Advertisement
Please note that it is not permitted to have referral links posted in your signature. Keep these links contained in the appropriate forum. Thank you.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2055940817/signature-rules
Help Keep Boards Alive. Support us by going ad free today. See here: https://subscriptions.boards.ie/.
https://www.boards.ie/group/1878-subscribers-forum

Private Group for paid up members of Boards.ie. Join the club.
Hi all, please see this major site announcement: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058427594/boards-ie-2026

Irish Motorway Speed Limits should be Increased.

2456789

Comments

  • #32
    jock101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 685 ✭✭✭jock101


    130 on all Motorways ( excluding passing large urban areas )
    NO, the motorway speed limits should be reduced to 80km/h, to save fuel and to increase safety for emergency braking and overtaking. 120km/h is to fast for Irish drivers.


  • #33
    Mimikyu
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,045 ✭✭✭✭Mimikyu


    This post has been deleted.


  • #34
    unkel
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 60,766 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    pippip wrote: »
    The above lists most motorways speeds, doesn't seem that anyone else thinks 160kph is safe.

    Never mind 160. In Germany you can do 320km/h safely and legally...

    "Make no mistake. The days of the internal combustion engine are definitely numbered" - Quentin Willson, 1997



  • #35
    pippip
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,246 ✭✭✭pippip


    130 on all Motorways ( excluding passing large urban areas )
    unkel wrote: »
    Never mind 160. In Germany you can do 320km/h safely and legally...

    Is that why they are reducing the length of the autobahns?


  • #36
    Cookie_Monster
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 24,740 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    150 on all Motorways ( excluding passing large urban areas )
    jock101 wrote: »
    NO, the motorway speed limits should be reduced to 80km/h, to save fuel and to increase safety for emergency braking and overtaking. 120km/h is to fast for Irish drivers.

    why only for Irish drivers?


  • Advertisement
  • #37
    Mr Ed
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 128 ✭✭Mr Ed


    German autobahn's are what is needed. Advisory speeds of 130kmh but no limits


  • #38
    jock101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 685 ✭✭✭jock101


    130 on all Motorways ( excluding passing large urban areas )
    Cookie_Monster wrote: »
    why only for Irish drivers?

    Because most are dangerous and incompetent. Thanks to practically zero enforcement!:(


  • #39
    bigswede12
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20 ✭bigswede12


    Saab Ed wrote: »
    This should produce wonderfull debate but im of the opinion that the motorway speed limit should be increased to 160 kmh.

    Firstly: The current limit of 120 is just too low. They're motorways for God sake. Is it really possible that a modern car driving on a modern , safer motorway can only legally drive at 20kmh faster than on one of our older national routes . Nonsense I say.

    Secondly: I'd only allow this limit in the outher most lane- be it two lane or three lane - so that the inside lane/s would remain at 120kmh. This would have the benefit of decreasing your journey time and maybe , just maybe put an end to the plague that is the citizen speed police who refuse to move over at 120 kmh based on the fact that they are at the limit and nobody is getting past.

    And last : Breaking the limit of 160 kmh would be severly dealth with i.e 6 points on a licence etc. The reverse would also apply where by if you block the over taking lane/s its a 2 point offence staright away.

    Now obviously this couldnt apply to all M-ways in Ireland i.e the M50 etc etc , they're just too congested , but on one of our new roads to the South and the West it could be perfectly safe and acceptable to travel like this.


    Opinions please ....

    So more people get killed great ideaicon12.gif


  • #40
    challengemaster
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,925 ✭✭✭✭challengemaster


    jock101 wrote: »
    NO, the motorway speed limits should be reduced to 80km/h, to save fuel and to increase safety for emergency braking and overtaking. 120km/h is to fast for Irish drivers.

    Have you the reactions of a 95 year old with Parkinson's or what? People doing 80km/h all the time is more of an annoyance on the roads, causes more problems than anything.


  • #41
    jock101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 685 ✭✭✭jock101


    130 on all Motorways ( excluding passing large urban areas )
    Mr Ed wrote: »
    German autobahn's are what is needed. Advisory speeds of 130kmh but no limits

    For the German mentality, I can only imagine the paddywhackery we would see on the roads if Autobahn rules where applied here. Anyway the Limitless Autobahn sections, are soon to be restricted. So a German friend has told me.


