Clones crash blackspot: ‘It’s about enforcement rather than speed limits’

The grief in Clones, Co Monaghan, was still raw when news from Clonmel began to filter in: four more young lives claimed on the roads.

In late August, Nicole “Nikki” Murphy, Zoey Coffey, Grace McSweeney (all 18) and Grace’s brother Luke (24) were killed when the car they were travelling in, en route to Leaving Cert results day celebrations, overturned and hit a wall in the Co Tipperary town.

Four days later, in Cashel, also Co Tipperary, a three-year-old boy, Tom O’Reilly, and his grandparents, Thomas O’Reilly (45) and Bridget O’Reilly (46), were killed.

Both collisions came weeks after the tragedy in Clones. It was a horrific summer on Irish roads.

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Clones, a Border town, is still struggling with its own tragedy. In late July, Kiea McCann (17) and Dlava Mohamed (16) were killed in a car crash on their way to a debs ball, after the car they were travelling in left the road and collided with a tree along the N54 outside the town.

News of the deaths in Tipperary over the past fortnight brought the horror of late July back to Clones. “It still affects me to talk about it,” says Paul Connolly, standing at the entrance to his bungalow outside Clones, several hundred metres from the scene of the crash.

He pauses before continuing: “It doesn’t bear thinking about.”

Pat Treanor, a Sinn Féin councillor based in Clones, says: “If a local tragedy hadn’t happened, it’d pass over you a bit easier. But you do think of the parents and the families and the community, and what they’re going through.”

“What I’ve noticed, too, it also brings back the mourning to families who have lost others in similar circumstances, even over the years, years ago ... They’re just visited with the same kind of trauma again,” adds Treanor. In 2004, at the precise location where Kiea McCann (17) and Dlava Mohamed died, Ashley McCluskey died after the car he was driving left the road.

Just over a month on from July’s tragedy, Clones is quiet, according to Rehab Ramadan, a friend of the Mohamed family.

“I don’t know what’s happened this year [with road deaths] ... It’s very sad for everyone,” she says, standing by a bench on the Diamond, in Clones.

[ Analysis: Reducing speed limits is only one fix needed to solve problem of rising road deaths ]

This week, in response to the recent tragedies, the Government has moved to introduce revised speed limits, in an effort to increase safety and tackle rising death rates. According to Garda figures, 129 people have died on Irish roads in 2023 – an increase of 25 on this time last year.

Under the plans, the default speed limit on national secondary roads would drop from 100km/h to 80km/h. The N54, which links Clones to Monaghan, is a national secondary road and for the most part and carries at speed limit of 100km/h. The stretch where Kiea McCann and Dlava Mohamed died already carries an 80km/h limit.

With investigations ongoing, there is no indication that speeding was a factor in the crash that resulted in the deaths of the two teenagers.

“Garda in Monaghan continue to appeal to anyone who may have witnessed this collision to contact them,” a Garda spokesperson said.

While it does bring it to the forefront for a day or two, until the funerals are over, people very soon go back to their former driving habits

—  Rev John Hanson, the minister of Stonebridge Presbyterian Church

Speeding has always been an issue on the N54 between Clones and Monaghan, according to people who live along the road. “There might not be that many casualties, but there’s been lots of accidents,” one local resident says, asking not to be identified.

However, news of revised speed limits is met with scepticism here.

“It’s stupid,” Connolly, a retired garda, says from his doorstep. “There’s no enforcement, that’s all that’s wrong ... Guards on the beat is the answer to everything – it’s that simple.”

Connolly’s home is several hundred metres from the scene of July’s fatal incident, and opens on to the N54. He criticises the Government’s new plan as a “knee-jerk” response.

An articulated truck, carrying a 40ft container, sweeps past the front of the house as he speaks. “Look at the speed of that ... Going out of my driveway, I’d be terrified,” he says.

[ Speed limits to reduce by 20km/h on secondary, rural and urban roads under new plan ]

Across the road, Gerry McGorman is also of the opinion that enforcement – rather than reduced speed limits – is key to tackling speed issues.

“Cars do zoom along here,” he says, standing in his porch. “I have seen cars do 100, 120, 140km/h on this stretch of road.”

McGorman was at home when the fatal crash happened. “It is tragic, but I think it’s about enforcement, rather than the actual limits,” he says.

Speed warning signs that tell a driver how fast they are going, or more speed vans, could help the problem, he adds.

Expecting to see large-scale change in driving behaviours is fanciful, according to Rev John Hanson, the minister of Stonebridge Presbyterian Church, halfway between Clones and the nearby village of Smithborough, on the N54.

“Unfortunately, people have short memories when it comes to these issues,” he says. “While it does bring it to the forefront for a day or two, until the funerals are over, people very soon go back to their former driving habits.”

Treanor agrees that those who disregard speed limits will probably continue to do so regardless of reductions. “But at the same time we need to be taking whatever actions we can and hope that they will prevail,” he says.

On Thursday afternoon, in hazy heat, workers carry out repairs on a crash barrier directly across the road from July’s fatal collision.

On the tree, a floral tribute is tacked to the trunk.