While stood waiting for the coach (which was either very early or didn’t arrive at all) I engaged in a quick survey of artics using the village between 7:00am and 7:20pm.
In 20 minutes 55 artics came through the village in both directions, so for rough figures say 165 per hour or 82 per hour in each direction. That’s a lot of HGVs. I didn’t count trucks, vans buses or coaches (1 - mine). Watching the Drogheda situation I don’t see this improving in the near future either.
What was staggering to watch was the speed they ploughed through the village. Is it just me or has the average speed of traffic through the village jumped significantly?
I got to watch one moron in a silver 98 reg BMW 3 series overtake in the village heading for Dublin just after he crested the hill at the school. But that was nothing compared to the 7.5 tonne truck that tried to overtake a learner driver (actually driving at the speed limit) as a Bus Eireann coach was about to pull out of the stop opposite Paddy’s pub. One of those jaw dropping moments when all you can do is stare and wait, fortunately the Bus Eireann driver realised was happening and stood on the brakes leaving enough room for the truck to complete his overtake. Which incidentally was within 50yds of a hill crest, bend and two junctions.
Two nights ago I was very surprised to see an artic and following traffic cruising through the village, little to no noise from the engine and tyres. Watching closer I saw more cars passing through at reasonable speeds. I was shocked!
It was only when the traffic died down that I heard voices and looked towards the church and realised that two Gardai were manning (or should that be personing?) a checkpoint. Half an hour later they were gone and it was business as usual.
Still it could be worse, Julianstown currenty has 21,000 vehicles passing through each day, the new M4 is designed to cope with just 18,000.
John
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