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Faulty lights play havoc with busy Southside traffic

Thursday, 06 November 2008

Locals in South Dublin have called on Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to urgently repair a set of faulty traffic lights at a junction that has caused havoc over the last two months. Since early September there has been an ongoing problem with a set of faulty traffic lights at the junction of Hillcrest Road and Sandyford Road that keep switching themselves off. The traffic maintenance contractors for the council have been asked to fix the lights on numerous occasions but every time the problem has subsequently recurred – sometimes within hours after the work was carried out. Congratulate Last week, contractors came out to fix them but residents said they will wait and see what happens before they congratulate the local authority on a job well done. In addition, locals have claimed that a number of accidents have occurred at the junction in recent weeks and they believe it is only a matter of time before someone gets killed. Speaking to Southside People, the chairman of the Fernleigh Residents’ Association in Sandyford, Vincent Kearney, said the problem arose when the county council originally tried to fix an “intermittent signalising” fault with the lights. “The lights are acting up at crucial times and especially at 8am in the morning,” Mr Kearney said. “They can also go in the evening times and at lunchtime. “There have been a couple of small accidents because of the lights but there was also a serious one a few weeks ago where a car overturned and ended up on its roof. “I have been subject to a couple of near misses myself,” he added. “We are looking for urgent action before someone is killed at that junction.” Cllr John Byrne (FF) described the situation at the junction as like “Russian roulette”. “I use this junction quite often myself and when the traffic lights are out lives are at stake,” he said. “I would urge that action is taken and that everything possible is done to have these lights fixed or if necessary replaced, as it is only a matter of time before the worst happens.” Cllr Lettie McCarthy (Lab) said that while she believed the council and their contractors were treating the issue as a matter of urgency, the residents still found themselves in a “very vulnerable position”.  “The council is favouring signalised junctions over roundabouts as they believe they are more pedestrian and cycle friendly,” she said. “But they must have a back up in place for situations like this which put these very people at increased risk trying to get across the road.” According to Anne Devine, a senior engineer at the council’s transport department, the source of the fault has been identified. She said the traffic signal junction was switched off on Thursday morning (October 30) after the morning peak traffic period. Facilitate Ms Devine said the work involved carrying out necessary new cabling works and one traffic signal pole replacement. She added that it was necessary to have the junction switched off for a period of time to facilitate the work. “Our signal maintenance contractor provided the necessary personnel on site to ensure that the signals were turned back on as soon as possible,” she said. “It was envisaged that this would be before the peak period on Thursday evening.” At the time of going to press another resident of Fernleigh, Niall Murray, said the lights were working on the morning of Friday last (October 31). However, he added: “I wouldn’t be celebrating just yet. We’ll have to wait and see what happens, considering the number of times the council has been out to fix the lights before.”