Accident waiting to happen at rural north Mayo junction
Killala based councillor Jarlath Munnelly said that a stop sign needs to be painted at a rural crossroad junction in north Mayo
An accident is waiting to happen at a dangerous junction along rural local roads in north Mayo according to a local councillor unless a stop sign is put at the junction.
The issue was raised at the monthly meeting of Ballina Municipal District by Killala-based councillor Jarlath Munnelly who feared that an accident would occur at a crossroads junction at Cloonfadda south of Killala.
The Fine Gael councillor said that there have been incidents of traffic driving through the intersection of the L1107 Killala to Crossmolina road and the L11101 Kifian road and locals said there have been near misses.
“There have been several reports of people driving right through that junction itself. There was a road accident where a jeep and a trailer ran through the junction and there was a car coming in the other direction and they collided. It could have been very serious,” he said.
Cllr Munnelly said that he previously got a stop sign for that junction which was written on the road but in recent times it was covered over during resurfacing work. He called for the stop sign to be repainted at the junction to prevent motorists running through the junction.
“The stop bar was not put back in and we need to put it back in and write stop on the road. Perhaps the junction also needs to be looked at. Talking to people locally there have been several incidents of people driving through that junction who do not have the right of way. We need to think about that,” he said.
The meeting was also informed of concerns of a junction in the centre of Killala which Cllr Munnelly said is often ignored by motorists and he is fearful a collision will occur.
“The traffic along the Crossmolina road is not stopping. There is a stop sign but it is back from the junction and people are driving right through. I've seen it myself on several occasions. This is an ongoing problem and that junction is not working properly and needs to be looked at. There is a little bit of tweaking needed because people coming in that road are not stopping. They do not drive fast because they can't but it is a problem and there will be a crash,” he said.
Theresa Durkin, the senior executive engineer with Mayo County Council said she will look at the different junctions and see what can be done with them.