Clash over Kildare accident figures

A SUGGESTION that council officials' reports to councillors can be inaccurate was strongly rejected at a recent meeting of the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District (MD). The matter arose during discussion of a motion from cllr Noel Heavey about the frequency of vehicle collisions at a junction in the Thomastown area between Caragh and Newbridge.

The councillor had requested a report on the rate of accidents at the junction of the Caragh-Newbridge Road with the Rathangan-Naas Road at the location, and what might be considered appropriate remedies. However, the council report said the MD does not have road collision records, and that the junction would be put on the list for consideration of low-cost safety improvements.

Cllr Heavey disputed the matter of there being no records, saying it was his information that the Garda forwarded the GPS location of every accident in the county and gave them to Kildare County Council, who then forwarded them to the Road Safety Authority. He also said that low-cost safety improvements were "not appropriate" for the junction, where there is an accident "most weeks" and it is "only a matter of time before there is a very serious incident."

The motion was supported by cllr Rob Power, who noted that a landowner in the area has had to replace a wall after a recent incident. 

"We do need to have information on the frequency of accidents," he said. "Are they being held up by GDPR?" 

Also supporting cllr Heavey's motion, Cllr Peggy O'Dwyer said that while it is a wide junction, there's a very high hedge in the sight-lines. 

"Is it in our remit to ask the landowner to cut it down?" she asked, and was told that cutting back hedges could be looked into.

Donal Hodgins, senior engineer, sustainable transport and traffic management, reiterated that the council does not "hold or receive" information on low cost accidents. 

"We get data if there is a fatality, and when we look into it the overall picture is about driver behaviour, such as speed which is something the gardaí have to enforce." 

He added that low-cost safety schemes are all that the authority receives funding for.

When Cllr Heavey said that it was his "informed information" that the gardaí gives the statistical information to KCC, and that it was "sinful" that such information wasn't provided to MD councillors, Mr Hodgins said the information in the report to the motion was accurate. 

"We are not in the habit of issuing inaccurate reports, and any suggestion that we do is wrong," he said.

At the suggestion of the Mayor, it was agreed that Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer would put the matter on the agenda of the new Local Community Safety Partnership, on which she is the MD representative.