Residents seek action over drivers jumping red lights at crossing

Residents in the Limavady Road area have warned that drivers are frequently jumping red lights and speeding through the area, putting the lives of pedestrians at risk.
Independent Councillor Maurice Devenney, William Allen, Chairperson of Foyle Fold Tenants Association, local resident Denis Martin and Adrian McAuley, Secretary of the Limavady Road Residents' Association.Independent Councillor Maurice Devenney, William Allen, Chairperson of Foyle Fold Tenants Association, local resident Denis Martin and Adrian McAuley, Secretary of the Limavady Road Residents' Association.
Independent Councillor Maurice Devenney, William Allen, Chairperson of Foyle Fold Tenants Association, local resident Denis Martin and Adrian McAuley, Secretary of the Limavady Road Residents' Association.

The residents met with representatives from Transport NI and the PSNI’s Traffic Branch on Tuesday in a bid to address the issues being experienced by people on a daily basis at the traffic lights between Foyle Arena and Foyle Fold.

Secretary of the Limavady Road Residents’ Group Adrian McAuley said he was “nearly a statistic” himself in the week before Christmas when a car jumped a red light at the pedestrian crossing.

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Mr McAuley said: “There is a high volume of traffic on this road. This is the main thoroughfare, and it is massively busy. The area is increasing month-on-month in terms of planning applications for houses; there are two additional schools coming here and while there appears to be no plan to manage the traffic, the number of planning applications that are getting rubber stamped by the authorities are just adding to the problems.”

He added that the two new schools in the area will mean “there’s going to be lots of kids walking along this road and probably cycling on it”.

Residents said that a major problem a major problem was the speed at which some drivers were travelling along the 30 miles per hour route, particularly in the evenings.

William Allen (81) chairperson of Foyle Fold Tenants’ Association said while out walking his dog one day he was forced to return to the pavement despite the green man being lit as a car was coming too fast towards the lights.

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“It’s a main route and a lot of the Fold residents would go down to the park with their dogs. There was a lady here that was knocked down years ago. The elderly are scared.”

Independent councillor Maurice Devenney said: “The issue is about the crossing here and the number of people using it. What is happening here is some people when they come to press the button to cross the crossing the drivers are not stopping and it is putting lives at risk here.”

Colr. Devenney said there was also visibility issues at the entrance to Foyle Arena.

Mr McAuley said they wanted to find out from the authorities at the meeting what measures were possible to help improve safety in the area, and would be raising the possibility of better lighting, cameras, repainting road markings and signage, as well as timings at the lights “because a lot of elderly people are trying to get across and it’s quite a challenge for them to get from one side to the other in the time that’s allotted to them”.

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