Accident reinforces calls for clamp down

Accident reinforces calls for clamp down

6 April 2016

TRAFFIC at Downpatrick’s Strangford Road must be slowed down, a local man has warned.

The warning was made following a three vehicle collision in the town’s 40mph zone on Saturday evening in which a car overturned.

Although nobody was seriously injured in the crash, Darrin McCartney, who heard the collision, said the accident once again emphasised the need for traffic calming in the area.

Mr McCartney said his family was shaken by the accident, which his teenage son witnessed as he left the family home at around 9.30pm.

He said they were particularly shocked that a car had left the road and collided with the fence of their house, which is just metres from their front door.

Mr McCartney said he had been waiting for something like this to happen because of the speed of vehicles along the road, which can be easily be heard from his home.

“Thankfully there were no fatalities involving the drivers or any pedestrians in this accident,” he said.

“The number of people with children who walk this road, day and night, is huge and this accident could have been an absolute catastrophe. Our daughter had walked it a few times that day and it is horrible to think what could have happened.

“Our house sits nearest the road and we can hear the speed the cars are going up and down. You can almost tell the speed they are travelling and my own guess is that at least 80 per cent of them are not travelling at 40mph.”

Mr McCartney said there was also a serious issue with motorists overtaking at the early section of the road, which he said was a hazard for motorists leaving driveways.

“People see the straight road ahead of them when they pass the war memorial and the natural reaction is to speed up. They then become aggravated by anyone adhering to the speed 

limit and overtake at speed, which is so dangerous for people coming out of houses,” he said.

After Saturday’s accident South Down MP Margaret Ritchie said she would work with residents of the area to lobby for improved safety on the road.

She said she had been concerned about safety of the road for some time and believed a proper study should be carried out to see if there was merit in reducing the speed limit to 30mph.

“We need to see what assessments have been barred out, what statistics are available about speed on the road and what can be done about it,” she said.