Road safety concerns: Police cracking down on speeding in Annahilt

Police are warning motorists that they will be cracking down on the problem of speeding in Annahilt over the coming days and weeks.
Police have been monitoring the speed of vehicles travelling through Annahilt.Police have been monitoring the speed of vehicles travelling through Annahilt.
Police have been monitoring the speed of vehicles travelling through Annahilt.

Officers issued the warning after a roadside meeting in the village on November 30, organised by Cllr Uel Mackin.

Cllr Mackin said he organised the meeting “in response to residents’ concerns about speeding on the main road through the village (Ballynahinch Road) and the safety of children walking to and from the local school.”

The meeting was attended by officials from TransportNI, senior PSNI officers and Lagan Valley MLA Edwin Poots.

“We actually observed a vehicle doing 47mph in a 30mph zone while our meeting was going on, so that shows the sort of problem there is in the village,” Cllr Mackin explained.

He described speeding as “a very major problem” and welcomed an assurance from TransportNI that officials will be looking at possible measures that could be implemented to slow vehicles down as they approach the village.

Welcoming the PSNI’s deployment of speed cameras in the village, the DUP man added: “There will be a few tickets handed out I’m sure, but hopefully people get the message that speeding doesn’t pay and the police don’t have to hand out too many fines.”

Confirming that there will be “a period of enforcement” in Annahilt, and possibly other local villages, a PSNI spokesperson stressed that all revenue from speeding fines goes back into road safety initiatives.

“The point of tickets is to get the road safety message through to those drivers who blatantly disregard speed limits and with it the safety of other road users and the surrounding community. So if you’re driving through Annahilt any time soon I would much rather you got the slow down message rather than a ticket. After all I’m sure you could find something better to spend £60 on, especially in the mouth of Christmas. Other villages may well also get a visit,” the spokesperson said.