Silly speed limits on Irish roads

gerrymadden1

Is it just me or does anyone else feel that there are some downright senseless speed limits on Irish roads.

My most recent experience is the road into Kildimo, a small village in Co. Limerick.

Coming into the village from the Limerick city direction, the limit drops sharply from 100-60-50... Fair enough.

However, on leaving the village the limit remains at 50 for over a mile. The road is newly built, wide and straight. And needless to say, is invariably patrolled by a camera van.

Contrast this to the road between Ennis & Lahinch which is narrow, winding & dangerous but has a 100 kph limit.

RidleyRider

I'd say if the road in Ennis was to be reviewed or had major works the speed limit would be dropped. I see this a lot around area's that have had work done.

Mister Jingles

Always thought the Snugborough Road, Blanchardstown should be 80 kph and not 60 kph.

Never drove them myself but I remember ages ago as well the back roads when they were the old way coming from Finglas to the Snugborough Road one side was 80 while the other was 60, these were no road to speed on. Many a person killed along there.

jeffk

Mister Jingles wrote: »

Always thought the Snugborough Road, Blanchardstown should be 80 kph and not 60 kph.

Never drove them myself but I remember ages ago as well the back roads when they were the old way coming from Finglas to the Snugborough Road one side was 80 while the other was 60, these were no road to speed on. Many a person killed along there.

Here here for your post and the thread !

You could go faster on an old back road than a new fancy road with a hidden speed van.
@ one point the old road had ripples in it from buses a trucks on it and you where likely to meet one of them in the centre of a set of bends.
Also from what i Remember there where houses ontop of the road as well.

toastedpickles

The ring road in Waterford is 60, but should be 80
The road coming out of Newbridge to Naas by phizer is 50 and should be 60

There's a few more but they're the two that stand out

allthedoyles

Kildimo is accident black-spot

dgt

Meath co co reduced the limits on a lot of the surrounding roads and camera zoned them to force everyone to use the M3 :rolleyes:

gardengnomeo

Or the case when (wrongly) speeding, doing 69km/hr in a 60 just after coming out of an 80km/hr km section( grand wide straight road so I forgot myself!) got issued the fine and 2 points, as should be expected.... But to travel down that same road a few weeks later to see that they had upped the speed limit for the whole length of the road to 80km/hr, that is frustrating!

monkeypants

Coming off the M1 into Whitehall, the speed limit drops to to 60 and then to 50 as you're coming down a hill. Favourite spot for the Gardai to set up too, just outside the church on a weekend.

MugMugs

The old N1 is a joke.

From The Coachmans down to Pinnock hill is 60 and the Gardai LOVE it.

80 after that which is equally as insane because it starts to build up there until the Estuary.

The Dunleer / Collon link road is 80 and is a bit of a joke. Should be 100.

dlofnep

New road out by me which is in perfect condition is 50 all the way, just until the roundabout when naturally you'd think you'd need to slow down - Nope, the limit is raised to 80.

jeffk

dgt wrote: »

Meath co co reduced the limits on a lot of the surrounding roads and camera zoned them to force everyone to use the M3 :rolleyes:

Only the other week I seen a new speed camera sign around the entrance to the hill of Tara.
Then while doing the speed limit, most of the traffic(including buses etc) are up your arse and dying to overtake you and then they ignore the speed camera signs.

What gets me is a road without a speed limit sign to be seen and its as straight as an arrow with a speed camera. Came out of the square in Tallght via the sat nav(only been there once before)down a long road(car places and factories either side, eventually brought me by the Luas onto the M50)with no speed signs and oh look a speed camera.

monkeysnapper

There's a road by where I live and its 100 kph . One day I drove at 100 kph on it. Was suicide !!!!.! This road needs to be 80 . And like op we have a road coming into our town with a 50 sign about 2 miles out of town and nobody ever follows this rule or they'd be beeped all over the place

ironclaw

Do people seen a 100km/h sign and instantly floor it? Drive at the limit for the road, not the sign. Its entirely different to a limit being too low for a road i.e. 50km/h on those dual lane ring roads dotted around the country.

Grayditch

MugMugs wrote: »

From The Coachmans down to Pinnock hill is 60 andseemingly the Gardai LOVE it.

The grindiest of grinds, that section. I asked a taxi driver before why that's 60 and he said it used to be full of accidents, so if that's true, fair enough.

I can handle doing the speed limits, even when theyre mind numbingly slow, seemingly for the road that's in it, but when you get instantly tailed by someone who won't overtake you, it's incredibly difficult not to get angry.

Speed and get a ticket.
Do the limit and get tailed.

