A national danger becomes local: near-miss in Longford town

At a meeting of Longford Municipal District, Councillor Peggy Nolan referred to an email from a local mother who described two alarming near-misses in Garvey’s Lane in Longford town, where high-speed scooters narrowly avoided collisions with her child and, further along, an infant

Published 30th Apr 2026, 11:02 BST Cllr Peggy Nolan and Cllr Seamus Butler discussed the matter at a recent meeting of the Longford Municipal District At a meeting of Longford Municipal District, Councillor Peggy Nolan referred to an email from a local mother who described two alarming near-misses in Garvey’s Lane in Longford town, where high-speed scooters narrowly avoided collisions with her child and, further along, an infant Sign up to our Longford Live newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know you can manage your profile, and explore all of the available newsletters from Longford Live within your account.

Concerns have been raised about the growing issue of high-speed scooter use, which one councillor described as a nationwide problem that now urgently needed addressing at local level in Longford.

Bringing the matter into sharp focus was a recent incident in Garvey’s Lane , as highlighted in an email sent to the county councillors from a local mother.

Recalling the content of the email, Councillor Peggy Nolan explained how on the day in question, Annaly Car Park “was packed with cars from people dropping off kids” who were attending a nearby dance school on Garvey’s Lane, as well as a Community Games event in the nearby Longford Arms Hotel.

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She added, “The woman in question said that she told us all about this at least a year ago and no action was taken. So in her defence, I think she's right, we should have taken action. I don't know why it wasn't brought up at a council meeting. In her words, and she was a very articulate lady, I have no doubt her child could have been killed on the day in question.”

Cllr Nolan went on to recall the mother’s account of two alarming near-misses in Garvey’s Lane whereby two scooters travelling through the lane at high speed narrowly avoided a potentially fatal collision with her child and further on, an infant in a nappy that had wandered out of a house unsupervised.

Said the councillor, “She had told her child not to run for the car coming out from the dancing studio. Had he ran for the car, it would have been a fatality."

"Two people on scooters flew at enormous speed down that laneway and that young child could have been killed. It stopped her in her tracks and she actually thanked God it wasn't a fatality."

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Cllr Nolan added, "The minimum that could have happened, the child would've been marked for life. That was one incident. She then went on to tell me about a child - an infant that made his way out of one of the houses and was in a nappy. The child could have been a fatality as well.”

Addressing the council’s Senior Executive Engineer, Peter Brady, Cllr Nolan added, “This could happen in any town. These scooters are causing trouble right across the country.

I'm asking you, Peter, is there a way you could look at putting ramps in and we will engage with the guards to make sure that if there's traffic again like what was there recently, that maybe the guards could be aware of it and pay a little bit extra attention to Garvey's Lane and to that whole car parking area?”

Emphasising that it was a national problem and not one that was specific to Longford alone, the councillor added that it needed to be resolved at local level.

Cllr Seamus Butler concurred with Cllr Nolan’s comments, however he pointed out that as one of the vehicles involved was a scrambler, which is now illegal, it elevated the matter to one for the Longford Gardaí .

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Cllr Butler told the chamber, “I don't know that there's a lot that Longford Municipal District can do. There are plans for the redevelopment of Annaly Car Park and I think that would be our contribution to a safer environment there because some people still refuse to use that car park.

On that particular day, it was very busy but that's an exception rather than the rule unfortunately.”

In response, Mr Brady requested a copy of the email and said the council would review the issue as well as speak with the Gardaí.

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