Greens support Westport schools’ call for safe cycle and walking paths

THE Mayo Green Party has come out in full support of the call made last week by Westport’s Active Travel to School group to Mayo County Council to put safe, segregated cycle and walking routes in place throughout the town and on all routes to schools in the Westport area.

In its submission to the Mayo Development Plan last March, the Mayo Greens outlined that the current transport hierarchy in the county needs to be reversed so that walking, cycling and public transport are prioritised over the private car.

Edel Hackett, a member of the Green Party in Mayo and a keen cyclist for everyday use, said that, unfortunately, the drop-off and pick-up at schools, and particularly primary schools, remain completely clogged with cars, often because parents are afraid that routes to school are completely unsafe for their children to walk or cycle, even as part of a supervised cycling or walking train with adults.

“My children have just this year finished in Westport schools, a period from primary to secondary that spanned nearly 20 years,” she said. “Two decades ago, parents and teachers were asking about safe routes to school so that children could walk or cycle with confidence. It’s hard to believe, and difficult to understand why, the same request is still being made, and is still not being responded to adequately by the local authority.”

The Mayo Greens submission suggests that as a first and easy move to show that it prioritises sustainable and safe travel over the car, Mayo County Council could immediately change the sequencing of all traffic lights to give automatic right of way to pedestrians, cyclists and public transport.

In addition, there could be strictly enforced speed limits on roads extending outside the town limits and on rural roads to accommodate walkers and cyclists attending all schools in the Westport area, and particularly where Mayo County Council has already designated cycling routes for tourism.

Too many roads, said Ms. Hackett, are used as speed rat-runs, that are dangerous for anyone - children or adults - trying to cycle or walk.