Not all the time, on either count, but it does my head in.

StompToWork

ironclaw wrote: »

Do people seen a 100km/h sign and instantly floor it? Drive at the limit for the road, not the sign. Its entirely different to a limit being too low for a road i.e. 50km/h on those dual lane ring roads dotted around the country.

I agree. The limit is just that - A Limit. Not a target!!

ironclaw

StompToWork wrote: »

I agree. The limit is just that - A Limit. Not a target!!

By the same token, don't be doing 50km/h when the full 80km/h is possible and is the posted limit. I believe if you can't drive at 90% of the speed limit of any given road, with the correct road and conditions, you shouldn't be driving.

Basq

StompToWork wrote: »

I agree. The limit is just that - A Limit. Not a target!!

Yes... but I don't appreciate people doing 40km/h in an 80km/h zone either.

monkeypants

MugMugs wrote: »

From The Coachmans down to Pinnock hill is 60 and the Gardai LOVE it.

Love cycling along there as it's in good condition and quite quick. Driving it is painful.

Scortho

ironclaw wrote: »

Do people seen a 100km/h sign and instantly floor it? Drive at the limit for the road, not the sign. Its entirely different to a limit being too low for a road i.e. 50km/h on those dual lane ring roads dotted around the country.

Yes we should drive at the limit of the road and not the sign. In that case, id be able to do more than 80 km/h on the N4 and more than 100 on M50. I've drove from bray to J7/N4 without meeting a car on it. Its well capable of handling more than 100 km/h.

Another rediculous speed limit is 30 km/h on the quays at 7 am on a Sunday morning. Not a pedestrian and hardly a car in site. The country borreens with grass growing in the middle of them and an 80km/h speed limit. Last time I checked there was no grass on the N4!

Atomic Pineapple

We need to go back to the old way where on coming out of a restricted speed zone such as a town, school or particularly dangerous piece of road there is the black and white sign and the roads are governed by a national limit.

Of course in addition to this we would need to educate drivers how to drive to the conditions rather than the current attitude of driving to the preset limits, alas this will cost money rather than make it so won't be implemented and we will continue to use out dated thinking and fear tactics in hope of keeping the road deaths down rather than doing anything positive and productive.

Iwannahurl

The speed limit on this narrow two-way residential street in Galway City is 50 km/h. Same here. And here.

Speed limits are under national review at present, and with luck, a bit of cop on and some leadership from elected representatives (for a change), speed limits throughout the country will be set according to rational and evidence-based criteria.

dlofnep

dlofnep wrote: »

New road out by me which is in perfect condition is 50 all the way, just until the roundabout when naturally you'd think you'd need to slow down - Nope, the limit is raised to 80.

This is my personal pet peeve alongside the old N3 at Platagen/M3 toll where the speed limit changes from 60 to 80 km/h just before both roundabouts. But without a fail I always do my best to reach as close to 80 as I can when in those roundabouts.

MugMugs

Grayditch wrote: »

The grindiest of grinds, that section. I asked a taxi driver before why that's 60 and he said it used to be full of accidents, so if that's true, fair enough.

It claimed a few lives alright back in the late 80's and early 90's one of which was a family friend so yes, I can see the logic however.

There's now a Motorway taking the Belfast bound traffic so volume is lower and there's also a footpath as opposed to what used to be a four inch wide hard shoulder and a ditch.

There's also a nice handy spot to set up a speed trap down by the Texaco.

Fatalities, fair enough but when there's improvements made to completely prevent fatalities, it just strikes me as a revenue maker.

road_high

MugMugs wrote: »

The old N1 is a joke.

From The Coachmans down to Pinnock hill is 60 and the Gardai LOVE it.

80 after that which is equally as insane because it starts to build up there until the Estuary.

The Dunleer / Collon link road is 80 and is a bit of a joke. Should be 100.

I think it's up to the local council to amend/leave the speed limit as is. I know in Kilkenny they have been quite sensible (for a change) and all the best sections of the old N10/9 maintained their 100kmh limit after the M9 opened which made total sense especially as the traffic levels had dropped hugely.

woody33

The Waterford ring road has changed to mostly 80km thank God, I used to avoid it because keeping to 60km was like having teeth pulled. A bit of sense there, anyway.

gerrymadden1

allthedoyles wrote: »

Kildimo is accident black-spot

It may be an accident black spot but I'd wager that the majority of accidents were boy racers to whom speed limits mean little. (2 cases come to mind immediately)

And black spot or not, the 50kph limit outside the village is ridiculous. Just my opinion.

ofcork

The north ring road in cork is 50km/h which in parts you cannot drive at,it should be raised in places.

dgt

jeffk wrote: »

Only the other week I seen a new speed camera sign around the entrance to the hill of Tara.
Then while doing the speed limit, most of the traffic(including buses etc) are up your arse and dying to overtake you and then they ignore the speed camera signs.

