.

“It has to be something that will at this stage scare people into slowing down. You see the RSA running ads every night of the week that would turn your stomach. Unfortunately, we have to get ruthless as well,” Cllr O’Leary said.

GALVIN’S CROSS

Road realignment, advance signage, and on-road markings were sought for Galvin’s Cross located at Coole Lower, Castlelyons, by Cllr Frank O’Flynn who tabled a motion on the matter at Tuesday’s Fermoy MD meeting.

Cllr O’Flynn said that the site was the scene of multiple accidents in recent times, highlighting the slippery road conditions, high speeds and heavy traffic that this local road has.

“Recently there was a major accident there again. Nearly 50 yards of a ditch was taken away, concrete posts, a railing, a concrete pier. A lorry jack-knifed there too not long ago,” Cllr O’Flynn added.

The motion was supported by Cllr William O’Leary who said that Galvin’s Cross was another ‘pinch point’ in what he described as ‘the unruly sisters of roads’.

A response to the motion from senior executive engineer, Brendan O’Gorman, noted that there is a rolling bend on the local primary road which intersects the local secondary road and stated that the old cottage adjacent, precludes any feasible future realignment at the location.

“We will look to upgrading the signage and improving the road surface,” he said.