On Thursday evening in Cloughey, a white van travelling along Main Road went off the road, over the footpath, crashed through the playground fence and eventually came to a halt beside the swings.   Approx 40 ft of fencing and a metal pole were demolished indicating that the van was probably exceeding the speed limit.   

Fortunately, there was no-one on the footpath or in the playground. However, this was potentially a very serious accident, reminiscent of the scenes in the DOE anti-drink driving TV ad where a speeding car comes through the fence and kills a young boy playing football in his garden.

photo - Broken fence where van went through into playground

We do not know if the van driver was injured, but we have been told that he/she managed (with some help) to get the van back onto its wheels and drove off without anyone reporting the accident to the police at the time.  When daylight came, parents leaving their kids to school were horrified to see the smashed fence, tire marks and broken vehicle parts in the playground.

Background

The CDCA has been campaigning for over 5 years to have the speed limit on Main Road reduced to 30mph, particularly adjoining the school and children’s playground area. Previously, Roads Service has rejected these requests stating that the road was wide and safe.  With late night ‘boy racers’ using Main Road as a racetrack, and exceeding 70 or 80mph, it is only a matter of tome before there is a serious accident.

With the increase in cars parking beside the school, and children walking across the road when leaving school, we believe there is a strong case for reducing the speed limit.  We believe  that Cloughey is the only village with  a ‘do-nut’ pattern of speedlimits - 30mph limits on the outskirts and 40mph in the centre.

What you can do to help

Support our campaign to reduced the speed limit and introduce traffic calming on Main Road.  Lobby (speak, write, email) your councilors and MLAs, all of whom are seeking re-election in a few months.