Flashing speed signs face removal in Tipperary after repeated battery thefts
Flashing speed signs could be removed from roads across one area in Tipperary, after a council engineer said he favours taking out signs that are no longer working.
At the September meeting of the Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District (MD), Labour Party councillor Michael ‘Chicken’ Brennan asked representatives of the council’s roads section if there was a plan for the flashing speed signs around the district.
Batteries for the speed signs across the district have been repeatedly stolen, with the council now not replacing the batteries after they’ve been taken.
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Brennan said that the signs should either be made operational, or removed altogether if they don’t work.
“Every day of the week I’m inundated with speeding, speeding, speeding, and trying to explain to people the problems we’ve faced when batteries are being put in and they’re being stolen,” Cllr Brennan said.
“The signs are not working, so they should be taken down, or else we should decide that we can come up with some other system that we can prevent the batteries from being removed.
“We’ve serious issues with speed, and these flashing speed signs are in our villages already, and they’re not working,” Cllr Brennan added.
In response, district engineer Michael Scully said that he agreed with the Labour councillor and said he was in favour of removing the signs that aren’t working.
“On the flashing speed signs, I agree, something else needs to be done, I would be leaning towards taking them out and looking at trying to get other measures in there,” he said.
“I don’t think the flashing lights work, and I don’t think it’s a solution, but it is up to us to try and find another solution to slow cars down, rather than the flashing lights,” he added.
“With the ongoing maintenance that comes along with them, I just don’t know if it would be prudent to invest a lot more money in flashing lights. Something else needs to be done to affect driver behaviour,” Mr Scully added.
At a previous meeting of the district, Mr Scully said that if the council continues to spend money on batteries for the signs, other projects will suffer.
“If that’s how you want me to spend the funding, I’ll spend it that way, but there’ll be other things that will be losing out because of it,” he said.
Mr Scully reiterated that speeding remains a matter for garda enforcement.