A SLIGO man fears that the next time a car comes through his front wall, he will have to call a hearse and not a tow truck.
Father-of-two Michael Nugent lives in Tullybeg, Ballygawley, on one of the county’s most dangerous bends - on the Ballygawley to Sooey road. In the past six years up to 20 cars have crashed through his front wall and come to a stop in his front garden.
The latest such incident happened last Friday morning at 8.10am when a young woman travelling to work didn’t realise how bad the bend was, lost control of her car and careered through Michael's front wall.
But she was not the first, and Michael fears that the next time an accident occurs it could be fatal.
Michael, who works in Avenue Mould Solutions in Finisklin, said: “Every morning I get up I look out my front window to see if there is another car in the front garden. This bend is deadly dangerous and it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed. We are so lucky that so far no-one has been killed. This is lucky when you consider that there are so many more cars on this road and people are driving so fast.”
It has got so bad for Michael and his family that when they hear a truck or a car coming around the bend at high speed, they fear for its driver.
“We don't let our children play in the front garden anymore,” he said. “It’s just too dangerous. We can never tell when the next accident will happen.”
Having his front wall knocked so many times has forced Michael to fence off his front garden. “It’s the safest thing to do from our point of view but we shouldn't have to live like this.”
Michael has two young children aged one and three. And while they don’t play in the front garden, Michael fears for his own life when he goes to mow the front lawn.
“It has to be done but it’s very frightening. You fear every car that comes around the corner. There have been so many near misses as well.”
The worst crash Michael has encountered was when there was head-on collision at the bend a number of years ago. One of the drivers was a heavily pregnant woman. Drivers and passengers were brought to hospital but luckily there were no serious injuries.
He and his family moved into the house six years ago. “We did some renovations to the house and made it our own. We don’t want to move.”
He is continually calling Sligo County Council but, he said, to no avail. “They are well aware of this dangerous bend but I just can’t seem to get them to do anything to fix it. Getting land to widen the road is not a problem as the farmer involved has said he will give the land. And I will give them a piece of my garden if they need it also. It’s not about the money. That’s not the important thing here. This bend has to be fixed.”
About four years ago, county council employees came to survey the bend and Michael thought that at last it was going to get fixed.
“They came and did some work but the nothing happened. They have been back to resurface it but that surface is now almost worn away.”
With the winter months only weeks away, Michael is all-too aware that the road will be in a worse condition and is expecting more cars to crash on the bend.
“The situation is always worse during winter time. If something doesn’t get done about it soon, I dread having to walk out to a scene of an accident where someone has been killed.”
A spokesperson for Sligo County Council said: “We are aware of the concerns expressed regarding the bend at Ballygawley and our staff will investigate and report on the matter.”
