'Speed ramps needed outside every school'

Speed ramps are needed outside every school in the Municipal District of Mullingar Kinnegad – if the district is to take the welfare of children in the area seriously.

That was the blunt assertion made by Cllr Andrew Duncan at the district’s September meeting, where he said speed ramps were “the very least we could do”.

By way of written response, the district stated that it provides signage, road crossings and traffic calming at schools throughout the district subject to funding.

Cllr Duncan said that while he respected the answer, his view was that there is nothing better to prevent speeding than ramps, and that he believed they should be installed in close proximity to the schools.

“There’s an increasing number of people on mobile phones now and the reality is they’re not seeing what’s in front of them,” he stated, adding that the only thing that can physically slow those drivers down is a speed ramp.

“It has a physical impact and it’s probably one of the cheapest options and, in my opinion, it’s certainly the best option, so I respect the answer but I’m not satisfied with it and I want to push on the motion that we supply, provide, install speed ramps outside every school.”

“I couldn’t agree more!” was the reaction of Cllr Aoife Davitt.

She recalled having brought up a similar point at the time the County Development Plan was being drawn up, and was told that unless the school was a new-build, the council could not force installation safety strategies or measures.

Cllr Davitt went on to state that under the Safer Routes to School programme, there were caps in place, so it was pointless for officials to refer schools to a programme that is now closed: “Unless Westmeath County Council or the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District Area decide to do something outside the schools, we’re at nothing.

“We either need to decide or not, come budget time, that we are going to make a statement and we are going to do something outside of schools. That’s what we need to decide to do, because we’re not getting any help anywhere else,” she said.

Support came also from the mayor, Cllr Ken Glynn, who said he witnesses the speed near Saplings and Gaelscoil and Choillín. There is also, he said, “nothing” to slow down motorists at Educate Together NS. “So that’s just two locations,” he said.

“I appreciate that the district does unbelievable work at our schools within the budgets we have, but it’s clearly not enough, hence this motion in today.”

Concluding, he said he agreed with Cllr Duncan that tabletop ramps were probably the best option.

Responding, director of services Deirdre Reilly stated that the district does what it can with the money it has.

However, she said, it just did not have the money to do as requested and place ramps outside all schools.

Cllr Duncan countered that it should not be that expensive to install such measures in Mullingar – but Ms Reilly revealed that across the entire Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District, there are 90 schools.

Cllr Duncan was still keen that an attempt be made to proceed with speed ramps: “I don’t want to labour it, but the reality is that Aoife is right: if we if we leave this to the National Transport Authority or the Department of Education, it’s just not going to happen.

“If we’re not fit to put a few flipping speed ramps outside some schools, I don’t know what we’re doing here – genuinely,” he said.

“I understand we have budgets but this is something insignificant in terms of cost that has potentially a life-saving effect for a child, and I just don’t see how it can be such a big issue.”

Ms Reilly said that if councillors wished, they could look at unallocated monies set aside for items such as cul-de-sacs and see what could be achieved.

Cllr Denis Leonard was of the view, however, that the pot was not big enough to fund all that councillors want. His suggestion was that they write to the government, outlining the issue and asking were they willing to help Westmeath County Council address it.

Cllr Aoife Davitt suggested that if that were done, the district could begin by prioritising those schools about which representations have been made and then moving on to a priority list based on school sizes.

Backing for Cllr Leonard’s proposal came from Cllr David Jones: “I know you are working off a shoestring budget at times,” he said, going on to suggest that the government also be asked to fund once more a Safer Routes to Schools programme.

District engineer Pat Kavanagh said that what could be done is that councillors could set aside a sum of money for traffic calming at schools and the council would begin with doing the top 10 schools in need.