  • Advertisement
  • #42
    ottostreet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,986 ✭✭✭ottostreet


    jock101 wrote: »
    NO, the motorway speed limits should be reduced to 80km/h, to save fuel and to increase safety for emergency braking and overtaking. 120km/h is to fast for Irish drivers.


    oh god no you're back.
    pity theres not really anything reportable in that post.


    I'm happy enough with current motorway speed limits, but only because I stick to 110 most of the time anyway, simply because my car eats petrol once i go over 3.5k rpm. But I wouldn't see any problem with 140kph. 160kph might be a bit much, as while most modern decent cars will handle it (Im talking the likes of BMWs with 2.5 litre+ engines, mercs, audis etc.) but I wouldn't fancy having a 1.2 Mazda 3 doing 100mph beside me.

    I think 140 would be grand myself. As for 'saving fuel', well that should be up to the driver really. What if he doesn't give a damn about saving fuel, jock101? I personally want to, cos it'd cost me 15 quid just to get to dublin if i did 120, while its about ten if i keep at 110. But if I was a little wealthier, I wouldn't give a damn about saving fuel!


  • #43
    peasant
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,789 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    unkel wrote: »
    In Germany you can do 320km/h safely and legally...

    Legally, yes ...safely, not so much really.

    You can only do insane speeds safely when the motorway is virtually empty.
    As the amount of traffic increases, the chance of someone doing something stupid increases with it ...so you have to slow down.

    In a country where the majority of drivers drives stupidly right from the start, increasing the speed limit is not a good idea.


  • #44
    randylonghorn
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,509 ✭✭✭✭randylonghorn


    jock101 wrote: »
    120km/h is to fast for Irish drivers.
    For some Irish drivers perhaps, but then some Irish drivers probably shouldn't be let loose with a shopping trolley! Same is probably true of most countries.

    There are lots of drivers out there more than capable of handling 120 and more on an appropriate road.

    While it would be a nightmare to enforce, I often think that there is a strong *theoretical* argument for rating drivers and applying speed limits accordingly.


  • #45
    Prabhu Deva
    Closed Accounts Posts: 74 ✭✭Prabhu Deva


    Seriously what is it with people in this forum just clamoring for new rules and regulation? is it a revolt against the old easygoing Irish past or does nobody at all feel their existence is justified if there is nobody telling them what to do and how to do it?


  • #46
    unkel
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 60,766 ✭✭✭✭unkel


    peasant wrote: »
    Legally, yes ...safely, not so much really.

    You can only do insane speeds safely when the motorway is virtually empty.
    As the amount of traffic increases, the chance of someone doing something stupid increases with it ...so you have to slow down.

    In a country where the majority of drivers drives stupidly right from the start, increasing the speed limit is not a good idea.

    I couldn't agree more. Some people just seem to be obsessed by a certain speed limit and everything above that is extremely dangerous. I say not so. I'd drive at high speeds sometimes in this country but only when the motorway is completely empty (both lanes). When there is traffic going below 100km/h or so in the driving lane, I rarely exceed the speed limit.
    bigswede12 wrote: »
    So more people get killed great ideaicon12.gif

    Fatal accidents on motorways are very rare. But this seems hard for some people to comprehend. People drive fast on motorways, so surely it is more dangerous? Eh, no it isn't. Driving like a maniac (but possibly within the speed limit) on a country road is dangerous.

    "Make no mistake. The days of the internal combustion engine are definitely numbered" - Quentin Willson, 1997



  • #47
    shedweller
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,023 ✭✭✭shedweller


    130 on all Motorways ( excluding passing large urban areas )
    Apart from the increased potential for accidents at higher speeds, what about running costs? How long will a set of tyres last when driven at 140kph+ and how much fuel does a car drink at those speeds?
    The government will be laughing at all the extra money coming into their pockets from all the extra fuel taxes. Maybe it will be enough to stop them from gouging us with more "levies" and income tax increases.
    So i say bring it on. Remove the limit altogether.


  • #48
    dr.fuzzenstein
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,575 ✭✭✭✭dr.fuzzenstein


    Prabhu Deva wrote: »
    Seriously what is it with people in this forum just clamoring for new rules and regulation? is it a revolt against the old easygoing Irish past or does nobody at all feel their existence is justified if there is nobody telling them what to do and how to do it?

