Urgent appeal for improvements at ‘death trap’ crossroads

Whilst travelling in his car from Moira with his twin five-year-old grandsons, the Lisburn man was shocked to see a car pull out in front of him, causing him to slam on the breaks to avoid a disastrous collision.

The car pulled out behind a lorry from Meadow Road to Trummery Lane, and only thanks to quick reactions from the grandfather, a serious accident was narrowly avoided. Despite the close call, the driver of the other vehicle did not stop, and the grandfather, as well as his grandsons were left very shaken by the incident.

Local politicians have been appealing for years for improvements to be made to the notorious accident black spot, with Lisburn and Castlereagh City Councillor Caleb McCready calling it a ‘death trap’

Mr McCready and Lagan Valley MLA Paul Givan met with the Department of Infrastructure earlier this year to press them on the issue, however the Department has said it is too costly to make the necessary changes to the road layout.

Following the latest incident, Mr McCready said: “Trummery crossroads is a death trap for drivers in the local area. I have raised this issue with the Department for Infrastructure and the Police and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP).

"If the speed limit at this junction could be reduced then this would give drivers who are trying to cross the road more time, keeping road users much safer and hopefully help prevent accidents from happening.”

Mr Givan added: "The Department of Infrastructure needs to assess this junction and put in measures that alert drivers to the dangers of crossing the main Moira Road as vehicles are typically driving at 60mph and a vehicle that pulls out without giving proper attention can cause a serious accident.”

However, a spokesperson for the Department for Infrastructure said a feasibility study had previously been carried out and that large scale improvement would be too costly.

“The Department previously undertook a feasibility study to consider a number of options to improve the A3 Lisburn Road / Trummery Lane / Lisnabilla Road junctions at Trummery Crossroads. This study showed that a scheme to widen the A3 Lisburn Road to provide right turn pockets on the A3 Lisburn Road and realign Trummery Lane to form a T junction at Lisnabilla Road would require extensive acquisition of third party land, culverting of an existing watercourse, alteration to existing services, provision of street lighting and accommodation works. Such a scheme at this location would therefore involve large scale works at a high cost.

“Therefore, a scheme to improve this junction currently does not rank as highly as other potential schemes and it would therefore find it difficult to compete for our limited funding.

“However the Department can advise that we have recently had the road markings refreshed on both sides of the junction and SLOW road markings placed at the existing crossroads warning signs on the A3 Lisburn Road on both approaches to the junction.”