Sir, – Regarding the correspondence on motorway speed limits (January 3rd and 5th), if we agree we’re in a climate emergency, we are all free to reduce our own speed without it being imposed on us officially. – Yours, etc,
FIONA McGOLDRICK,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 14.
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Sir, – I respectfully disagree with Michael Fitzgibbon when he asserts that “there was no outcry” when the United States reduced the maximum speed limit on all roads to 55m/ph (Letters, January 5th). I would draw his attention to Mr Samuel Roy Hagar and his excellent 1984 musical treatise “I Can’t Drive 55″, which, along with its accompanying video, proved incredibly popular with the American public. – Is mise,
BRÍAN Ó SÚILLEABHÁIN,
Dublin 8.
Sir, – I refer to David Doran’s letter (January 3rd) and his suggestion to reduce motorway speed limits in the interests of pollution reduction.
Since the wheel was invented, allegedly by a Mesopotamian, mankind has been trying to get it rotate faster.
Tracks that turned into roads and latterly motorways enabled easier access to far-flung places the world over, including close to Bagenalstown.
Is Mr Doran suggesting that by reducing motorway speed to 100 km/h a motorist would still reach their destination just as quickly as 120 km/h because the reduced speed would somehow magically clear the byroad congestion?
Would Mr Doran consider returning to having a man with a red flag walk in front of motorists? – Yours, etc,
BRIAN MURPHY,
Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.
Sir, – The recent suggestion to reduce the speed limits on motorways is not new, and although superficially attractive, should be resisted for a number of reasons.
The first reason is that it is a crude measure to save on fossil fuels. It doesn’t differentiate between electric cars with zero emissions, modern efficient petrol cars, and older gas guzzlers. The high price and taxes on fossil fuels are much better incentives to save, and there is nothing to stop people choosing to reduce speed to achieve this if they want at the moment.
The second is that there are severe penalties for exceeding speed limits, which can quickly lead to being put off the road. This is appropriate, as reckless speeding puts people’s lives in danger. Is it fair, though, to apply penalty points for simply using too much fuel? I realise that being fair to motorists will cut no ice with the current Minister for Transport, so this leads me to the most important reason: the negative impact on road safety.
It is most important that speed limits are widely respected, and rigorously enforced, as speeding cost lives. We should be promoting the habit that when a driver sees any speed limit sign, he or she should know instantly that to drive faster than this is not safe. This can only be done if there is a confidence that the limit is being set solely for genuine safety reasons. We are far from this at the moment. We see narrow primary roads with a white line where the limit is a ludicrously high 100 km/h, whereas three-lane carriageways, such as the link between the M50 and the M4, have a limit of 80 km/h. We need to get serious about speed limits, and many need changing, but motorway limits are not in this category.
Despite the fact they are the fastest roads, they are also the safest, with the lowest accident rate. If limits are set for reasons other than being the safest upper limit for the road in question, then this will erode respect for speed limits in general, leading to poorer observance, and making it harder to enforce. This is the opposite of what we need to be doing.
The reason the smoking ban in pubs worked so well was that there was overall support for what was a clear health measure, and effective enforcement of the minority of offenders. We need to take the same approach to road safety.
Speed limits are important. Too important to be misused by people with well-meaning intentions, or abused by those with an ideological anti-car agenda. They need to be set clearly and solely on the basis they are necessary for the safety of the particular road type, and rigorously enforced. That way, they can do what they were originally designed to do: protect lives on our roads. – Yours, etc,
TOM WADE,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.