Latest crash sparks urgent calls for traffic calming measures in St Johnston

There are fresh calls for urgent traffic calming measures after another crash at a collision blackspot in St Johnston.

A car ended up in the front garden of a house at a notorious corner on the R236 road where two young men lost their lives in a fatal crash in February.

The homeowners, who only moved into the house in recent weeks after renovating the property, have been left terrified at the frequency of the collisions and the speed travelled by some vehicles on the road.

The couple, who have a seven-year-old daughter, have also been left frustrated at a lack of response from Donegal County Council having raised concerns to the local authority on multiple occasions.

“This is all down to speed and human error - but no-one seems to be interested in it,” the man told Donegal Live. “If the cars aren’t willing to slow down on the road then something will have to be done to slow them down.”

Since May, 2025 there have been more than a dozen crashes at the same location.

The concerned resident said he has witnessed cars “fair lifting off the road” at the corner, just yards from a filling station complex and a busy junction leading to the home pitches of Kildrum Tigers Football Club and St Johnston Cricket Club.

“I was going out to get logs for the fire last week and there was a car in the garden,” the man said. “That same day I was going over to Raymond McDaid at the Car Breakers and there was a car fair lifting off the road as I was walking over.

“Since May 27 last year, we have counted 13 crashes. We emailed the Council twice last year, but all we got was an automatic reply to say that the email was received.”

On one occasion last year, a car ploughed into scaffolding erected at the front of the house during renovation work. A young child and a pregnant woman were in the car that day and the scaffold was pushed right against the wall of the house in the incident. 

On the day of the All-Ireland final last July, the road was closed for several hours after a collision.

On February 24 this year, Two young men from Derry, Daniel Cullen and Caoimhin Porter-McLoone, died when the car they were travelling in collided with a lorry.

In the days following the collision, a local petition calling for traffic-calming ramps on the St Johnston road gathered significant support, with more than 500 signatures recorded within a week.

Raymond McDaid, of McDaid’s Car Dismantlers, whose premises is located less than 100 metres from the site of the crash, said accidents are a regular occurrence on the main Lifford–Derry road.

 “A couple of ramps could save lives,” he said. “I have been in business here for 55 years and accidents happen regularly here. We would take calls well over a dozen times a year and we’d go off with the fork truck to lift cars, either out of the ditch or out of the wall.”

Last week, Mr McDaid assisted in the recovery of a car that ended up in the middle of the garden after spinning for 30 metres having clipped a kerb.

Mr McDaid says the only solution to the issue is the installation of speed raps.

“It’s only a matter of time before it happens again,” he said. “This is a regular occurrence. We have been onto the Council for about five years now and nothing has been done. 

“Lives are more important. A few ramps surely wouldn’t put the lights off in the Council - but it could save some lives.”

The couple who have just moved into the house are now fearful of allowing their little girl out to play and the man added: “We have no wall now in the front of the house. We don’t want to be without a wall because the cars will just come straight into the garden, but if we build the wall again the cars are going to keep hitting the wall.”

They say that warning signs were put up on the approach to the corner around three years ago - but a vehicle went through the signs a short time later, destroying them.

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In an email to the Council in 2025, they wrote: “ I contacted you with my concerns two years ago and sadly the situation has become more serious. 

“The speed traffic is travelling through the village is unsafe and I feel speed should be monitored at this area and speed ramps throughout the village introduced. I hope my concerns will be taken seriously as this stretch of the road is extremely dangerous and only and a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt or worse.”

Donegal County Council has been contacted for comment.