Ennis traffic light change would be ‘less pedestrian-friendly’

LINKING Ennis’ traffic light system would be “less pedestrian friendly” a council engineer has explained in response to calls for the lights in the town to be synchronised.

Councillor Mary Howard raised the issue at a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District where she said a number of people had suggested the idea as a way of improving traffic flow at busy times.

She outlined that the return of students to school has led to a number of “pinch points” at drop-off and pick-up times with the majority of traffic moving in the same direction.

Ian Chaplin, acting senior executive engineer responded, “Having consulted with our Traffic Lights providers, it is possible to link the traffic lights in the town but this is now considered old technology.

“Linking would have been in operation historically when other traffic light solutions were not available.

“For instance, Kilrush Road/Carmody street junction has a MOVA (Microprocessor Optimised Vehicle Actuation) operated set of traffic lights, which has four pedestrian crossing elements as well as right turn filters and vehicle actuated loops on each approach.

“MOVA junctions operate at approximately 20% greater efficiency than VA (vehicle actuated) junctions. The controller for the lights is adaptive depending on the demands called for by vehicles on each approach and also pedestrians attempting to cross.

“Linked systems are less pedestrian friendly in that they do not operate as quickly to meet the demand or call to cross from the pedestrian when the push button is placed because the priority in a linked system is to keep traffic flowing in a particular direction.

“Also with linked systems capacity would drop overall at the junction. It must be noted that traffic flows can change throughout the day, maybe from East/West in the morning and evening to North/South during the day.

“Therefore an adaptive system such as MOVA is much more suited to the changing requirements.”

Mayor of Ennis Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy commented that the MOVA system is “more pedestrian friendly”.

She added that a linked system would have repercussions for drivers going in the opposite direction.

Councillor Johnny Flynn voiced his “full support” for MOVA. He pointed out a lot of funding has been spent on creating pedestrian crossings to encourage people to walk into the town centre from nearby housing estates rather than having to drive. “Protecting pedestrians and vulnerable road users is important.”

Councillor Pat Daly commented that he had made a motion recently regarding the need for a filter light on the Clare Road and he sought an update.

The meeting was told that a basic survey was carried out and it was found that there is a “difficulty” in allowing trucks to turn at this “tight junction”.

The matter was referred to the roads design office for a potential solution and an update would be presented to councillors.