What are people's reactions to today's proposed speed limit changes?

macraignil

I am all for appropriate speed limits to be in force on the roads. To be honest I see the current limits on the roads I drive on to be fairly good with maybe one junction that could have a mandatory reduced speed section introduced due to the spot being a known place for recurrent accidents. Other roads I regularly drive on have already had speed limit reductions.

The experiences I have had on the roads that look to be the most dangerous to me have been getting over taken by an impatient driver who is not content to stay driving at the existing limit and overtakes at points on the road where is not safe to do so. This has happened in both directions for me when at other times I have seen an oncoming driver overtaking and on my side of the road meaning I have had to slow to avoid a head on collision. I'm afraid these new blanket speed limit reductions will make these overtaking events even more of a problem and would much prefer to see a targeted approach to have speed limits reduced at specific sections of road which are known to be dangerous. Any one else have any observations to make on the proposed changes?

Damien360

Some of it makes sense. How many times have you come to what amounts to a boreen with a 80kmph limit on it. You wouldn't safely do 30 on it.

But, equally there are perfectly safe and large roads with nonsense low limits on it.

It should be 30 in town centres where you expect pedestrians, not 50.

As for dangerous sections of road, why don't we fix that instead of putting a black spot on a sign, a speedvan and a lower limit.

Road signage is hidden by trees and not cleaned on junctions at all here but across the border that is regularly done.

I drive for a living and sometimes very slow drivers are a genuine danger to themselves and others. In another world would be appropriate. You could argue maybe everyone should do 30kmph on a 100 and we would all be safe but that's simply not feasible no matter how you look at it.

They're a good start, more needed

magicbastarder

thread in the roads forum here:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058312485/gov-plans-to-reduce-speed-limits

Wibbs

It's the usual current government's global kneejerk on the back of current events hoping to use said events to make it look like We're Actually Doing Something(tm), handily deflecting attention away from many areas where We're Actually Doing Sweet Fúck All(tm). Forget an actual look at the stats, or real solutions for the thankfully rare tragedies that still happen. & always will. The curtain twitchers, sandal wearing bedwetters and bicycle seat sniffers will love it because they're a simple folk and as such simple kneejerks appeal, so that's what's left of the Green party vote, but it's not going to do a damn thing to stop the tragedies of teens hopped up on goofballs wrapping a car around a tree at 3 AM on a country road, or the "single vehicle accidents" in the same wee hours, nor change the lack of enforcement for the pretty comprehensive laws already on the books.

NIMAN

I just hope it's not a blanket change for every 100km/h or 80km/h Road in the country.

I heard today that local councils can still leave them unchanged.

On my commute I spend a lot of time on an 80km/h road, then move on to a 100km/h road. To drive them 20km/h slower would be way too slow for the quality of road that they are.

I appreciate that these changes are aimed at some tiny backroads that have 80km/h limits on them, so hopefully common sense will prevail.

1874

Agree with some posters here, dangerous overtaking by impatient drivers, will be worsened, more so than it is already. I'm inclined to think some recent crashes had to have had aspects of excessively high speed and poor decisions at bad locations, where a reduced speed limit might benefit, but to blanket reduce speed limits regardless of location just shows what anyone with an ounce of sense can see, makes it look like something is actually being done, when the only thing being done is likely worsening existing problems, no enforcement for the careless overtaking impatient maniacs,improving roads & signage,correcting inappropriate speed limits on bohereens for sure,but with existing enforcement, this just pushes more people into breaking limits when they become impractical and you end up holding up traffic and become a hazard following them. Knee jerk from the idiots making this decision, collect more revenue and get to think its working when nothing actually changes.

mazdamiatamx5

Clearly and obviously, virtue signalling nonsense. And that's speaking as a regular cyclist who currently doesn't even own a car.

Knee jerk bs, I can only assume the parents of the unfortunate kids that died in Tipp recently are from wealthy F/FG backgrounds, if four young people died in a car crash in Ballymun the establishment wouldn't give a b.ollocks.

mazdamiatamx5

Wibbs on the ball, as usual.

What is interesting and somewhat sinister is that that the media reportage, immediately, was along the lines of "very dangerous junction, something needs to be done, appalling tragedy, won't someone please think of the children, if you havent signed the book of condolences youre a bad person" lines etc. no mention of drugs, alcohol etc. There's a class war aspect to the reporting that is disturbing. If four kids from Finglas died in a car smash, you can guarantee that the media would be telling us that one of the deceased was 'known to Gardai' etc. And there certainly wouldn't be any changes in government policy as a result.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121078920#Comment_121078920

I'm pretty sure the family where the grandparents and child died were travellers actually, hardly wealthy FG diehards

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121078924#Comment_121078924

His

The curtain twitchers, sandal wearing bedwetters and bicycle seat sniffers will love it because they're a simple folk and as such simple kneejerks appeal, so that's what's left of the Green party vote

Is kinda funny. Because there has been a near universal reaction that the change will be meaningless because there's no suggestion that Garda numbers will be increased to actually enforce any change. But he clearly wanted a little pop.

TedBundysDriver

Green party driven claptrap. They want to make it virtually impossible for people to drive. I don't buy the "it's too save lives" nonsense at all tbh. Road deaths have been coming down consistently over the last 20 years or so.

magicbastarder

Green party driven claptrap. 

