FIANNA Fáil local election candidate for Limerick City West, Francis Brosnahan has criticised Bus Éireann for causing severe traffic problems on the Fr Russell Road.
Mr Brosnahan, who is a resident of the area, also claimed that Bus Éireann risk causing a serious accident if something isn’t done soon.
“Many residents have approached me to express their deep unhappiness with the buses stopping for a long period of time at the lower and upper sections of the Fr Russell Road.
“Several times a day a bus stops completely at one of the bus stops on the road for up to 15 minutes at a time, in effect blocking a lane of traffic and causing a major traffic problem. Drivers are forced to overtake the bus and this has the potential to lead to a serious crash,” he told the Limerick Post.
“The lower bus stop is at the junction of Gouldavoher and Russell Court with pedestrian lights also there. The upper bus stop is right beside three entrances to estates in Abbey Court and Ballinvoher and the small entrance off the Racefield Shopping Centre, alongside the butchers. To add to this, the stop is just over a brow in the road, coming from the Abbey Court side,” he explained.
Mr Brosnahan has written to Bus Éireann to query why their buses stop for such an inordinate length of time and to see if the location of the bus stops can be changed.
“There are good bus lay-by stops on the main road at Raheen Industrial Estate, Regional Hospital, St Paul’s Church and the shopping centre but none on the Fr Russell Road. It really isn’t a suitable location for prolonged stops by bus drivers.
“Recently, I myself nearly had a crash when driving at 7.25am on the Fr Russell Road. There was a bus stopped at the lower end of Fr Russell Road, I was coming down towards it and a car took a chance to overtake the bus. I had to brake hard to avoid a crash.”
The local elections hopeful is now appealing to Bus Éireann “to cease this dangerous practice before someone is badly injured or killed”.
There was no response from Bus Éireann at the time of going to press.
