“Cars absolutely flying through Glasson” claims local councillor

A local Fine Gael councillor has claimed he would be taking his life in his hands if he went to the end of the footpath in Glasson due to the excessive speed of traffic through the village.

Recounting to the January meeting of Athlone Moate Municipal District how he had recently been standing on the footpath in Glasson and had to "speak very loudly" due to the noise of the traffic going through the village, Cllr John Dolan said he had to be "very careful not to go the end of the path as I would be taking my life in my hands".

He brought a motion before the meeting seeking proposals to deal with speeding in Glasson and claimed that cars are “absolutely flying” through the picturesque village.

“I am hopeful that we can move forward with proposals to deal with the speeding because it is a very urgent issue.”

Athlone Mayor Cllr Frankie Keena seconded the motion and said speeding in Glasson is an issue “that needs to be prioritised”.

The written answer from the council executive said they are adopting a “whole of village approach” in the planning and design of Traffic Calming schemes for towns and villages in the county, which will ensure they are fully traffic calmed “on a prioritised and sequential basis over time”.

The council response added that the Transportation Section is currently working on a “methodology for the determination of priority of such schemes in the county in the context of need and available financial resources” and that they will seek to identify “external sources of funding” for the programme.

Cllr Dolan described the council's response as being akin to a “Yes, Minister” response, and added that it was “a copy and paste answer.”

He also said he would “not disagree” with ramps being installed in either Glasson or Ballinahown, if that was the decision agreed on by the council. “The intention here is to slow down traffic so anything we can do should be done,” he said.