What gets me is a road without a speed limit sign to be seen and its as straight as an arrow with a speed camera. Came out of the square in Tallght via the sat nav(only been there once before)down a long road(car places and factories either side, eventually brought me by the Luas onto the M50)with no speed signs and oh look a speed camera.

Yep! I know, it does my head in. A little space of that road before Dunshaughlin before it's zoned again

Worst part is the traffic when you go to let them by, force them by, just sit there. Gutless, gutless drivers :rolleyes:

Dwork

Blacktrench road into naas/newbridge is 60kph - dead straight road. The boreens off it either side are 80. You couldn't do 80 if you tried on them, suicidal. And doing 60 on the main drag is also almost impossible, it should be 100. Speed camera van there almost daily.:mad: The single lane "road" up to where I live is 80! You could in your hoop, 50 is flat out and pushing it. Winding, blind bends and nowhere to pass a car you meet. At 80??? You'd die. No common sense. Loads and loads more examples. Who sets these limits? A cyclist?

L1011

100km/h repeater signs approaching a steep, sharp bend complex on the N56. Even if a lower limit wasn't worth putting in place, the repeaters just make it worse.

Lucan Bypass - opened as 60mph, now that it has no traffic lights, median breaches or pedestrian crossings... its 80km/h. Its 120km/h quality now.

corktina

how about all the great stretches of newly built N roads with 100k limits. At least Cork CC have upped some of the limits to 120 but have any other councils done this?

pconn062

Yup some of the limits are a joke, people who drive through Slane regularly will be familiar with the ludicrous 30km/h limit before and after the village, which is purely designed as a money maker, as it is very heavily enforced with cameras. Got stung there twice, if you do drive at 30 people will basically ram you to get you out of the way.

Solair

ironclaw wrote:

I believe if you can't drive at 90% of the speed limit of any given road, with the correct road and conditions, you shouldn't be driving.

You clearly haven't driven on some of the narrow, twisty, potholed "roads" they have in parts of rural Ireland signed up for 80 or 100.

I'm not saying people should drive ridiculously slowly, but you have to watch the road conditions too. There are definitely roads where if you hit 90% of the speed limit you'd end up losing a wheel, damaging your car, hitting oncoming traffic, going into a hedge etc etc

They've increased the speed limits on the lower glanmire road in Cork to 60 recently which is a lot more sensible and there's 120 on the N40 to Ballincollig and N25 to Carrigtowhill

But what did my head in was a 60km limit on a huge stretch of the road in from Killarney. The stretch is way better than most of the rest if that road that is limited to 100. Makes no sense!

jeffk

dgt wrote: »

Yep! I know, it does my head in. A little space of that road before Dunshaughlin before it's zoned again

Worst part is the traffic when you go to let them by, force them by, just sit there. Gutless, gutless drivers :rolleyes:

I remember your post and now I go up and down to herself in Navan it looks familiar. Your right about the speed van in the gateway on a bend. I remember years ago before the M3 that road was a 100 and I never seen a crash, I hadn’t been in that area for ages and then realised M3=speed limit drop.


I drive home a lot of the time when she goes into work @ 8, so I come up with a lot of the workers going into Dubln.
You see it all
Overtake you just before the speed camera sign and continue to do 100 plus without a care in the world
Overtake you just before Dunsaughlin so they can go the same speed your doing, but they are a few feet ahead of you
Using the bus lane coming into Dunsaughlin and just after Fairyhouse to undercut you


As I always say if they are in that much of a rush or want to go fast pay the €1.40 or even learn the route or use a sat nav to bypass the tolls. That’s what I done/do!

SeanW

Iwannahurl wrote: »

The speed limit on this narrow two-way residential street in Galway City is 50 km/h. Same here. And here.

I don't suppose you'd care to point out any TOO LOW speed limits in Galway? City? County even? I suspect you'd rather choke than point out a too-low speed limit or even acknowledge that this is possible, anywhere.

Speed limits are under national review at present, and with luck, a bit of cop on and some leadership from elected representatives (for a change), speed limits throughout the country will be set according to rational and evidence-based criteria.

Translation from motorist-bashing lefty-newspeak to English wrote:

Speed limits are under national review at present, and I hope speed limits will be cut across the board and enforced with an iron rod. And that's only for starters

ironclaw

Solair wrote: »

You clearly haven't driven on some of the narrow, twisty, potholed "roads" they have in parts of rural Ireland signed up for 80 or 100.

