‘We won’t let our kids out over speeding fears’ say Ballabeg residents

Ballabeg residents have told politicians and senior civil servants they don’t feel safe in the village due to speeding traffic.

Around forty people went to a public meeting in Arbory Parish Hall earlier this week to discuss the issue.

Solutions discussed included reducing speed limits, introducing a drop-off point at the parish primary school, and employing a lollipop person.

Many were critical of the crossing point outside the parish hall, and the Friary Park ‘bump’ which the Department of Infrastructure installed at the start of this year.

The DoI’s Director of Highways Jeff Robinson was at the meeting, and admitted there were ‘no easy solutions’ to reducing traffic speed.

He said the traffic calming measures which had been introduced will be reviewed soon, at which point the department may make changes.

Mr Robinson stressed that, with limited resources, his department prioritises work using a list of the ‘worst accident spots’ on the Island, which Ballabeg wasn’t part of.

But residents countered that ‘the only reason no one gets hurt is no one dares to go out’.