Questions asked over new speed cushions in north Louth

A local Lordship resident has questioned a decision by Louth County Council to replace existing speed ramps outside the St Patrick’s GFC pitch with new speed cushions.

Stephen O’Connor contacted the Democrat last week to express concern that heavy goods vehicles appeared to be able to miss the cushions completely.

The Council recently resurfaced the road and removed the ramps replacing them with new smaller cushion ramps.

“The main thing that frightened me was that as I was pulling out of the Pats the other morning, a medium sized curtain lorry drove straight across the ramps without even touching either side of it and nearly clipped the front of my car,” said Mr O’Connor.

“Now before this, when you were pulling out of St Patrick’s GFC there was loads of room to pull out because the [oncoming] car had to slow down approaching a ramp.

“Right now they are just zooming past the Pat’s and they’re not stopping until they hit the school ramp and pedestrian crossing.”

Mr O'Connor said the previous ramps were installed after much lobbying from the local community.

“Prior to this, the people of Lordship campaigned for years to have these ramps installed, and although they provided the children of the school some level of [protection], the previous ones were still not completely effective in protecting them from the speeding lorries.

“Now we have been greeted with replacement ramps, which are completely ineffective at slowing down large vehicles.”

Mr O’Connor is calling on the Council to reinstall the old ramps claiming that the speed cushions have “made the road much less safer than it was.”

“If we had it back the way it was, everything would be fine and people would have to slow down, but right now it’s only effective for smaller wheeled cars.”

Asked for comment on the new speed measures, Louth County Council said:

“Louth County Council confirm that two speed ‘cushions’ have been installed at this location, as per regulations, as this is a regional road with frequent bus services.

“The centre ramp will remain and slow traffic as usual. The speed cushions installed are the widest form, at 1.9m wide, and research has shown that the average speed will be 25kph to 32kph which is well below the 50km/h posted.

“Road speed enforcement, as always, is the responsibility of An Garda Síochána.”