Michael Munro was an American tourist who was visiting Northern Ireland, on honeymoon with his wife. When his life was cut short after a tragic car accident near the popular tourist attraction, The Dark Hedges.
Now it’s been revealed that a vigil will take place on Wednesday, September 25th at 7:30pm where Michael Munro was killed in September of last year. The news emerged at a workshop at Cloonavin last week which was led by Christopher Sherrard from ‘Life After’, a support group for people bereaved by road deaths.
Speaking today Councillor Stephanie Quigley said;
“I was so moved by the courage of Christopher and Debbie to be able to move beyond their own pain and in doing so reach out to help other families who are left devastated when bereaved by RTAs.
“Life After was unanimously supported by all political parties represented and we welcome the group as they intend to setup in our north coast area.’
“A Notice of Motion proposed by Councillor Baird, seconded by Alderman McCandless will be put forward to Council tomorrow evening (referred from Council Meeting 25 June 2019) to call for Council to write to the Permanent Secretary at DfI and the Chief Constable for NI to have STOP signs put in place immediately at the Fivey Road and Bregagh Road junctions with Gracehill Road.”
The report reads: “Over the past year there have been numerous collisions at the road junctions most used by traffic approaching and leaving the Dark Hedges. Sadly a young man from USA was killed in one such accident in September 2018. After lobbying the Roads Service and PSNI new high visibility Give Way signs were erected in October 2018 at two of the junctions but sadly the accident rate has not declined.
Apart from the obvious high risk to life at these junctions the collisions have necessitated high-level presence from the Ambulance Service, Air Ambulance Service and Police on an almost weekly frequency. Local people now live in fear in what has become treacherous international road junctions.
In support of lobbying currently underway I would ask that Council write to the Permanent Secretary at DfI and the Chief Constable for NI to have STOP signs put in place immediately at the Fivey Road and Bregagh Road junctions with Gracehill Road and that this is followed by other effective measures to ensure safety is paramount at these junctions. Furthermore that the Fivey Road junction with the Drones Road is risk assessed and appropriate action taken to ensure safety”
