Kerry rate payers ‘exposed' because claims could be made if incidents occur on narrowed Fossa Road
Councillor Brendan Cronin said the six-metre width of the under-development roadway, designed to slow down traffic travelling past Fossa NS, will lead to incidents occurring when large vehicles like trucks and agricultural machinery meet.
Cllr Cronin claimed these incidents will result in insurance claims being made against Kerry County Council (KCC), exposing the contributions of commercial rate payers.
'It's they who are forking out their rates every year,' he said. 'And that's who eventually pays the insurance policy.'
The Independent representative, speaking at Friday's Killarney Municipal District meeting, was frustrated with KCC's response to his motion questioning whether the council's financial assets and rate payers would be 'exposed' by incidents occurring on the narrowed Fossa Road.
Part of KCC's response said the six-metre width of the road was chosen because it has been successfully used to reduce speeding on other national roads.
The response said an average of 8,800 vehicles travel on the Fossa Road every day, with less than 3pc of this traffic being HGVs. It said these vehicles will not meet often and will still be able to pass by each other at low speeds.
It outlined that in the case of abnormally wide loads, there are areas where vehicles can pull in.
Cllr Cronin said this response made it clear that councillors' concerns about the new road, and their proposal to widen it at an earlier stage of construction, was ignored.
'When the second side [of the new road] was being built, we pinpointed repeatedly, every single one of us, about the danger with the 3-metres wide [driving lanes], and the vehicles that are 3.15m and wider,' Cllr Cronin said.
The councillor 'took exception' to the last paragraph of the KCC response, which states that:
'Drivers must obey the Rules of the Road and drive in a responsible manner. Drivers also have to be insured. In the event of an incident, the matter is dealt with by the drivers' private insurance and not Kerry County Council's insurance.'
Cllr Cronin begged to differ.
'If you build a road and it's not wide enough - and I mean 'you' being the TII and KCC – for two legal road worthy vehicles to meet safely and pass safely without one of them having to drive up on a foot high kerb, then the responsibility is not with the driver, the responsibility is not with the driver's insurance, the responsibility is with KCC's insurance and TII,' he said.
'No one else,' he added. 'And this will be tested without question in time to come.'
In response, KCC roads and transportation director Frank Hartnett said he had given a very comprehensive reply to Cllr Cronin's motion and was not going to add to it.
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