Speed concerns have been highlighted by local residents living on routes parallel to the N3 south of Virginia in Co Cavan.
Residents say the level of traffic now using these routes in an effort to avoid the rat race that is Virginia has become a very serious situation.
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Local man Stephen Farrelly says the roads around Munterconnaught from four o'clock in the afternoon to half seven every evening, It's just crazy.
He says, “it’s the amount of traffic on the road and the speed of traffic on the road with motorists avoiding the congestion in Virginia.”
Stephen says while this has been a long running issue, it just seems to be getting worse and worse and worse every week.
The local resident says “it’s simple at the times of the day when the traffic is crazy, people just don’t leave their house.”
Another local man, Noel McEnroe says some residents are prisoners in their own homes during certain times of the day.
He says this issue is emulated both sides of the N3 and it’s not good enough.
When asked what needs to happen, he says that while the by-pass is the answer but while they wait for that the issue on these routes is speed and speed alone.
Noel says there is major safety risks on these narrow, dark roads, with the volume of traffic using them adding that these roads were never built to take such amount of traffic.
He says elderly people are "prisoners in their homes."
He also said that there were two collisions on the local roads there last week with the road closed for several hours.
Two local mothers Samatha Reilly and Helen Embley fear for the safety of local children in the area, highlighting how dangerous it does be for the children hoping on and off the school bus.
13 kids get collected for school outside Samatha’s house each morning and she says they have had issues of cars passing out the school bus as the kids are crossing the road,
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“We've actually had to get the bus driver to start pulling into the middle of the road so they actually physically can't pass and even then cars are still trying to get around the bus.”
They fear someone will be seriously hurt if killed if motorists carry on going the speeds they are doing on the 60km/ph routes.
Samatha says, “it’s comes down to driver behaviour and she says it’s simple it’s all down to the speed that cars are travelling on and in doing so they are putting the local children and other residents in the area at risk.”
She says, “some people just don’t care, there is a rush to where they want to go and that’s it.”
Both local mothers are calling for motorists to slow down and more Garda visibility on these roads to act as a deterrent for the drivers that continue to speed day in day out.
Cllr Shane P O’Reilly believes no consideration is being given to the residents by the motorists that are speeding on these rural roads.
He said this problem is heightened by the constant avoidance of the N3.
The local councillor has been highlighting this issue for a number of years now and says it’s down to driver responsibility and motorists are simply driving to fast.
Cllr O’Reilly says these motorists know what Virginia is going to be like so they are avoiding the rat race.
He said, “Cavan County Council have put up numerous signage to send out the message to slow down and it’s not registering with the motorist.”
He paid tribute to the local residents who continue to highlight this major issue on both sides of N3.
