Road Safety and School Transport
Press Release, Sept 6th 2024
Waterford T.D. Marc Ó Cathasaigh has expressed his alarm that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) were unaware that a school transport bus pick-up was located at the side of a busy national road. Parents of pupils travelling from Ardmore to secondary school in Dungarvan were required to drive to the pick-up point and raised their concerns about the safety of the location since schools returned last week.
In response to the issue raised by Dep. Ó Cathasaigh, TII indicated that it “was not aware of this issue and has now raised it with Waterford City and County Council, the road authority for the area.”
“Kiely’s Cross is a high-speed rural section of road that is not suitable for a bus stop nor is it an appropriate location for a concentration of services as outlined in your submission. The bus had previously stopped in the village and TII is aware that the Department of Education arranged for a bus to stop on a busy rural section of national road without consulting with the Council and TII. TII is aware that the Council is liaising with the Department of Education in relation to the matter.”
Ó Cathasaigh said today “It is alarming that road safety issues are not paramount in all decisions made by the Dept. of Education School Transport division and all operators in the provision of services to students. The location of this school bus pick-up point is wholly inappropriate for road safety reasons.”
He went on “The obvious point of origin for the pick up of school transport is the village of Ardmore itself, rather than have parents drive onto a busy national road for their children to take school transport. It is very difficult to see how this decision was made and on what criteria. I very much welcome TII’s clear indication that it is unsuitable and inappropriate location as a pick-up point given the volume of users. “
“I hope that the Dept of Education School Transport Unit and Waterford City and County Council will come to the logical solution which is that the origin point of the service is relocated to the village of Ardmore itself. This will not only provide a safer service, but indeed provide a better service for pupils and their parents. “
He continued “This year we have seen a tragic increase of road traffic injuries and fatalities on Irish roads. Every agency, every decision-maker needs to be working together to reverse that trend. This includes providing safe infrastructure and providing good transport services to reduce car dependency and the sheer volume of cars on our roads. “
