Gardaí are advising motorists tonight to exert extreme care while travelling on the roads around Co. Tipperary, as hazardous driving conditions are being reported. Motorists are being asked to please slow down.
Vehicles travelling on the Mill Road, Thurles are particularly being warned to take extreme care as surface water is presently, despite no rain over the past week, continuing to flow out through gateways, unto a large part of the road surface.
Surface water flowing through gateways unto the Mill Road area of Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Pic. G. Willoughby
There has been a failure by Thurles Municipal District engineers over the past 2 years to clear the drains in this area.
Total failure, by Thurles Municipal District engineers, to clear drains despite being notifiedover the past 5 years. Pic. G. Willoughby
Due to promised temperatures of at least -2 tonight; the road surface in this area, is expected to become extremely icy; with schools reopening tomorrow, large volumes of traffic will attempt to use this area in an effort to avoid the town centre, altogether.
What is causing this sudden unprecedented excess surface water on the Mill Road, over the past 2 years has as yet not been identified.
This area is a natural flood-plain for the River Suir. Such natural flood-plains are increasingly being environmentally degraded and devalued. As a result of urbanisation and infrastructural development, natural flooding can result in the land surface becoming impermeable (watertight). Thus, natural drainage of water that once was allowed to pass through the soil and its numerous layers are often undermined by the construction of housing, the erection of pavements and tarmac surfaces, resulting in surface run-off, due to a sudden rapid increase in a river’s natural discharge. It should be noted that some 26 houses were granted planning permission and erected on the Mill Road, in the past 2 years and the contractor was allowed to exit the site, leaving all road drains compacted with muck from heavy machinery used.
Total failure, by Thurles Municipal District engineers, to undertake proper road repairsand surface drainageon Mill Road Thurles. Pic. G. Willoughby
Attempts to have one area of this road repaired, [View Here], on December 7th, 2023, resulted in a few shovels of cold tarmac, now rapidly vanishing, and a number of trenches being dug into the ditch, as shown in picture above.
Why in God’s name, do we continue to pay ‘Property Tax’, ‘Road Tax’ and ‘high salaries’, latter to officials, when we receive such poor response when it comes to maintaining essential services. It is becoming more evident that locally elected Councillors and their officials are no longer in control of Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the service they are supposed to supply.
Some 4 days ago, January 3rd, 2024, [View Here] on Thurles.info we highlighted the shocking state of Kickham Street’s road surface. We are delighted to report that on January 4th (and thankfully before school traffic returns) most of the multitude of potholes were filled. This work is also a very short-term safety measure, nevertheless same is to be welcomed. It is not, however, a long-term solution. Kickham Street’s full and thorough rehabilitation and resurfacing are imperative. This stretch of road accommodates huge volumes of traffic daily. Given the absence of a ring road and the deplorable state of the Mill Road alternative, (narrow driving conditions, potholes and severe flooding), there will be no decrease in traffic on this main route entering the town, that includes Kickham Street. Its maintenance and improvement is, therefore, a necessary priority and plans to initiate improvements should be implemented as soon as possible.
It would appear that our elected politicians; our Municipal District Councillors and our Thurles Municipal District officials no longer have the will or indeed the power, to organise the filling of a pothole in Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Just a section of the road surface on Kickham Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
The pictures shown here demonstrate a small section of road conditions being experienced by motorists over the Christmas holiday period. It must now be clear to our electorate the need to seek out fresh blood, come the local elections next March 2024, and the need to replace those who have demonstrated total contempt for our towns; its needs, while further demonstrating their total lack of respect and courtesy to those who elected them to highly paid posts.
Another view of the numerous pot holes that vehicles encounter on Kickham Street, Thurles, latter the busiest exit and entrance into the town.
