SpeedLimits: setting an example Speed limits on our non-national roads are being set in an arbitrary and haphazard manner, argues Conor Twomey, which may do more harm than good
Earlier this month, Meath County Council voted on a proposal put forward by Dunshaughlin councillors to impose a blanket speed limit of 50km/h on all Non-National Class III roads in the county.
Although the proposal was rejected, the vote highlighted a significant problem with the way speed limits are assigned in Ireland.
The National Road Authority is responsible for the speed limits on all national roads and motorways, but limits on the remaining 96 per cent of roads in the country are the sole responsibility of local authorities.
The Road Traffic Act of 2004 clearly states what the maximum speed limit on each classification of road should be (50km/h in urban areas, 80km/h on non-national routes, 100km/h on national routes) but makes no distinction between the various types of non-national roads and still gives councillors an alarming degree of freedom in respect of the speed limits on these roads.
The act states that: "A county council or a city council may make bye-laws specifying, in respect of any specified public road . . . the speed limit", meaning that any non-national road speed limit can be amended, based on the whim of a local council rather than on a set of clearly defined regulations. There also appears to be no requirement for the county council to consult any experts or conduct any traffic or road surveys prior to making speed limit amendments.
The situation in Meath arose when local councillor Brian Fitzgerald took exception to a stretch of Non-National Class III road in his locality which he says has a 50km/h zone imposed on it for a short 150m stretch that passes a few houses. Along the remainder of the road, speeds of up to 80 km/h are permitted. In his opinion, the 80km/h speed limit was too high in the first place, which is why he proposed lowering the maximum speed limit on all such Class III roads to just 50km/h.
However, Department of Transport guidelines state that: "special speed limits are normally unnecessary where the character of the road itself limits the speed of most vehicles (at least 95 per cent) to a level at or below that of the limit under consideration," which implies that the councillor really shouldn't have been able to bring the matter up at all unless he was armed with some sort of evidence to justify his proposal.
However, the fact that Councillor Fitzgerald was still able to bring the matter to a vote at a county council meeting underlines the extraordinarily haphazard manner in which our speed limits are defined. The county council may have had the good sense to reject the Dunshaughlin councillors' proposal on this occasion but there was nothing to stop them approving the blanket speed limit if they so wished. All over the country there are wide open stretches of road where the speed limit suddenly drops by 20km/h or even 40km/h for no apparent reason (and which are often heavily policed under the premise of saving lives). Meanwhile, drivers can speed along poorly surfaced, single-lane boreens at anything up to 80km/h and not fall foul of the law because it seems the Department of Transport couldn't be bothered properly defining what the speed limit should be on the majority of Irish roads. This is why we end up with shiny new signs proclaiming the maximum speed to be 80km/h on roads in which two cars are incapable of passing one another safely or just ahead of major intersections and roundabouts. What must visitors think of us?
Further examination of the guidelines unearths more staggering admissions of outright laziness: "Speed limits should not be used to solve the problem of isolated hazards, such as a single road junction or bend, as these would be difficult to enforce over such a short length."
In most other European countries (and even in the US) the speed limits surrounding junctions on non-national roads are often lowered for obvious safety reasons, but in Ireland it seems that such limits might be a little bit difficult to enforce, so we just don't bother.
Dual carriageways with 60km/h limits are much easier to police, so let's just stick with those, eh? With up to 1,500 speed cameras about to be unleashed upon the public, wouldn't it make sense to conduct a proper review of all the country's speed limits and put sensible speed limits in place in dangerous areas and leave the open stretches of well engineered roads clear for traffic to make progress?
The Irish people accept that road safety is a serious issue and have shown a willingness to amend their ways.
The least the Department of Transport could do is provide sensible and appropriate speed limits - limits that motorists are likely to adhere to and which don't smack of being cynical revenue generators.