LOCALS OCCUPIED DRUMCONDRA’S Richmond Road for a brief period this morning in protest against what they say is insufficient action on the council’s behalf to manage the road. 

For years, residents have complained that Richmond Road, located in Dublin’s north inner city, has been plagued with dangerous drivers, unmanaged traffic, and serious safety shortcomings. 

The road, which links Fairview Strand with the centre of Drumcondra, has been the site of several accidents and abusive behaviour from motorists.

Some 5,500 vehicles pass through the road each day. 

Damage done to a resident's car by a driver who left the scene.

Residents have been holding smaller scale protests on the footpath since August in an attempt to put pressure on the council to release a traffic management report, and to work with residents to operate a trial of filtered permeability on the section of the road from Grace Park Road and Drumcondra Road.

Filtered permeability is an urban planning concept that filters out car traffic on selected streets, but allows for emergency vehicles. This can be achieved through the installation of bollards or other obstacles like planter boxes.

Waiting since January, residents received the traffic management report from the council last week after their protest received media coverage – but one resident, Emma Taaffe, said that residents have been left “outraged” and “let down” by the quality of the report, which is eight pages long and assesses that filtered permeability is not feasible.

It cites the level of traffic that passes through the road each day, and weight limits on adjacent roads, as reasons filtered permeability would not work.

However, Taaffe said the report fails to take into account an existing weight limit on Richmond Road, or the fact that during the summertime when Shelbourne FC are playing at Tolka Park, the road is successfully closed to drivers. 

Taaffe described the conditions of the road as being highly dangerous. There are families with young children living in the area, and many are seriously concerned at their children’s safety. 

“It’s being used as an alternative route in and out of the city,” she said, “and it’s just not suitable for it.”

The narrow road is congested with traffic every morning. “When the traffic is congested, drivers get very frustrated. There’s an awful lot of aggressive driver behaviour: people mounting the footpath, there’s a lot of honking, a lot of people getting out of their cars to scream at each other. 

“There’s a lot of verbal harassment of pedestrians and residents, and particularly women are getting the brunt of that,” she said. “Two neighbours with small children have had near misses with heavy goods vehicles nearly hitting them while they were out with their kids.”

Residents are calling on the council to allow a trial run of filtered permeability to take place. This has been flagged as an inexpensive and reliable solution to the dangerous conditions faced by residents over the years. 

Dublin City Council said it did not wish to comment.