Road Safety | Maynooth Cycling Campaign

AGM

Maynooth Cycling Campaign will be holding its AGM at 8:00pm on Tuesday 11th November in the ICA Hall, Leinster Street. Everyone is welcome!

Funding for Local Climate Action

The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment has given Kildare County Council an allocation of €897,000 for climate related projects by communities to improve their local area. The project themes include community energy and travel. Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes suggestions for projects from members and non-members. The scheme is open until 22nd December.

Mill Street

There have been a lot of complaints on social media in recent weeks of congestion in Maynooth, especially at peak times. Most put the blame on Kildare County Council’s redesign of Mill Street and/or its construction. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but many of the comments are ill-informed.

Last month, Maynooth Cycling Campaign website published “Mill Street An Alternative View” which gives a different opinion to drivers. One of the key questions is whether or not the Mill Street/Main Street junction was modelled for buses and if it was constructed in accordance with the design.

Default speed limit

A coalition of road safety campaigners including the Irish Cycling Campaign is calling on the Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien to issue a commencement order without delay for the default urban speed limit of 30km/h as defined in the Road Traffic Act 2024. By issuing a commencement order the Minister would require local authorities to apply a default 30km/h to the 85 currently defined built-up areas (defined in the Local Government Act 2001). This is a straightforward process for local authorities and would mean that 85 cities and towns would get the immediate benefits of safer 30km/h speed limits. Maynooth Cycling Campaign supports this call. While regrettably this would not include Maynooth itself, our neighbours in Leixlip, Newbridge and Naas would benefit from its implementation. The full Press Release is available here.

Parking and its Cost

A secure car parking space in Manor Mills has recently been advertised for sale at a cost of €25,000. In the past when local authorities specified minimum car parking standards rather than maximum car parking standards as they do now, the cost to developers of not providing a car parking space was €10,000. While housing costs have increased significantly, it seems that the cost of car parking has kept pace.

In contrast, Kildare County Council charges an annual fee of €5 for a Resident’s Parking Permit. Admittedly, this does not guarantee a parking place, but it is in effect another subsidy for car owners. It compares to a charge of €100 per year by Dublin City for a place in a bike hanger.

Bollards at Moyglare Road

And still on the theme of parking – Maynooth Cycling Campaign welcomes the erection of bollards adjacent to St. Mary’s Boys School in order to deter parking on the shared path for pedestrians and cyclists. However some drivers, who are slow to take the hint, have simply parked further away. It is time for the Garda Siochana to do their job properly and enforce the law in relation to parking. In Japan, if there is no sign to indicate that you are allowed to park, you have to assume that it is prohibited. Perhaps it is time to introduce this rule to Ireland.

Most Dangerous Junction in Maynooth

Is the Glenroyal junction on the Straffan Road the most dangerous junction in Maynooth for vulnerable road users? On two occasions recently, our attention has been drawn to incidents where drivers leaving the Glenroyal broke red lights at speed and proceeded through a second set of lights narrowly missing pedestrians who had begun to cross the Straffan Road after receiving a green light.