Department response to County Derry speeding issues 'not good enough'

Sinn Féin Councillor Kathleen McGurk has shared her frustration at what she has described as 'further failures' from DfI Roads Service to address speeding issues in Feeny.

She was speaking after receiving notification that the department do not intend to include Feeny on any traffic calming schemes for the foreseeable future.

Councillor McGurk has stated that the department’s response is 'just not good enough' and is leaving many rural communities with nowhere to turn to resolve traffic issues.

“I requested that the department undertake a traffic calming assessment in Feeny following an incident last year. I have been raising speeding issues in Feeny since 2019 and have consistently lobbied the department to address the problem,” she said.

“Despite undertaking assessments for pedestrian crossings and now traffic calming measures, the department claim that Feeny doesn’t score high enough to warrant intervention.

"However closer examination of the assessment forms used, show extreme bias against the unique problems that rural communities face.

"The assessments rely on very high volumes of traffic in most cases and heavily weight scoring in favour of more urban residential areas.

"This leaves rural communities like Feeny, where speeding is still an issue, but the volume of traffic doesn’t meet the department’s criteria, high and dry.”

Councillor McGurk says she now intends to write to the Minister of Infrastructure to ask that she undertakes a review of the department’s scoring criteria for traffic measures such as traffic calming and pedestrian crossings.

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“The department needs to ensure that their policies and criteria are rural proofed and not unfairly favouring more urban areas. Our children in rural areas have as much right as those in urban areas to safely walk within their own communities,” she added.

A Department for Infrastructure spokesperson last night said: “The Department recognises the importance of traffic calming and road safety measures and is committed to exploring solutions that deliver better for communities and improve lives across Northern Ireland. 

“The Department receives many requests for traffic calming and very much would like to be in a position to fulfil all valid requests. 

"However, given successive years of underfunding of the Department, those areas requiring most urgent attention must be prioritised. 

"For consistency and fairness the current criteria through which this is assessed includes factors such as speed and volume of traffic, the most up-to-date three years personal injury statistics and environmental factors. 

“Feeny village was last assessed on 5 November 2021 and unfortunately did not score highly enough to be included in the current traffic calming programme, however the Minister has asked that this is kept under review.

“If residents believe there is a persistent speeding problem or persons driving inappropriately in this area we would encourage them to report such incidents to the PSNI on their non-emergency number 101.”

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