    It's the current generation I'm very sad to say.
    The previous generation had to get up at 6 am, draw water from the well, chop wood for the fire and collect eggs for breakfast.
    Then there was the 10 mile walk to school, they only got shoes for secondary school.
    Then come home, muck out the stables, cook the dinner and whitewash the house.
    Go to bed at 12 and start the whole thing again.
    When this generation found wealth and had kids they said "This is not going to happen to my little Johnny/Sinead!"
    So kids are now looked after by a nanny, driven to school (one by one of course), picked back up and brought to tennis/ballet/gym/whatever, then they come home and it's playstation, big meal prepared by mummy or the chef and then some homework.
    These kids are driven everywhere, everything is done and decided for them, they have to do nothing except to obey rules all day.
    So the next generation will be unsociable, nitpicking, rule obsessed, nerdy and completely unable to function outside the framework that they had imposed on them form an early age.
    While these kids would be able to write a 50 page essay on why a certain speed limit should apply to a certain kind of road without ever having seen it, if you dumped them off somewhere without their i-phone they would starve to death because they are about as self reliant as a new born.
    I'm thinking about moving to Russia, where there is a certain relaxed attitude to drinking, smoking and driving in a reckless manner and men are men, but only with a gun!
    Here, it's too much hoity, stick it up your toity, namby, excuse me for breathing out co2, pamby, oh I don't know this could be dangerous, we need legislation for that, I think I'm going to be sick...


  • #49
    coolbeans
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,178 ✭✭✭coolbeans


    140 on all Motorways ( excluding passing large urban areas )
    dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »
    It's the current generation I'm very sad to say.
    The previous generation had to get up at 6 am, draw water from the well, chop wood for the fire and collect eggs for breakfast.
    Then there was the 10 mile walk to school, they only got shoes for secondary school.
    Then come home, muck out the stables, cook the dinner and whitewash the house.
    Go to bed at 12 and start the whole thing again.
    When this generation found wealth and had kids they said "This is not going to happen to my little Johnny/Sinead!"
    So kids are now looked after by a nanny, driven to school (one by one of course), picked back up and brought to tennis/ballet/gym/whatever, then they come home and it's playstation, big meal prepared by mummy or the chef and then some homework.
    These kids are driven everywhere, everything is done and decided for them, they have to do nothing except to obey rules all day.
    So the next generation will be unsociable, nitpicking, rule obsessed, nerdy and completely unable to function outside the framework that they had imposed on them form an early age.
    While these kids would be able to write a 50 page essay on why a certain speed limit should apply to a certain kind of road without ever having seen it, if you dumped them off somewhere without their i-phone they would starve to death because they are about as self reliant as a new born.
    I'm thinking about moving to Russia, where there is a certain relaxed attitude to drinking, smoking and driving in a reckless manner and men are men, but only with a gun!
    Here, it's too much hoity, stick it up your toity, namby, excuse me for breathing out co2, pamby, oh I don't know this could be dangerous, we need legislation for that, I think I'm going to be sick...

    What the **** are you talking about?!


  • #50
    Saab Ed
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,372 ✭✭✭Saab Ed


    bigswede12 wrote: »
    So more people get killed great ideaicon12.gif


    Thats just stupid , bloody stupid. What an ignorant thing to say. I cant say that when I put up the original post that I was going to be suprised to read something like that but really where is your head!!!

    People dont get killed on Motorways , they get killed on back roads , because of drunks , because of poor education , because of a multiple of reasons but not because of driving at what would be a relative safe speed on a M-Way. You clearly have no idea what the real problems are on Irish reasons and thast where the problem is.

    Come out of the dark ages will you for God sake :(


  • #51
    conneem-TT
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 437 ✭✭conneem-TT


    I think the current limit is fine any faster and it would not be safe but not down to the reason of the extra speed but due to the people you often meet on motorways here. You get a learners driving license here and are not allowed on a motorway, you do a test that does not examine your motorway behaviour and are then allowed to drive on one :rolleyes:

    Raising it to 140km/h would not really save that much time off journeys anyway.

    People in this country are too fixated on speed limits and "speeding", from the RSA statistics the vast majority of accidents where people are injured or killed do not have exceeding the legal speed limit as a contributory factor. It is not like a switch that if you go over the speed limit = killer, for example the road outside my house has an 80km/h limit however for I'd say one mile either side of my house there is not one piece of the road it would be safe to go over 65km/h.