I'm not saying people should drive ridiculously slowly, but you have to watch the road conditions too. There are definitely roads where if you hit 90% of the speed limit you'd end up losing a wheel, damaging your car, hitting oncoming traffic, going into a hedge etc etc

As regards my statement, a pinch of salt and common sense comes to mind.

Yes, I have driven such roads. Yes, I do it quite regularly. And yes your right that you have to slow down in places. What I was getting at more so was roads that are perfectly ok to take a the speed limit, given road conditions etc, and people hover over the brakes and take them at 50% of the limit. To me it just demonstrates a lack of ability in one's driving if your not comfortable at speed.

StudentDad

Ah now whacky speed limits aren't so bad. At least you know where they are and how long they last.

What really grinds my gears are the, 'now we're all doing 15kph, hug the white line, floor it if you try and overtake brigade.'

SD

scamalert

reminds me of one road when going towards n.ireland theres this old bridge with steep arch where barely two cars can pass and sign 100km/h just before it
as for speed limits on newer roads because of town council or whoever collects the fine,wants to make more money,by placing speed cams where people most likely would feel urge to accelerate or speed.In the same sense when m3 in co.meath was built they dropped speed on local n3 road to 80km/h from 100,to increase usage of new motorway,further more placing many new locations for speed cams,especially one where roads leave to kells as no one ever speeds down there,so recently they came up with more speed cam signs to place wan in less suspecting areas.

nice_guy80

a lot of roads have speed cameras on them because deaths occured there.
Fair enough

However, a lot of those blackspots have been upgraded but the speed cameras are still there.
Along with lower speed limits
Doesn't make sense

dr.fuzzenstein

StudentDad wrote: »

Ah now whacky speed limits aren't so bad. At least you know where they are and how long they last.

What really grinds my gears are the, 'now we're all doing 15kph, hug the white line, floor it if you try and overtake brigade.'

SD

The mistake most people make is to start overtaking too close behind the car.
That way the other guy has plenty of warning to floor it as soon as they see you indicate and pull over to the right.
What you want to do is to leave a good-sized gap, several car lenghts and when you see an opportunity, drop it a gear, floor it and by the time you buzz past them the speed difference is too great for them to do a damned thing about it, so all you will see is their furiously flashing full beams disappear rapidly into the distance.

dutopia

Basically, a lot of the 60s (straight town connecting roads) should be 80 and a lot of the 80s (Narrow, windy roads) should be 60s.

Solair

The one that *REALLY* annoys me is the people who drift up and down speed on perfectly straight, wide, safe motorway !

I usually put the cruise control on at 120km/h on the motorway and you'll always get some muppet who is doing about 100-120 drifting up and down speed. When passed at 120 they then speed up, pass you and drift back down to 110 or less as if they're insulted by being passed !!

I like to use the motorway efficiently at 120 when possible and those people wreck my head!

On a normal day I expect to be able to get from the end of the Glanmire Bypass to the Naas road at pretty much a solid 120 without touching the brakes other than in some kind of emergency / muppet problems.

One guy did that speed up, pass, slow down thing to me about 5 times on the M8 one day !!

scamalert

Solair wrote: »

One guy did that speed up, pass, slow down thing to me about 5 times on the M8 one day !!

Sounds like a muppet alright :rolleyes: but if its motorway is it not easier to just pick an empty lane or the one that moves faster and drift away,most people including myself if i was in the fast lane id always keep up with the speed otherwise if i see someone coming faster id feck off out of the way,before flashing starts

dr.fuzzenstein

scamalert wrote: »

Sounds like a muppet alright :rolleyes: but if its motorway is it not easier to just pick an empty lane or the one that moves faster and drift away,most people including myself if i was in the fast lane id always keep up with the speed otherwise if i see someone coming faster id feck off out of the way,before flashing starts

Which one would that be then?:p:cool:
Keep left unless overtaking!

Solair

scamalert wrote: »

Sounds like a muppet alright :rolleyes: but if its motorway is it not easier to just pick an empty lane or the one that moves faster and drift away,most people including myself if i was in the fast lane id always keep up with the speed otherwise if i see someone coming faster id feck off out of the way,before flashing starts

This was the sequence:

Doing 120km/h on a nice, calm, open motorway with nobody other than this one car ahead of me in the driving (right) lane.

He was doing 120km/h - but, kept drifting down to to lower speeds. I had cruise control on, so just passed him, and returned to the driving lane (right) ahead of him. Continued driving at 120km/h.

A few mins later, he speeds up, passes me.

