‘People are dying’: Protest called over road fatalities in Charleville

A PEACEFUL protest will be held in Charleville to highlight the traffic dangers in the town following two road fatalities in May with a “French solution” being mooted. 

Eight people in total have lost their lives in traffic collisions in the town close to the Limerick border.

Over 200 attended a meeting in the Charleville Park Hotel, called by the Charleville Community Forum, on Wednesday evening.

There were many impassioned contributions from the floor - one of the most well-received was the call for a French solution.

“I’m just back from France - put on hi-vis vests, fix a date and a time, block the street for an hour or two, contact the media and make ourselves heard like they do in France,” said the man, who received resounding applause.

Claire Scanlon, of Charleville Community Forum, opened the meeting by saying it was great to see such a large crowd to discuss pedestrian safety and HGVs (heavy goods vehicles) going through the town.

“It is to show our horror, outrage and devastation and stop future deaths,” said Ms Scanlon, who expressed her condolences to the families of Patrick Galvin and Margaret Lyons, both killed within a fortnight in the town in May.

Evelyn O’Keeffe, chairperson, said we can have a town centre or a highway “but we can’t have both”.

“We’ve been told we’ll get infrastructure when the road (M20 motorway) comes but we’ve been waiting for that for 20 years and there is no sign of the road,” said Ms O’Keeffe, who added that 15,000 vehicles go through Charleville every day.

Cappamore’s Brendan Ryan, of the Irish Road Haulage Association, said awareness of the restrictions on truck driver's sightlines is a key issue.

“If you can’t see the driver, the driver can’t see you,” said Mr Ryan, who called for an awareness campaign on people walking around trucks in traffic.

The long-time HGV driver also made the point about cars driving into spots on the main street of Charleville and putting their shopping into the boot in close proximity to the road.

Ms O’Keeffe thanked Mr Ryan for coming and spoke of the effect of the road fatalities on the drivers of the trucks and their families. The crowd warmly clapped her words.

She said speed wasn’t an issue as if traffic got any slower it would be a car-park.

Anne Enright, secretary of the Charleville Community Forum, said they want people to feel safe in the town and spoke of the large number of people from County Limerick who do their shopping there.

There were numerous contributions from the floor with calls for more gardai on patrol, raised pedestrian crossings, feedback signs among the suggestions.

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Local councillor Ian Doyle spoke as did Cllrs Mike Donegan and PJ Carey from Kilmallock, who pledged their support.

At the end of the meeting which lasted two hours, Ms O’Keeffe said “people are dying on that street”.

“Is that not a priority? We should be at the top table (in terms of funding and infrastructure). It is time to make a stand. We have enough. We need a bypass,” said Ms O’Keeffe.

She asked people to vote with their hands regarding a protest and there was resounding support in the room. The date, time and details are to be finalised. Causing disruption around exam time was a concern.

Following the meeting, Charleville Community Forum will engage with Cork County Council and request a number of short term goals like removal of angled parking on the main street danger zones; stand alone bus stops and loading bays; new warning signs and damaged signs to be repaired; immediate opening of Park Road pedestrian crossings and timeline of pedestrian crossing on Smiths Road.

The long term goal is a full town bypass and consider no HGVs on Smith’s Lane.

“If nothing is done more people will die,” said Ms O’Keeffe.

See next week's Limerick Leader for more coverage