Call to improve safety of road

AN urgent call was made yesterday for safety measures on a dangerous stretch of roadway in Kerry.

Nine people have died as a result of traffic accidents on the road between Lispole and An Daingean in the past 20 years, the latest being postman Con Brosnan, 56.

He was driving onto the road from a private house on March 7, when his van was in collision with a milk lorry. Mr Brosnan died subsequently at Kerry General Hospital, Tralee.

The road, which is the main route into An Daingean, is extremely busy with tourist traffic in the summer time and local Fine Gael councillor Seamus Cosaí Fitzgerald called for the erection of signs to warn people of the number of deaths on the stretch.

“The signs might help people to drive more carefully and speeds limits should also be reduced,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, Independent Cllr Danny Healy-Rae has called on the National Roads Authority (NRA) and Kerry County Council to make a “real attempt” to improve safety at seven junctions in the Killarney area.

He also claimed that traffic calming measures had only worsened an already dangerous situation at the Killarney bypass/Lewis Road junction.

“This is a desperate situation, with accidents happening practically every second day,” Mr Healy-Rae said.

“Something major needs to be done to rectify the situation at this junction. If the NRA is serious about reducing accidents, it will have to get working on it straight away before someone gets killed there.”