Kildare Tesla crash report sparks reaction

A REPORT carried in last week’s edition about a man who had his Tesla written off on a concrete margin on the R448 between Moone and Timolin sparked others to share their own fears and worries for the road that’s been dubbed the ‘Road to Nowhere’ Timolin resident, Dr Ioannais Syrigos was driving down the road for the first time since the concrete verges were put in between the two lanes.

While overtaking a car in front of him, Dr Syrigos struck the verge and his car took damage to the wheels, tyres and suspension, approximately costing €50,000 to fix.

This incident is one of over 60 incidents which have occurred on this road according to figures compiled locally.

Since the story’s publication, local road users have taken to social media with their thoughts on the road:

“I travel it every day and it’s so dark that even though I’ve been on that road for years, I’ve missed the turn off for the M7 a few times since the works. Also, where there are central dividers there are no lights. Invisible in wet dark conditions,” said one commenter.

Someone else wrote: “I drive this road every morning, and it honestly feels like a death trap. They've added a few signs, which is a start, but the lighting is still extremely poor. It’s a 60km zone, and some drivers clearly don’t have the patience for that during the morning rush. I keep seeing dangerous overtaking that only just makes it before the island.” 

A lot of commenters are urging the council to install lighting on the road for better visibility, while others outright reject the road in its current state, with one commenter calling it a “KCC folly”.

One thing is for certain, road users, regular and new, are in fear of even worse accidents occurring on the road:

“Road is so dangerous now. Someone is going to be killed on it,” said a Facebook commenter.