Residents of Meigh are warning “somebody will be killed” unless action is taken to improve the safety of the village’s dangerous crossroads.
In the past number of years there have been numerous car accidents at the junction where the Forkhill Road, Chapel Road and Railway Road meet.
Louise, who lives close to the crossroads, says cars crash there “all the time”. She says drivers don’t “understand who has to stop and who has to give way”.
Pedestrians have also been injured in accidents at the junction, with there being no zebra crossing or traffic lights. With the crossroads being a short walk from the local primary school, Louise worries children’s lives are at risk.
“There was an accident there a few weeks ago”, Louise explains. “I heard the big bang. My children were out playing at the time, and I ran out onto the street to see where they were because you automatically just think to yourself a child could get knocked down so easily”.
“The car came right up onto the corner of the shop”, she recalls, “there’s children in and out of that shop all the time”.
Kevin, another local, agrees that the junction poses a risk to pedestrians.
“Just walking from the bar over to the shop, you’re taking your life in your hands”, he claims. “They whizz around the corner, and you could be stepping off the pavement and they wouldn’t see you”.
He says cars drive through the crossroads without stopping multiple times a day.
“A week ago, I was waiting to cross the road”, he says, “there was a car that came from the Chapel Road and it went straight out across the road, it never stopped, and there was an Audi coming up the other way and he slammed on the breaks and barely missed him. I don’t think the other car even saw him coming”.
Harry, another Meigh resident, also believes people don’t understand that they have to stop at the junction.
“A friend of mine was coming into the village”, he recalls. “A car came out of the Railway Road and went straight into the side of him and nearly put him through the shop. They didn’t realise it was a crossroads”.
Kevin says that the garden wall of one of the houses at the crossroads “has been rebuilt at least three times in the last few years” because cars have crashed into it.
This wall has been rebuilt ‘at least three times’ due to cars repeatedly crashing into it
He claims that part of the problem is that it can be difficult for drivers to see whether there is oncoming traffic when they cross the Forkhill Road.
“It’s a blind crossroads”, he explains, “you have to edge out before you can see what’s coming”.
Kevin also says that some drivers approach the junction too fast because some of the speed limit signs are “entirely covered” by bushes and hedges.
A 30mph sign obscured by an overgrown hedge
A number of residents explained that Google Maps doesn’t alert drivers that they need to stop at the junction.
Kevin believes this directly resulted in one of the collisions occurring.
“There was an accident here a couple of years ago”, he says, “she drove straight out, right into a yoke and she said, ‘my sat-nav didn’t tell me I had to stop’”.
Some locals also claimed that drivers regularly speed through the village.
Harry says he often witnesses cars driving faster than the 30mph speed limit.
He argues speed bumps should be installed at the junction as they “would slow cars down and make them realise that it’s a crossroads that they’re coming to”.
“It can’t be that expensive to put a few ramps up”, he says.
Cora, who also lives in Meigh, says “a roundabout or traffic lights” are needed to make the junction safer.
But she doesn’t think the concerns of residents are taken seriously because “we’re out in a rural area and nobody cares”.
Kevin says that, despite local politicians and the Department for Infrastructure being aware of the issues, “nothing ever changes”.
He claims action will only be taken if somebody loses their life.
“One of these days it will happen”, he says, “somebody’s going to be unlucky. Then they’ll come out and they’ll do all sorts of things”.
“It shouldn’t have to take a death to make it safer”.
In response to the concerns raised by locals, the Department for Infrastructure said: “The Department is aware of concerns regarding road safety at the Meigh Crossroads and has recently reviewed the junction with local representatives”.
“A number of measures are being progressed, including new road markings and improving the visibility of existing signs and warnings on approach to the crossroads”.
