'Driver behaviour at Milemill must be addressed' - Councillor on KFM

Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer spoke strongly on KFM.

You can't engineer for bad driver behaviour — enforcement must be part of the solution. That was the strong message from Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer when she was speaking on KFM Radio about motorists ignoring stop signs at Milemill, writes Brian Byrne.

"There's no doubt that there are road users on the Kilcullen-Dunlavin road who are not stopping at the junction," she told Eoin Beatty on the Kildare Today programme yesterday. "I use the junction myself about ten times a day and maybe more and I've seen it for myself. People have always stopped on the Milemill and Brannockstown sides which means driver behaviour on those is programmed to stop. However the junction is clearly signalled as a 4-way stop, so anyone driving through a stop sign is breaking the rules of the road."

The councillor emphasised that the 4-way stop system 'is not the problem, it is driver behaviour that must be addressed'.

The issue was raised on the Diary recently in response to local road users concerned about motorists driving through. Cllr O'Dwyer recalled the situation before the installation of the system in 2015 as one where motorists arriving from the Milemill and Brannockstown roads were 'taking their lives in their hands'. "You had to roll down the window to try and hear if any cars were coming."

Noting that the 4-way stop has been in place for eight years, she said she can't understand why some motorists on the Kilcullen-Dunlavin part are still not stopping. She added that she had been in touch with the Garda in Kilcullen and the Traffic Corps in Naas, and the junction is going to be 'monitored'. "Kildare County Council has also agreed to freshen up the line-marking at the junction. But the simple matter is that ALL traffic through the junction has to stop."

The councillor's full contribution to the KFM spot can be heard here.  

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