Sir, – The proposed 30km/h speed limit for Dublin city centre – the area within the canals bar the main radial routes – is to be warmly welcomed. It should be seen in the context of a broad positive transformation of Dublin into being a people-friendly city.
The policy is part of the paradigm shift in which transport planning is changing from counting the numbers of metal boxes moving along roads to counting people moving along streets. The transformation goes beyond movement. It is about seeking to reduce dramatically road-user traffic casualties and create sociable spaces in a vibrant, living city.
Further elements of people-friendly urban design involve more pedestrianisation (as with the plans for College Green) and the reallocation of road space to public transport, walking and cycling. The ultimate aim is to create a city centre that is safe and accessible for people of all ages and abilities. In summary, we are moving away from the 1960s/1970s thinking in which the future of cities was all about motorised automobility.
If all of this sounds alien to some, then it is worth glancing at several great European capitals. Already 75 per cent of inner London boroughs and overall one-third of the London population have 20mph (32km/h) limits on the streets where they live. Meanwhile, half of the streets of Paris will have 30km/h limits by the end of 2016, and the safer limit will cover the entire city by 2020. The idea is to create a peaceful city, and one that is conducive to walking and cycling. We must remember that these were cities that bent over backwards to accommodate continuous growth in car travel before realising that a completely different policy mix is required for attractive, functioning cities, involving congestion charging, reallocation of more road space for high-quality cycle infrastructure, reconfiguring giant roundabouts and junctions to being pedestrian and cyclist-friendly, default 30km/h speed limits, large bike-share schemes, deliveries by electric vehicles, cargo-bikes, etc.
Dublin city will thrive with a safer, people-friendly 30km/h limit, just as these other cities have. – Yours, etc,
Dr DAMIEN Ó TUAMA,
Kimmage, Dublin 12.
Sir, – The proposal for a city-wide speed limit does not go far enough to protect the innocent public from these infernal machines. I suggest that each vehicle be proceeded by a man with a red flag who is tasked with warning passersby of its approach.
As their respective speeds will then be identical, it would create a level playing field for pedestrians and horseless carriages and maximise road safety.
I appreciate that this approach might seem somewhat antiquated, but surely it is an idea whose time has now come. – Yours, etc,
NED COSTELLO,
Dublin 12.