Near miss at Leitrim crossroad was 'one of many', said Leitrim councillor

A Leitrim councillor said that a near miss at a Leitrim crossroads was just "one of many" and issues at the location have been going on for years. 

Cllr Paddy O'Rourke had asked that further work, "let it be signage, road markings or rumble strips be put in place at Drumcoura cross to prevent traffic cutting straight across the junction towards Drumcoura, having approached from Drumlea. Some time ago, at my request. we had a speed sign erected which seemed reasonably effective for a while. Recently there has been a series of near misses, most recently, involving a school bus."

He told the meeting: 'There was an incident two weeks ago involving a school bus driver going to the primary school in Drumlea; only he stopped short at the crosswords he would have hit a lady who shot through from the Carrigallen direction toward Ballinamore. The bus driver happened to slow down before turning up the hill and she shot through but she is only one of many who does that on a frequent basis. That field below the junction has a 12 foot dropdown and numerous cars have been caught out."

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The official response said that Leitrim County Council had installed a driver feedback sign and additional signage at this location in recent years and added that the Road Design office can again review this location to see if any additional measures can be implemented to highlight this junction.

Cllr O'Rourke stated: "It's almost like people don't realise they are at four way junction where the regional road takes a 90 degree left. What's left to be done in terms of alerting people?"

He said: "We definitely need something to happen before a tragic accident. We need a very big piece of signage, more than is there, alerting people that they are approaching a four-way crossroad."

Cllr Brendan Barry supported the motion saying that those who are coming from Carrigallen "are coming over the brow of a hill and down an incline to a 90 degree bend and you're there before you realise and it is a very sharp bend so maybe signage back up the road and signage closer to it to alert people to it."

Cllr O'Rourke said that in the case of a vehicle leaving the road,  "a barrier with reflectors on it would be a help too."