Posted online: Jan 27th, 2010

The people of Fahan are living in danger of “an accident waiting to happen.”

This was the stark message from the Fahan Community Council when they met with the peninsula’s County Councillors at the recent Inishowen Electoral Area Committee meeting in Carndonagh.

The three-man deputation of Colm O’Tuaitalain, Peter Gurrie and Charlie Doherty (Roe) appealed to the Council to put traffic calming measures in place at the village as cars travel through “very, very fast.”

Mr O’Tuaitalain, who is chairperson of the committee, told the assembled Councillors that a survey carried out in 2008/09 to determine the ongoing needs of the community, identified speeding traffic as the most pressing concern and need.

He revealed the speed of the traffic, combined with the absence of pedestrian crossings, and the lack of a continuous footpath were all combining to create an extreme hazards area for pedestrians, particularly at “the bottom of Church Brae and close to the Church.”

He added that an ‘ad hoc’ survey he recently carried out revealed that 560 vehicles travel through the village per hour – ten per minute.

He said: “That is a very long stretch of road and they are going very, very fast. If they don’t slow down there’s going to be an accident.’

Mr O’Tuaitalain circulated two photographs taken in December last, which demonstrated the dangers to both pedestrians and drivers.

He also cited the fact there was no continuous footpath through the village as another hazard and asked the Council to assess the needs of the area “sympathetically.”

He said: “If you start walking from one side of Fahan to the other side, say the church to the shop, you must cross the road, the footpath is never continuous.”

Other issues raised by the committee included the maintenance of St Mura’s Graveyard and well, the possibility of the Council erecting signs alerting tourists to historical sites and the enhancement of grass verges.

Another member of the committee, Peter Gurrie, asked the Council to install handrails and lights at two “dangerous” sets of steps at the village and also revealed a traffic survey he recently conducted ‘averaged 900 cars that hour.”

He said: “Please do something to slow down our traffic; it’s an accident waiting to happen.”