Warning over Laois traffic 'ignoring' stop signs

Stop signs are being ignored by motorists at two Laois  junctions,  a council meeting was told. 

Cllr PJ Kelly called on the council to address safety issues at the junctions at Killenure and Jamestown Cross. He told the latest meeting of Portarlington Graiguecullen Municipal District that motorists use a hard shoulder to build up speed at Killenure. 

“Last week there was an accident at Killenure… a bad accident. A couple of cars were tangled up in it,” he said. 

He put down a motion asking “That Laois County Council carry out a safety assessment of two junctions. A. Killenure junction and B. Jamestown Cross as both junctions have stop signs on poles and on the road. In both cases the signs are almost entirely ignored while turning left for Monasterevin.”

In a written response, Senior Engineer Adrian Barrett: “The Road Design office will arrange to meet with Cllr Kelly on site to assess the problem and identify a solution.”

“All the traffic coming from  Portarlington now, they don’t stop if they are heading towards Monasterevin,” said Cllr Kelly. 

“It is a disaster waiting to happen because people have been killed on Jamestown Cross before for this reason and I don’t and local people don’t want to see another one of those,” he said.