Access to Tipperary road is an ‘accident waiting to happen’, say residents

Access to a major Tipperary road is an “accident waiting to happen” for residents in the area, according to one local man.

The Tipperary Town man is appealing to Tipperary County Council to increase safety for residents who live on a major road in the county.

John McGeough lives on Sean Allen Terrace in Tipperary Town, which lies along the N24 road between Limerick and Waterford.

The residents of Sean Allen Terrace have no parking to the front of their homes, but do have rear parking at the back, which lies down a narrow laneway.

Due to walls on both sides of the lane, Mr McGeough told the Tipperary Star that visibility when pulling onto the N24 is incredibly poor, and is an accident waiting to happen.

“When you drive out, if you’re in a car, you can’t see left or right because there’s high walls on each side,” Mr McGeough said.

“If you’re in a car coming out, your bonnet has to be nearly out on the road before you can see left or right,” he explained.

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Tipperary County Council are currently undertaking major upgrade works on that stretch of road, and as part of the works, residents are calling for a wall to be taken down to improve safety and access for them.

“I’ve missed four accidents because I’m aware of it,” John said.

“There’s a serious accident waiting to happen there,” he added.

As a result of the works on the road, that section of the road is currently one-way only.

Mr McGeough says that he drives a van, and to be able to access the laneway for his parking, he has to swing a bit to the left to make the turn, and that as soon as he does this, people are trying to go up the inside of him.

“To get into the lane, I have to swing a little left so I can swing right into the lane, but as soon as I swing a little left, cars behind me fly up on my inside.

“If somebody comes up on your inside, if you turn and run into them, they could bounce up on the path and hit a pedestrian,” he said.

Mr McGeough mentioned his concerns to the contractor who is currently working on the road, who said there was nothing they could do about it.

He then contacted Tipperary County Council about opening an additional access point at the other end of the lane where an old shop used to be to make it safer for motorists and pedestrians.

A wall behind that shop was temporarily knocked down to facilitate the major roadworks, but the residents are appealing to Tipperary County Council to leave the wall down.

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“There’s a safe entrance in behind that (old shop), totally safe, but they built a wall there years ago because the people there didn’t want it left open,” John explained.

“The other end of the lane, where the old shop is, there was a wall there for the last 10 or 15 years, but we want them to make an entrance there, so you could come into the old shop, drive up the lane totally safe, and drive out on the road, totally safe,” he said.

“The Council said they weren’t going to do that, they’re going to put it back the way it was.

“It’s totally unsafe. If you can’t enter onto a road without seeing left or right before you stick your nose out on the road.”

Out of all the 20-plus residents of Sean Allen Terrace, Mr McGeough says that only two of them want the wall reinstated, while the rest would rather it left open to provide safer access.

The residents of the area have started a petition to the Council to leave the wall down so that they can access their parking and the main road in a safer way.

“We have 22 signatures that they want a safe entrance and exit.

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“(The Council) are going to resurface the lane, and they’re going to resurface into the old shop, all they have to do is leave an opening there.”

Residents also fear that if an emergency vehicle needed access to the lane that they simply would not be able to fit with the current layout.

“Another major problem is, and it hasn’t happened yet thank god, is if there’s a fire, and the fire brigade had to get to the back of the house, they wouldn’t be able to get in, even for an ambulance, there’d be no access,” he said.