Page 8 of Tipperary Co. Council’s Management Report to Council (VIEW pdf HERE), published in February of 2023, stated that the N75, Liberty Square to the Anner Hotel, (which includes Kickham Street, the most used road surface in Thurles), would involve the rehabilitation of approximately 1km of road pavement on the N75 National Secondary road within the town of Thurles, from its junction with Mitchel Street to the Anner Hotel; with the scheme then at a preliminary design stage. Back then it was anticipated that works would commence in Q4 of 2023. We now understand that this date has been postponed until possibly Q3 of 2024.
The Irish Road Safety Authority (RSA) has a statutory remit to report on fatal, serious and even minor injury collisions on our public roads.
According to the RSA, as of December 31st, 2023 last, there have been 173 fatal collisions, resulting in 184 fatalities.
Warning – Speed Kills
The above figures represent 24 higher fatal collisions and 29 more deaths, latter an increase of 19% when compared to provisional data supplied by An Garda Síochána; when again compared to the year 2022, and the highest since 2014, when, sadly, there were recorded 192 fatalities.
Of the 2023 fatalities, 57% lost their lives in single vehicle collisions, while 7 of these fatal collisions resulted in more than one death; four collisions resulted in 2 fatalities; two collisions resulted in 3 fatalities; and one collision resulted in 4 fatalities.
Statistics show that almost half of all collisions occurred under the cover of darkness, despite lower traffic volumes on our roads; with some 50% occurring on weekends.
Sadly 16 persons lost their lives due to road accidents here in Co. Tipperary in 2023, latter an increase of 7 deaths on the previous year’s total. Of these, often avoidable deaths, nationally; 78% were males and 22% were females.
Last December a meeting of Tipperary Joint Policing Committee was informed that there was a 37% increase in speeding offences detected in the first 11 months of 2023, with a total of 16,696 offences detected, when compared to 12,182, during the same period. in 2022.
Let’s all make it a new year’s resolution in 2024 to SLOW DOWN.
Truck rearranges Liberty Square, Thurles, town Railing
Sadly, the area was the scene of a pedestrian death on January 20th 2014. Since then the nearby railings, supposedly placed there to protect pedestrians, has since been replaced on three different occasions. Now for the fourth time, in possibly the past 36 hours, a large truck has again rearranged these same railings, at the junction of Liberty Square south and Slievenamon Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.
Any of you haulage contractors out there, with a truck missing a mudguard? Your driver failed to take it with him, having demolished railings, when failing to manoeuvre a left lane turn in Liberty Square Thurles. Co. Tipperary.
Peculiar, that with two currently resident Teachtaí Dála, both supporting the present government, no necessary funding has been acquired to provide a ring road for heavy traffic, thus relieving our medieval choked streetscapes.
New proposals suggested by the European Commission that, if implemented, could result in drivers over 70 years of age having to undergo driving refresher courses, will not be implemented here in Ireland.
Just one small section of unravelledroadway on Kickham Street, Thurles, Co. Tipperary ignored by local elected councillors and Thurles Municipal District officials.
It has been confirmed that there are no plans by the Irish government to change the current age from over 75 years old to 70 years. Thus drivers under 75 years will not have to supply a medical report confirming their fitness to drive, unless they are specifically identified as someone who has a specific illness and therefore required to do so by law.
The European Commission’s proposals were centred around some motorists having to undergo regular medical tests and refresher courses in order to renew their driving licence. These proposals also suggest mandatory training for professional van drivers, as well as allowing children, as young as 16 years, to drive cars that have been fitted with a governor, thus limiting the top speed of their vehicles.
The new EU proposed directives, which are seen by some as being ageist, unfair, ineffective and harmful, will not be made mandatory for individual member states. While intended to improve road safety, same would be seen as being unjust to those drivers residing in rural areas, that have limited access to other alternative forms of public transport.
According to a European Transport Safety Council report, over 5,400 people aged over 65 years were killed on EU roads in 2021; a third of which were pedestrians.
Here in rural Co. Tipperary, an effort to provide and invest in local road improvements, would be identified as being much more beneficial to the elderly driver, than undergoing driving refresher courses, as anyone who has driven around the streets of Thurles town will most surely confirm.
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