‘Faulty sensor’ stopping all Headford Road traffic every 90 seconds

A fault in a sensor installed at the controversial Kirwan junction is triggering red lights every 90 seconds during hours of darkness – and stopping traffic in all directions.

A sensor to facilitate safe exit from a B&B on the N84 Headford Road approach to the junction is malfunctioning and needlessly stopping traffic for 20 seconds at a time.

CCTV of the flashing amber light, activated for no reason, exiting the B&B. All other traffic must stop for 20 seconds every 90 seconds.

It means that over a 13-hour period of darkness, traffic across all the approaches to the junction could be impeded for up to 78 minutes.  And an ‘induction loop’ in the ground outside the Collins family B&B – to allow them exit safely by triggering amber flashing lights for exiting cars and red lights for all other traffic at the junction – is not activated until cars drive over the footpath and cycle lane, causing serious safety issues for pedestrians and cyclists.

The €5 million junction has already come under fire and has been blamed for significant traffic backlogs in the area which have worsened since the roundabout was removed.

Local area councillor Frank Fahy said the amber flashing lights on the Headford Road approach to the main junction – opposite the Menlo Park Hotel – are on for 20 seconds every 90 seconds throughout the evening and night.

“It’s causing mayhem once darkness falls because, for that 20 seconds, cars from all other directions have to stop. Buses or trucks are braking, keeping that family awake at all hours instead of sailing through,” he maintained.

This is a shortened preview version of this article. To read the rest of the story, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.