Green Party candidate for Tramore Town Council, Stan Nangle, has accused the sitting Council members of failing to do their job properly. He maintains that by their inaction on road safety issues, they are putting lives at risk.
Mr Nangle, who is also standing for the County Council, pronounced this week that if Tramore was to “work properly” then it needed Councillors who did their job right.
He explained: “For three years they have failed to put bye-laws in place to protect pedestrians at Summerhill. People are parking on the pedestrian crossings there which restricts the view of approaching drivers, putting the lives of pedestrians, especially children, in danger”.
He said he had been informed by Gardai that although such behaviour should be illegal, it was necessary to have appropriate bye-laws in place which they could then enforce.
He continued: “These crossings have been in operation since 2006, yet the Councillors continue to neglect to put through the bye-laws which would allow the Gardaí to issue tickets to offenders.
“A number of people are now asking for traffic light controlled crossings, but that would not solve the underlying problem which is that the Council put the crossings in the wrong places”.
He said the pedestrian crossing on Priest Road was too close to the junction; drivers going up the hill could not see pedestrians until they were right on the crossing and risked being rear-ended if they stopped suddenly.
The crossing on the old Waterford Road was often blocked by traffic waiting at the Stop sign, while the crossing at O’Neill’s corner should be located farther away from the junction, preferably outside the pharmacy.
“This”, he claimed, “is one of many unfortunate examples of the failure of the sitting Councillors to do the job they were elected to do. For instance, the Council dug up the verges of the Tramore Ring Road but neglected to budget for the reinstatement and landscaping of the verges.
“The Councillors also signed off on the budget for the surface dressing of the Tramore Road when it was completely inappropriate for a road with that volume of traffic. The Council is on record as stating that a proper Macadam road surface ‘is not justified under the circumstances’. Another attempt to use tar and chip will be made in the middle of June”.