The proposals will shortly be brought to Cabinet by Minister of State for road safety Jack Chambers

Has Jack chambers jumped ship?

dvdman1

I don't understand how a number on a metal sign will save any lives. The proliferation of 50 signs hasn't made any difference...The culture and the person at the wheel is ultimately the thing that needs influencing and changing...

A professional campaign of adds e.g. children walking between parked cars... reversing in car parks without checking in a rush. The amount of children I've seen with no child seat or an improper one is astonishing.

Why isn't road safety or driving an optional subject at school, this would be a game changer

This would have more weight

magicbastarder

How would they teach driving at school? The cost would be beyond eye watering.

Kimbot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121079014#Comment_121079014

I think they are referring to the crash a few days before that one in clonmel where they were going out to celebrate their leaving results.

Ash.J.Williams

I guess the engineers reports of those recent tragedies will never be released and those fatalities are all our faults

whisky_galore

Completely useless without enforcement. Window dressing.

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121079144#Comment_121079144

I guess if people were at fault those reports would never be released either, out of sensitivity or "victim blaming" even if the victim were to blame.

magicbastarder

i saw on twitter earlier that the number of gardai in cork city is 24 lower than it was in 2019. and numbers are continuing to decline (with an upswing in the pipeline if this is to be believed, but not as much as had been hoped)

https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/2023/07/04/garda-numbers-continue-to-decline-as-resignations-and-retirements-accelerate/

niallb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121079035#Comment_121079035

Well, he's not steering it!

magicbastarder

the two ministers who are most visible in the last few days on this issue are helen mcentee, and jack chambers. so both FF and FG are puppets, with their strings being pulled by eamon ryan.

meanwhile, green party activists are left confused again, wondering 'how can people accuse us of being so ineffectual yet be able to wield such power at the same time?'

downtheroad

Waste of time with zero enforcement. The high profile car crashes lately have all been in rural areas. Will Dublin speed limits now be changed?

There is a 60kmh speed limit on the N32 in Dublin, what is effectively a dual carriageway from Northern Cross to the M50. Country bohreens with grass growing in the road have speed limits of 80kmh. Moronic.

magicbastarder

there was a measure introduced 7 years ago to allow county councils to address the issue of 80km/h signs on boreens. but it seems to be an example of another measure they're not making use of:

https://assets.gov.ie/34749/59cea27176234ae38ebe38d24d1b8082.pdf

"This created situations where a speed limit of 80 km/h was displayed on many roads where it wasn’t safe to drive at that speed. This sign seeks to remove the visual ‘target’"

mazdamiatamx5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121079196#Comment_121079196

I think not so much puppets as cowards.

Baba Yaga

yeah speed is a bit of a factor but theres quite a few fcukwits driving our roads and in my opinion thats a major cause of crashes,we all see it every day,cutting into lanes at the last second,passing on bends,hill crests etc,phone use is off the charts,running red lights,i could go on all day...whats badly needed is a garda presence,not just on the roads but every where else too and all the time,not just for a few days after something happens.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121079028#Comment_121079028

sandal wearing bedwetters and seat sniffers. that's pretty pathetic.

Stephen_Maturin

Voted for the Greens last two elections - had so much hope. They’d a strong mandate to bring Ireland into the 21st century for energy, production, revamp our public transport system and begin restoring our native forests.

Instead they’ve focused on pearl clutching nanny state measures and importing people for whom we’ve no accommodation.

They've shown themselves to be a bunch of out of touch pussies. Won’t vote for them again.

On a separate note Jack Chambers is unimaginative ventriloquist’s puppet cut from the usual FF cloth of “I can’t possibly think of any solutions or even understand the issue so we’ll ban or curtail that unnecessarily harshly.” Micháel will be immensely proud to see his teachings carried on.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121078504#Comment_121078504

"Some of it makes sense. How many times have you come to what amounts to a boreen with a 80kmph limit on it. You wouldn't safely do 30 on it."

That is completely irrelevant. People in general don't drive at 80kph on such 'boreens'. They take it handy and use their sense to adapt their speed. I live in a rural area and speed limits as such aren't even a passing thought as you drive expecting someone to appear round the bend coming up or that someone may pull out of a field.

There will always be the very odd idiot, who is going too quick but a) they soon learn, get a kick up the ass or a fright and slow down or b) they're the sort who couldn't give a crap about anyone, likely uninsured etc and banned off the road already.

DarkJager21

Absolute kneejerk horseshit as usual, accidents happen and people die - that's life. Making commutes for everyone across the country even more of a pain in the balls is not going to stop accidents - accidents happen, that's life.

And to add to this, maybe they'd be better off cutting back on this "biodiversity" shite they do every summer of letting hedges overgrow all over the place. Some of the most dangerous country roads are made even more dangerous for the sake of a few bees, **** ridiculous.

amacca

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121078504#Comment_121078504

I'd largely agree with that and I think its just another knee jerk reaction press release to get the PR and be seen to be doing something

And that something is more than likely whatever is the easiest thing to do that looks like the issue is bring tackled and you can have a press conference about.