The father of a teenager killed in a road accident less than three months ago is leading a campaign to force the National Roads Authority to introduce safety measures on a one-mile stretch of road which has claimed five lives.
Mr Tom Connolly's 13-year-old son, Adam, was killed on April 10th when the car in which he was a front-seat passenger was involved in a collision with a lorry a short distance from his home at Currahaly, Farran, just off the main Cork-Macroom road.
Mr Connolly has been joined by local people to lobby the authority to introduce traffic calming measures and changes to the road markings to improve safety at five junctions near Farran on the N22.
Over 150 people packed Farran Community Hall last week. A committee has been formed to press for changes to the road between Ballineadig, east of Farran, to Currahaly at the west, near where Mr Connolly's son was killed.
"We had a very good response at the meeting - people are very concerned at the fact that there've been five people killed on that mile of roadway since 1990, and that there've been 40 serious injury accidents and innumerable minor accidents," said Mr Connolly.
"What we want the NRA to do is to introduce traffic calming measures similar to those in Ballincollig and Lissarda, while we also want better signage telling people that they are entering a village and we also want a separate turning-off lane at the five junctions."
Mr Connolly said they had already carried out a survey of traffic volumes and found that 3,000 vehicles a day pass through the junction at Farran.
They plan to complete their report over the coming weeks and present it to the National Roads Authority.
"We'll include drawings in the report on how we believe the road can be improved in terms of markings - particularly through the creation of turning-off lanes which shouldn't cost very much, but would improve safety considerably for locals and others turning off the main road."
Local gardaí attended the meeting. They also wish to accompany the locals when they present their proposals to the NRA so there can be agreement among all parties over what should be done, said Mr Connolly.
"We're hoping to see some action in terms of improvements in the next few weeks - something needs to be done sooner rather than later because the road is as dangerous today as it was in April," he said.
