Protest to highlight road safety to take place in wake of school bus crash

A PROTEST to highlight the lack of road safety measures on local rural roads will take place this Friday following a school bus crash on the Trim to Longwood road last week.

Two people were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries following the incident last Tuesday, 3rd September.

A bus carrying primary school children from Boardsmill NS overturned and went into a ditch, with some passengers suffering minor injuries.

The incident is understood to have happened on the R160 at the townland of Ardenew between Trim and Longwood.

Gardai were called to the scene alongside Meath Fire Service with units from Navan and Trim in attendance along with Ambulance crews.

Gardaí are appealing for witnesses and anyone with dashcam footage to contact Trim Garda Station.

Trim Aontú Cllr Dave Boyne who has organised the demonstration to take place on Friday at 1.30pm outside the Meath Co Council offices in Trim says he is seriously worried about the lack of safety measures on the county’s rural roads in the light of yet another “near miss” on what he describes as a “notorious stretch from Brannockstown Cross and Ardenew Cross”.

“A school bus full of children, was involved in a serious near miss last week,” he said. The road the bus was travelling on leads on to the lethal Ardenew Cross, where many fatal incidents have occurred, due in the main to lack of speed reduction measures, and lack of visibility,” added Cllr Boyne.

"It is only a matter of time before it happens again, and the consequences don’t bear thinking about.”

The area has a legacy of road accidents over the years with little done to prevent future incidents, according to the Aontú councillor, who said: “Many accidents have happened along here over the decades, as the road is significantly higher than the land either side. Despite this, no barriers or hard shoulders have ever been put in place.

“Similarly on the Hill-Of-Down railway bridge, there is a massive drop exposed on one side, without any protection”.

“As recently as the last Trim Municipal District meeting, I called for traffic calming measures on the approaches to every town and village, every church, every school, every bridge. I asked that it be adopted county-wide. This is on record. The safety of people travelling on our rural roads must be paramount and the council has a complete duty of care to ensure it takes their safety seriously. I will keep looking for vital road safety measures until the council installs them."