So, which limit applies?

antoobrien

I saw this a couple of weeks ago passing through Dunmore (north Galway). This is the speed limit sign on the way into town coming from Tuam.



It'd be amusing if it wasn't so potentially serious. No wonder speed limit signs aren't taken seriously.

Galwaynews article

otorists travelling from Tuam towards Dunmore are more than a little confused about what speed they should be driving at as they approach the North Galway town.

As drivers approach the town, they are bemused to discover that there is a 100 km/h speed limit sign on one side of the road and a 50 km/h sign on the other.

It is obvious that the area is governed by the 50 km/h sign as motorists are entering the town but how the other sign got turned remains a bit of a mystery.

One motorist who contacted The Connacht Tribune said that it could lead to confusion and wondered what would happen if someone exceeded the 50 km/h speed on the basis of the wrongly faced 100 km/h sign.

But local Gardaí have warned motorists to use common sense and that there was no way a 100 km/h speed limit would apply as they were entering a built up area.

A local Garda said that it could have been the wind or maybe a passing truck that was responsible for the sign facing the wrong way. He added that they were contacting Galway County Council to rectify the matter immediately.

pa990

Well, if its on your way into town, I have thought out souls be obvious that the limit would be about to reduce.

Other road signs and street furniture should give you a hint that you are entering a built up area

AugustusMinimus

Whats the legal standing on this.

I'm guessing a judge would still do you for speeding on the basis that being a motorist, you should know it's a built up area, even if the motorist claims he only saw the sign on the left ?

Irish and Proud

pa990 wrote: »

Well, if its on your way into town, I have thought out souls be obvious that the limit would be about to reduce.

Other road signs and street furniture should give you a hint that you are entering a built up area

AFAIK, the limit is 50kph by law. If the area is built up, the limit is 50kph by default unless otherwise prescribed - it could be 30kph in that case - Slane has such a limit. I guess that where there are two conflicting limits, the lower one applies. I guess one of the signs were twisted in any case. As a motorist, even if both signs state 100kph going into a town, it would have to be a mistake - motorists are still required to drive to the conditions and would have to travel at a speed which would allow them to stop within the distance they can see to be clear.

Regards!

crusher000

Built up or not some peolpe don't adhere to any of these signs including caution children playing signs. In Ireland there is a phobia called "laying off the pedal". Basically you hit your desired max speed and hevens for bid if you have to slow down cause the world might stop spinning if you do.

Amtmann

I suspect some local youths turned the sign around.

antoobrien

AugustusMinimus wrote: »

I'm guessing a judge would still do you for speeding on the basis that being a motorist, you should know it's a built up area, even if the motorist claims he only saw the sign on the left ?

The judge may do you for careless driving as it is obviously entering a village. However there is a village (Leacarrow I think) on the N61 that has a 100km/h limit - so it's not cut and dried.

It is an interesting legal point though with the conflicting signs - the speed limit is supposed to be clear and unambiguous.

Oh yeah, for anyone saying to use common sense, many of the speed limits in Co Galway don't make sense. To give an example the R339 between Ballintemple & Carnmore Cross is 60km/h. A worse section of road between Carnmore Cross & monivea is 80km/h - as are all the bothríns.

AugustusMinimus

antoobrien wrote: »

Oh yeah, for anyone saying to use common sense, many of the speed limits in Co Galway don't make sense. To give an example the R339 between Ballintemple & Carnmore Cross is 60km/h. A worse section of road between Carnmore Cross & monivea is 80km/h - as are all the bothríns.

Best example of this is exiting Ballyvourney on the Killarney side.

60km for ages after exiting the village. Yet about 500m before it goes to 100kph, there's a boreen down to the left with a sign saying 80kph. And there's no way on earth you could do 80kph on that road.

corktina

Amtmann wrote: »

I suspect some local youths turned the sign around.

hard to believe anyone in Ireland has ever done that....:rolleyes:

ardmacha

And there's no way on earth you could do 80kph on that road.

Nobody is suggesting that you should.

AugustusMinimus

ardmacha wrote: »

Nobody is suggesting that you should.

I don't want to get into another "speed limits are a limit debate", but that sign on that roads says buckets about this country.

A boreen having a higher speed limit than a main road.

Speed limits should be indicative of how fast it is safe to drive on a given road. I find it disgraceful how every boreen in the land has a standard 80kph speed limit. Quite shocking in this day and age actually.

The village I live in had 2 sets of speed signs entering from the Galway side

Set A = 80kph (exit village) & 50kph (enter village)

200 yards on into the village you find the next set

Set B = 50kph & 50kph

Some locals wanted to slow people down coming out of the village so they swapped the set A & B and covered over the 80kph with some black tape.

First "fix" meant, according to the speed signs, a 7 mile journey at 50kph which you legally could not exceed

What happened? Someone (assuming county council) came along and "fixed" it by removing the black tape, and removing Set B which showed 50kph into and out of the village.

Second "fix" increased speed limit in 200 yards of the village by 30kph

End result, according to the speed signs in the village, you can now legally hit 80kph inside the village.

ardmacha

Speed limits should be indicative of how fast it is safe to drive on a given road.

In any place where roads have developed organically the appropriate speed varies for every metre of minor roads and it is not appropriate for the government to attempt to plaster signposts all over the place pointing out that the road is narrow, which anyone capable of seeing to drive can see for themselves.

Nobody in Ireland, other than a few people stirring things up on Boards, claims that speed limits are a recommendation or a target. If there were limits plastered all over the place then people would stop treating them as a recommendation or target instead of taking responsibility for their own driving.

Hotblack Desiato

To answer the OP, the limit applies whether it is signed or not!

Hotblack Desiato

ardmacha wrote: »

If there were limits plastered all over the place then people would stop treating them as a recommendation or target instead of taking responsibility for their own driving.

The (/) sign should have been retained IMHO, putting a figure on it will give at least a few morons the idea that doing that speed irrespective of conditions, bends, etc. is permissible.

L1011

ninja900 wrote: »

To answer the OP, the limit applies whether it is signed or not!

Except if the signs are consistent in showing a higher limit than is the legally applied limit; in which case that which is signed applies.

Hotblack Desiato

IANAL but I'm pretty sure the signs are legally a guide only - the areas where limits apply are designated in the appropriate legislation and that is what matters in relation to a conviction or an acquittal.
There are numerous places in my local area where the speed limit signage is either inconsistent or downright incorrect - I'm sure other posters are aware of similar situations.

L1011

ninja900 wrote: »

IANAL but I'm pretty sure the signs are legally a guide only - the areas where limits apply are designated in the appropriate legislation and that is what matters in relation to a conviction or an acquittal.
There are numerous places in my local area where the speed limit signage is either inconsistent or downright incorrect - I'm sure other posters are aware of similar situations.

If there is no valid way of notifying the limit, its not valid.

Hotblack Desiato

Since when was ignorance of the law a defence?

L1011

ninja900 wrote: »

Since when was ignorance of the law a defence?

There is no legal basis to apply a speed limit to a road and enforce it without signage. We no longer have a 'national speed limit' since metrification.

No signs = default to highest limit for type; in the case where there are signs, the legal limit is the highest of that signed or that in the law. There are a number of people on here, myself included, who have had FPNs cancelled/refunded for cases of 60km/h signs on 80km/h roads, and so on.

El Inho

i would imagine the sign on your side of the road is the one you adhere to...

a sign got turned? big whoop.

Stark

El Spearo wrote: »

i would imagine the sign on your side of the road is the one you adhere to...

The one that says 100km/hr entering the town?