Road safety - Bypass cost takes its toll on everyone

CONTROVERSY invariably attends the opening of a new bypass, particularly when it involves an unpopular toll on local users by private operators.

Admittedly it is early days. But as evidenced by the graphic picture illustrating today’s report on the under-use of Fermoy’s €300 million bypass, many juggernaut drivers are refusing to pay over €5 a time for using the new road.

Further defeating the bypass objective, speeding trucks are making life hazardous for school-children in nearby Watergrasshill, which has become a rat-run.