Road safety measures needed at crèche - McVitty

Cavan County Council is being urged to install safety measures at a west Cavan childcare facility in the interest of 25 young children.

Safety concerns are being flagged about the situation that exists at the Krafty Kids Creche on the “extremely busy” Belturbet to Ballyconnell Road, where attending children must move across the road at pick-up times.

Cllr Peter McVitty raised the issue at the recent meeting of the Cavan Belturbet Municipal District Authority.

He said parents are concerned about the safety of their children at the busy collection times of 1.30pm and 2.30pm.

Cllr McVitty also revealed that a high number of children go to the nearby Clever Clogs facility and consequently a lot of children have to cross that particular section of road.

He said motorists coming from the Belturbet direction travel fairly fast down that hill and past the Clever Clogs facility.

“Is there anything we could do as a Council to make it safer for the children? It needs to be addressed,” he implored.

Cllr Sean Smith said that a lot of cars used to park on the hill at the Doctors Dispensary and the gardaí were forced to regulate ongoing problems. “Some type of safety measure needs to be implemented at that location,” he remarked, urging the senior executive engineer, Paul Mulligan, to look at an appropriate solution.

Responding, Mr Mulligan explained to the members that the alignment of the road at this location limited the forward visibility of any potential crossing.

“If you are driving at 50 kilometres in either direction, whether that is going into Ballyconnell towards the roundabout or climbing up the hill, there is not an awful lot of visibility,” he remarked.

The engineer committed to raise the matter at a meeting of the council's Road Safety department to ascertain what solution might work at this location, and to slow traffic down.

“Maybe measures can be designed to make drivers more mindful of where they are and to drive with more care,” added Mr Mulligan.