RUC block road calming
By Mick Naughton.
RUC objections to road calming measures have at last been pushed
aside with the announcement that a traffic scheme is to go ahead
in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast.
However in West Belfast, particularly in Poleglass where several
young children have been killed in accidents, the RUC are still
blocking attempts to slow traffic through the area. It emerged
during the months of campaigning by SF councillor Mickey Ferguson
and the Greater Twinbrook and Poleglass Community Forum that the
RUC had consistently blocked their attempts to get the Department
of the Environments Road Service to construct traffic calming
measures like ramps and chicanes.
Plans in the New Lodge Road area, where the local Neighbourhood
Centre's plans to slow down traffic to between 5-10mph by
narrowing streets at junctions and signs warning of children
playing in the streets were similarly foiled by the RUC.
Despite a comprehensive survey of local residents carried out in
partnership with the British government funded, `Making Belfast
Work' which recommended a scheme in April 1997, RUC objections
were again the rule, a move strongly criticised by New Lodge SF
councillor Gerard Brophy.
``A key feature of most nationalist areas was the fact that in
`near-misses' people do not report them to the RUC. Consequently
when the DOE assesses the incident rates in many nationalist
areas a true picture is not presented. This is in turn used by
the RUC to block traffic calming'', he said.
Margaret McClenaghan of the Ardglen Residents Committee, joining
children in Ardoyne, welcomed the DOE's `ground-breaking'
announcement last week. The DOE announcement included plans for
ramps on the Berwick Road, Etna Drive and crucially Brompton
Park, all main thoroughfares.
`Hatching' measures for Alliance Avenue are scheduled and the
Glenard areas will become a 20mph speed limit zone.
``I'm delighted that the RUC have now lifted their security
objections to the traffic calming in Glenard. The lives of local
children have been put at risk for years by the RUC's refusal to
move on this issue''.
Also welcoming the news was local SF councillor Mick Conlon, who
added a cautionary note, ``the Ardoyne residents groups are to be
congratulated, they have fought this battle for years. These
measures are well overdue, but I would demand that the DOE be
transparent during the forthcoming consultation process and
canvass the views of the entire community''.
Conlon was critical of the DOE over allowing the RUC to vet the
groups invited to the announcement of last week's scheme.
``I would appeal to the DOE to contact Ardoyne Community Centre
where the Ardoyne residents' groups are based. Its not good
enough for an exclusion policy to be dictated by the RUC and they
should never have had a veto over the safety of our children. It
is the DOE's responsibility to ensure inclusiveness''.
DOE regulations take into account the accident rate for any five
year period when preliminary studies are being considered. At
present there are in excess of 700 requests from different groups
in Belfast alone for traffic calming measures.
In areas like Poleglass with a densely populated community of
over 5,000, with six schools, a leisure centre and major arterial
routes there were child fatalities. A two year old was killed in
Poleglass in May 1997 and in the following December a 12 year old
girl was killed on the Stewartstown Road.
Importantly, the residents in all the concerned areas received
support from Community Technical Aid, local schools, Sinn Fein
councillors, local doctors, bus and rail firm, Translink, and the
Ambulance and Fire Services.
However, according to Michael Ferguson, the RUC object to the
implementation of traffic calming plans on the grounds that it
would put their personnel at risk.
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