Transport « Thurles Information

2022 Recorded A 13% Rise In Road Deaths

Provisional road collision figures, in the Irish Republic, show that the number of road deaths in 2022 increased by 13% compared to 2021.

2022 saw the doubling of pedestrian deaths.
Drivers account for 39% of fatalities.
Counties Cork (13), Dublin (13) and Limerick (10) recorded highest number of fatalities with Co. Tipperary (7), featuring in joint 8th position.
1,292 people seriously injured.
Almost 1 in 5 drivers and passengers killed were found not to have been wearing a seatbelt.

Road User.	2021	2022	Difference
Drivers.	70	60	-10
Passengers.	18	22	+4
Motorcyclists.	22	23	+1
^Cyclists.	7	7	0
Pedestrians.	20	41	+21
E-Scooter Driver/Passenger.	0	1	+1
Other.	0	1	+1
Total.	137	155	+18

According to the Irish Road Safety Authority; a total of 155 people died in 149 fatal road collisions in 2022, compared to 137 deaths in 124 fatal road collisions in 2021. This represents an increase of 18 deaths or a 13% rise in road fatalities compared to last year.

[The figures were published by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) today Sunday, January 1st 2023, following an analysis of provisional fatal collision reports from An Garda Síochána.]

The figures also indicate that the number of pedestrians killed in 2022 (41, +21) doubled, when compared to 2021. Despite a decrease in the number of drivers killed (60, -10), drivers still accounted for the highest proportion of fatalities at 39%. The number of passenger fatalities increased (22, +4) a 22% increase. A total of 7 cyclists were killed in 2022, the same number as 2021.

Provisional figures for serious injuries indicate that 1,292 serious injuries were recorded up to the 29 December 2022, compared to 1,342 up to the same period in 2021.

Where it was possible to establish the use of a seatbelt or not among drivers and passengers killed, a total of 19% were found not to have been wearing a seatbelt.

Thurles Pedestrians & Motorists – Take Great Care.

**Road crater at Lognafulla, Thurles, Co. Tipperary**.
*Pic: G.Willoughb*y.

The many persons driving, travelling from the west side of Thurles, and having visited St. Patrick’s cemetery on Moyne Road east of Thurles, same on the return journey are being advised to take great care. A large deep crater exists outside the Mace Supermarket at No. 10 Mitchel St, Lognafulla, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. A partially submerged plastic bollard may currently mark the spot. [See picture immediately above.]

**Road crater at Dublin Road, Wrensborough, Thurles, Co. Tipperary**.
*Pic: G.Willoughby*.

Meanwhile; on the Dublin Road, travelling west, at Wrensborough, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, east of Ronayne’s Homevalue Store; an even larger crater currently exists. Pedestrians using the footpaths at both of these locations are being asked to take care to avoid flying stones and airborne mucky water.
Stupid attempts to fill these identified water-filled craters, using cold tarmac, are obvious, as shown in the attached pictures. [See pictures immediately above.]

**Failure to provide proper public lighting in the area of Thurles Shopping Centre.**
*Pic: G.Willoughby*.

Take care also, both motorists and pedestrians; in the area of the raised roundabout, outside Thurles Shopping, Centre, situated on Slievenamon Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, (N62) on the south side of the town, the public lighting in this area has not worked for many months.
While much of the Thurles public lighting system has remained burning 24 hours each day over many previous months, the failure to ensure that a public lighting exists on this N62 section, which boasts 2 marked, but unlit and uncontrolled pedestrian crossings, now demonstrates a total lack of care by officials and Councillors, employed at the Thurles Municipal District Offices.
Christmas Eve saw dangerous interaction taking place between blinded motorists and large numbers of rushing pedestrians, in this new Thurles town centre area, at Slievenamon Road. [See picture with burned out light fixture, inset, immediately above.]

Poor Planning As Tipperary Co. Co. Continue To Waste Taxpayers Money.

Efforts by Tipperary Co. Council engineers, same intended to slow traffic, while increasing pedestrian safety in Thurles, are proving costly for local taxpayers.

Photographs hereunder, taken today, show lights on two busy pedestrian crossings, situated on Parnell Street (comprising an area of the N62 & R498), totally eradicated; one outside Thurles Credit Union offices and the other just below the main entrance to Semple Stadium, at the busy junction of Bohernanave.

The directional signage for the village of has also been adjusted. Same image can be viewed on Slievenamon Road (N62) at the junction with Thomond Road and Fianna Road.

Of course all of this destruction is being caused by high sided vehicles forced to mount footpaths, while attempting to pass each other on strips of roadway not fit for purpose. All of these issues are being caused by poor, below standard, planning within Tipperary Co. Council’s engineering department.

Further evidence of this poor engineering ability can be viewed HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE etc. etc.

We wonder are road engineers graduating too soon from colleges, with little or no real project work being undertaken? Perhaps the problem is more the fact that lecturers engaged in giving such training, themselves lack on-the-job experience.

Thurles residents have in the past watched the money being wasted at the N62 junction, opposite Lidl on Slievenamon Road in the town, where road adjustments were required on no less than 3 different occasions, at massive cost to the taxpayer.

Meanwhile, 25 years later, after Thurles Council’s first submission for a town road bypass; local, elected representatives have failed dismally to obtain funding for a bypass for Thurles town, and now we hear same issue may be included as part of the 2040 National Development Plan.

With two elected TD’s living in the town, (one of whom, Fianna Fáil’s Mr Jackie Cahill, latter who claims to have “the ear of Micheál Martin”), now twenty five years later, Thurles is viewed as the “poor relation” of other towns in the county; as continued waste of taxpayer’s money, by Tipperary Co. Council, continues unabated, while our Local Property Taxes (LPT) increase.

Motorist Arrested For Drug Driving In Tipperary With New Garda DrugWipe Test.

Tipperary Roads Policing Unit while conducting a speed checkpoint, along the M8 (Motorway) over the past number of days, detected a vehicle speeding.

The driver subsequently failed the new roadside “DrugWipe 6 S test, which indicted the presence of cannabis.

A passenger in the vehicle also was found to be in possession of cannabis.
The cannabis was confiscated and the driver was arrested on suspicion of Drug Driving.

Further investigations are ongoing.

Victim Of Tipperary Hit & Run Named Locally.

Following intensive investigations by Gardaí, over the previous 36 hour period, a man understood to be in his early 20s, is helping Thurles Gardaí in relation to the fatal ‘hit & run’, which occurred in the vicinity of Clonmore, Templemore Co. Tipperary, early yesterday morning.

The victim, named locally as Mr Tony Cullen, sadly lost his life, while just a short distance from his home in the area.

Mr Cullen, who was unmarried, and who had spent his career in the Defence Forces, before retiring more than 10 years previously; worked as a barman in the area and was well known to village residents.
He had left a pub in the village shortly before the accident occurred, with the driver of the offending vehicle failing to remain at the scene of the accident.

Gardaí continue to appeal for witnesses to come forward as they investigated the death.