Good news for Dunderrows parents as road gets upgraded

By Siobhan Cronin

PARENTS of pupils at a school in Dunderrow outside Kinsale are delighted with this week’s news that the dangerous road is to be upgraded.

The parents have been warning that tahe road outside the school is a ‘major accident waiting to happen’ after a child was hit by a car that drove off.

The parents had compiled a petition of over 200 names for Cork County Council to impress on them the hazards the children endure at pick-up and drop-off points every day.

They approached local FF Cllr Margaret Murphy O’Mahony with a dossier of information on work that needed to be done, outlining the hazards at the school.

Cllr O’Mahony passed on the details to the County Council’s engineering department, and revealed this week that they had met with a positive response.

‘I was very impressed with the amount of work the parents had put into this,’ she told the Star. ‘I have to give great credit to them for the effort they put into this.’

The dossier, which included an architect’s report, and information on traffic management for schools, obviously made a good impression on the Council engineers, too.

This week they inspected the road at the school with a view to introducing ‘traffic calming measures’ there, and an upgrade of the road.

The school is located on a busy road with a number of housing estates opening onto it, and the large campus at pharma giant Lilly is also nearby.

One of the parents said there was serious concern expressed over the safety of children getting in and out of cars at the school gates, since one child was hit by a car and the parent drove off without checking on them.

‘There have been a number of near misses there,’ she told The Southern Star.

She added that the zebra crossing at the gates was faded, and that some parents were continuing to park on it, and also on the ‘Bus Only’ space.

Although there is a turning circle at one end of the school, some parents were parking there at rush hour, forcing other parents to ‘u-turn’ on the busy road.

At one end of the road, the view is obstructed by a bend, and there is also a 30mph speed limit sign which is ‘very faded’, she added.

The parents would like the Council to install speed bumps to slow down the traffic, because some motorists are using it as a short cut, but the details of the proposed ‘traffic calming measures’ have not yet been ironed out.

They are hoping that the promised upgrading works will increase visibility and improve access for parents.

With so many estates using this road at Leighmoney More (L7239), including Woodside and Bradfields, the news of the impending roadworks will be warmly welcomed in the area.

‘We have been waiting for something to be done for the last six years,’ one parent told the Star. ‘And we are delighted with the news. We are really happy to have had the support of Cllr Murphy O’Mahony on this.’