Urgent Road Safety Issues in Ballon Village

Ballon Village is located on the busy N80 which services traffic between Rosslare and Dublin/Waterford via the M9, as well as traffic driving to and from Carlow town. Resultant traffic includes a substantial volume of HGVs. Ballon also has a number of local industries with large motor fleets and agricultural vehicles.
A significant Health and Safety issue now exists within this growing village and our greatest concern is the lack of safety at the school crossing at all times of the day.
It is a concern which has come into increasing focus for the Ballon National School Parents Association following a number of near-miss incidents at the crossing during school hours, as drivers frequently pass through even when the Warden is in place.
The current speed limit of 50km/h is routinely not observed and vehicles frequently fail to stop for the School Warden, putting the Warden's life and our children's lives at serious risk.

Proposed Solutions:

1. As visibility of the School Warden and the Crossing is exceptionally poor, we propose that the Crossing is raised and traffic lights are added to assist the existing School Warden.

2. Interactive radar speed signs which indicate the speed of the vehicles to be placed on all access routes to the village.

3. Reduce speed limit to 30km/h for the school zone, identified with LED lighting signage to identify this new 30km zone.

4. Signage to alert to the presence of a pedestrian crossing.

5. Speed bumps at both approaches to the village on the N80 and also on the Fenagh road approach.

6. A maintenance plan for the upkeep of signage, road markings and lights.