A LOCAL principal, whose school is on one of the county’s busiest roads, has welcomed an initiative introducing part-time 20mph speed limits at rural primary schools.
The new speed limits will be introduced on roads where the national speed limit applies, in order to increase safety for the road’s most vulnerable users.
St Joseph’s Primary School, Donagh is situated on the main road between Lisnaskea and Monaghan and principal Cormac Jordan has welcomed the scheme.
“It is a very good idea, we are on a main road and cars do speed in the area. We do have lights that warn motorists at crossing times but a lot of times the traffic does travel quite fast. I would not be too sure that people would pay attention to the lights, maybe we need speed ramps rather than a speed limit.
“A 20mph zone would certainly help but drivers need to be made aware of it. We would definitely benefit from this initiative as we are on a main route here, from Roslea to Monaghan, and as motorists are on a main road, the traffic does seem to pick up speed on this road.”
Infrastructure Minister, Chris Hazzard announced the initiative in an effort to promote road safety and enhance the safety of those pupils in rural areas.
“My Department has a statutory duty to promote road safety and, within the context of the Road Safety Strategy, does this through a range of rolling educational activities, engineering and other initiatives recognise the continuing challenges of preventing road death and serious injuries and my Department will continue to address the issues using all practicable methods.
However, over 95% of crashes where someone is killed or seriously injured is due to human error, it is therefore important that we all take responsibility on the roads. Complacency poses an enormous threat to road users, so we must not let our guard down.”
The use of part-time 20mph speed limits at schools was initially piloted at three schools, using electronic signs, but these proved too expensive to maintain. The scheme will now aim to provide the same level of safety using simpler signage.
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