Minister for Transport, Tourism, & Sport Leo Varadkar has announced plans for a nationwide audit of speed limits to ensure that all speed restrictions are both safe and sensible. The Minister’s Department will shortly engage with the National Roads Authority (NRA) and local authorities to conduct a nationwide audit of speed limits across Ireland.
Speed limit bands are set by the Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport. However, specific limits applied on particular roads are determined by the local authorities, in consultation with the Gardaí, and in respect of national primary and secondary roads with the National Roads Authority. The aim of the audit is to start overhauling the inconsistencies between different counties and regions and put an end to confusion among drivers. Although the process is expected to take some time, the audit will be a crucial first step.
The NRA and local authorities will be asked to conduct the audit in consultation with the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport. However, the Minister also encouraged members of the public to highlight their concerns with their own local authority. Speaking at the sod turning on two road schemes in Co. Westmeath last week: the N4 Downs Grade Road Separation and the N52 Carrick Bridge to Clonfad Road Improvement Scheme Minister Varadkar said: “Recent road safety measures like speed cameras and new drink driving laws have gone a long way towards improving road safety. However, we need to ensure that the right speed limits are in operation on the right roads.
“We all know of cases where speed limits are inappropriately low or inappropriately high. I understand that there is some confusion among drivers about the various speed limits which should and do apply, as well as the approach to speed limit signage on national, regional, and local roads."
“There are also allegations that local authorities are not consistent in how they decide on the appropriate speed limit, which has also contributed to driver confusion. Last year a new set of guidelines for special speed limits was published. This audit will follow on from that publication.”
The AA has already begun to give the Minister a helping hand with their user generated campaign to map out roads with ridiculous speed limits. You can capture these moments and send them to the AA and they plan to bring the information to the government. It may also be an idea for this Department to talk to companies in the GPS vehicle tracking industry who would have good aggregated data and actual speeds that vehicles drive on our roads every day.
Photo by Ksenia Kudelkina on Unsplash