Returns to the driving lane in front of me and slows back to about 100-110.

I passed him again..

He did it again

And so on!

I didn't want to drive at >120km/h and had no reason to, but he was trying to force me back down to whatever stupid speed he was driving at.

The guy was just suffering from some kind of bruised ego because he was being passed by a Prius (while driving a BMW) from what I can see.

In the end, I had to just put a good half km between him and me to avoid it repeating as it was getting seriously frustrating and a bit dangerous.

SeanW

Had a look at the Garda Go**** map locations, and found this, rather curious entry. The Condell Road between the end of the R445 (old N18 dual carriageway) and Limerick City proper has a 60kph limit and is marked in all red.

Here it is
https://maps.google.ie/?ll=52.668518,-8.673836&spn=0.009421,0.01929&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=52.668518,-8.673836&panoid=_f6Qk_JSckDBvmyWGW7UnQ&cbp=12,169.78,,0,6.76

as you can see it is a Wide Super 2 that is of very high quality and with extremely good visibility. Though I haven't been there it's clear to me that that road should be at least 80.

Since IWH posted on this thread (and he has a fetish for low speeds and speed limit enforcement) I would ask him to explain this deeply questionable limit but:

1. He has me on his "Ignore" list :rolleyes:
2. He wouldn't give a coherent answer anyway.

I have a short-ish laundry list of questionable limits:

1. The N4 from the end of the Motorway to the M50 junction, and the detrunked N4 from the M50 junction to St. Johns Road West, all of it should have its speed limit upped by 20kph, with a small cut on part of St. Johns Road West. Whereas at the moment you have:
   
   120kph on the Motorway
   80kph on the N4 between the Motorway and the M50
   60kph from the M50 to the far side of Palmerstown
   80kph on the Chapelizod Bypass
   60kph on Con Colbert Road
   60kph for part of St. Johns Road West. 50kph on the city end
   
   I would redo this to:
   120kph on the Motorway
   100kph on the N4 to the M50.
   80kph past the M50 and Palmerstown
   100kph on the Chapelizod Bypass
   80kph on Con Colbert Road
   50kph on ALL of St. Johns Road West.
   
2. The N3 (now R147?) as it crosses the M50 inbond, has a 30kph! limit despite being a grade separated dual carriagway. I did this by car in late night hours and found it safe to take it at twice that speed, possibly three times it or even a little more.
3. The N85 East of Ennis, Co. Clare. Has a 50kph limit throughout despite being a Type 1 Dual Carriageway. Should be 100
4. Various regional etc. roads around the town of Longford where the urban limit goes into the countryside. "Cruising" limits of 80kph should be established much further in.

There's another question that pops to mind - the N52 from Carrick Bridge to South of Dalystown in County Westmeath is marked as a speed enforcement zone, but the recent overhaul of that section of road to bring the route from the 19th to the 21st century is not reflected on the Google Maps. Does this mean that they're putting cameras on the old N52 (which would be admirable but kinda pointless given the likely lack of traffic on it) or the new N52 (which would be somewhat bizarre considering the roads super-high quality and no time for relevant accident data to be collected relating to it)?

ironclaw

scamalert wrote: »

Sounds like a muppet alright :rolleyes: but if its motorway is it not easier to just pick an empty lane or the one that moves faster and drift away,most people including myself if i was in the fast lane id always keep up with the speed otherwise if i see someone coming faster id feck off out of the way,before flashing starts

Do you drive (i.e. stay for longer than is necessary to overtake) in the fast lane right most lane?

SeanW

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Which one would that be then?:p:cool:
Keep left unless overtaking!

The overtaking lane can legally be used as a travelling lane when you're going faster than the traffic in the left lane.

Yawns

jeffk wrote: »

Only the other week I seen a new speed camera sign around the entrance to the hill of Tara.
Then while doing the speed limit, most of the traffic(including buses etc) are up your arse and dying to overtake you and then they ignore the speed camera signs.

What gets me is a road without a speed limit sign to be seen and its as straight as an arrow with a speed camera. Came out of the square in Tallght via the sat nav(only been there once before)down a long road(car places and factories either side, eventually brought me by the Luas onto the M50)with no speed signs and oh look a speed camera.

Your example here is terrible as that section of road has several speed limit signs. It's 50 from the the bypass to the roundabout past the square. So when you got onto that road, it would have been 60 once past the roundabout. More 60 speed limit signs along the way. Camera van is usually past the Nissan dealership.

DanWall

In Ireland the speed limits are so random that we need constant speed signs reassure us.
In the UK you know the speed limit by the road type even if you miss a speed sign