Residents in the County Down village of Dundrum are up in arms at speeding traffic entering the village from the Dromara Road direction.
On Thursday evening (3 July) around 8pm, a small red work van was seen driving very fast into Dundrum and as it approached the entrance to the Carrickgard estate, the van slammed on its breaks and ran over a small brown terrier dog in a hit and run accident, and then the van increased its speed and disappeared before anyone could get its licence number.
[caption id="attachment_50650" align="alignleft" width="390"]
Local residents in Dundrum are deeply concerned about speeding traffic on the Dromara Road.[/caption]
Local children playing in the area were shocked as the van screeched along the road leaving long tyre marks and generating a cloud of smoke from the emergency breaking. However, the driver did not stop despite driving over the dog. Down News understands that the owners took the dog to an emergency vet surgery.
Local outraged resident and animal rights activist Eileen Byrne said: “This incident is absolutely shocking. A number of people saw this van driving at great speed in a built up area where the speed limit is 30mph. Many parents in the area are very fearful for their children’s safety as some play on green areas close to the road. This driver clearly saw the dog and did not stop after he hit it. By all accounts he was driving well over the speed limit.
“I am just appalled. Children saw this happen and were quite disturbed by the incident. The skid marks are around 20 yards long. Â There has been a persistent problem with speeding on this road and I tried to report this incident to the police but their Neighbourhood Police team were not available on duty at the Newcastle police station.
“This is a dangerous stretch of road and we need speed humps, rumble lines, better signage, and even a reduced speed limit to 20mph in this area. There are other areas of road in Dundrum too that could benefit from improved safety measures.”
Neigbourhood  Watch Co-ordinator Sandra Smyth said: “There are a number of small estates off the Dromara Road where children play especially in the summer time. They are clearly in danger from speeding traffic and something needs to be done about it. Children play on grassy areas near  the road near openings such as De Courcy Way, Donard Park and Carrigard.
“Speeding has been an ongoing problem for a couple of years. The traffic is travelling downhill into the village on a long straight section of road and there is nothing to slow them down. The police have done a couple of speed checks but that has not solved the problem. This issue must be addressed before a child’s life is lost.”
Councillor Patrick Clarke explained that he had been lobbying the DRD Roads Service for three years to improve safety after he had received complaints from local residents. Recently, he received a response from the DRD Roads Service regarding his requests for traffic calming measures.
“I have also been liaising with the PSNI who are going to monitor the Dromara Road, Dundrum.
“I am very annoyed that Roads Service have traffic calming requests for places such Dromara Road, Dundrum, dating back years and need to get extra financial resources to deliver on these requests. How many years will the people living on this road have to wait and it may be too late if a child is ever badly injured or killed.  I condemn the irresponsible drivers who speed within a 30mph speed limit on this road.”
A DRD spokesman said in the letter response to Cllr Clarke: “This location (Dromara Road) to date, continues to be a low priority to merit inclusion on our current traffic calming programme for the Down Council area.
“Following our most recent assessment, School Hill / Dromara Road didn’t feature highly enough to warrant inclusion on our current Traffic Calming programme. This request is currently positioned 16th out of 118 competing requests in the Down Council area. For your information, due to financial restrictions, we are currently only providing one scheme per year in each Council area.
“This site will, however, be kept on record and considered again during our next review, of all competing requests, later this year.“
]]>