  • Advertisement
  • #52
    challengemaster
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,925 ✭✭✭✭challengemaster


    conneem-TT wrote: »
    from the RSA statistics
    If you believe those, you'll believe anything


  • #53
    conneem-TT
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 437 ✭✭conneem-TT


    challengemaster wrote: »
    If you believe those, you'll believe anything

    I just used them because they are the only ones available and often spouted for justification of their campaign's :)


  • #54
    L1011
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 75,483 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »
    It's the current generation I'm very sad to say.
    The previous generation had to get up at 6 am, draw water from the well, chop wood for the fire and collect eggs for breakfast.
    Then there was the 10 mile walk to school, they only got shoes for secondary school.
    Then come home, muck out the stables, cook the dinner and whitewash the house.
    Go to bed at 12 and start the whole thing again.
    .


    How did I wake up in a Monty Python sketch without realising it?


  • #55
    galwaytt
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,734 ✭✭✭✭galwaytt


    160 on all Motorways ( excluding passing large urban areas )
    jock101 wrote: »
    NO, the motorway speed limits should be reduced to 80km/h, to save fuel and to increase safety for emergency braking and overtaking. 120km/h is to fast for Irish drivers.
    Complete and utter fiction. Motorways are statistically the safest roads to be on. And imagine, they're the fastest as well. Wow, surely not a coincidence ?
    pippip wrote: »
    Is that why they are reducing the length of the autobahns?
    o/t, but er, has Germany shrunk ? :p;)
    bigswede12 wrote: »
    So more people get killed great ideaicon12.gif
    Not according to the 'wonderful' RSA.......speed only a factor in 9%, so, basically, you're spouting nonsense.
    shedweller wrote: »
    Apart from the increased potential for accidents at higher speeds, what about running costs? How long will a set of tyres last when driven at 140kph+ and how much fuel does a car drink at those speeds?
    The government will be laughing at all the extra money coming into their pockets from all the extra fuel taxes. Maybe it will be enough to stop them from gouging us with more "levies" and income tax increases.
    So i say bring it on. Remove the limit altogether.
    Read my posts: no connection between speed on motorways and accidents, other than that there are FEWER accidents.
    The other stuff - hey, knock ourselves out !
    conneem-TT wrote: »
    I think the current limit is fine any faster and it would not be safe but not down to the reason of the extra speed but due to the people you often meet on motorways here. You get a learners driving license here and are not allowed on a motorway, you do a test that does not examine your motorway behaviour and are then allowed to drive on one :rolleyes:

    Raising it to 140km/h would not really save that much time off journeys anyway.

    People in this country are too fixated on speed limits and "speeding", from the RSA statistics the vast majority of accidents where people are injured or killed do not have exceeding the legal speed limit as a contributory factor. It is not like a switch that if you go over the speed limit = killer, for example the road outside my house has an 80km/h limit however for I'd say one mile either side of my house there is not one piece of the road it would be safe to go over 65km/h.
    Hallelujah !!
    challengemaster wrote: »
    If you believe those, you'll believe anything
    conneem-TT wrote: »
    I just used them because they are the only ones available and often spouted for justification of their campaign's :)
    Hey, if Gaybo says so, it must be true !! :rolleyes:

    Ode To The Motorist

    “And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, generates funds to the exchequer. You don't want to acknowledge that as truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at the Green Party, you want me on that road, you need me on that road. We use words like freedom, enjoyment, sport and community. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent instilling those values in our families and loved ones. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the tax revenue and the very freedom to spend it that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a bus pass and get the ********* ********* off the road” 



  • #56
    D_murph
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 773 ✭✭✭D_murph


    150 on all Motorways ( excluding passing large urban areas )
    jock101 wrote: »
    NO, the motorway speed limits should be reduced to 80km/h, to save fuel and to increase safety for emergency braking and overtaking. 120km/h is to fast for Irish drivers.

    I'm an Irish driver and I have no problem with it and more even :confused:. Speak for yourself :rolleyes:.
    ottostreet wrote: »
    oh god no you're back.
    pity theres not really anything reportable in that post.

    Technically, there is. Trolling is the tenth on the list in here...

    http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055037358

    .. and we must have enough of these posts from him by now to qualify ;).


    I knew someone would come up with something like this though. There seems to be a mentality on this forum at times (from many others as well) that "if I cant do it safely, then nobody else can and then so they shouldn't be allowed to either" :rolleyes:.

    I only dread to think of how bad these people are at driving in general or at the very least, what kind of s***boxes of cars they drive if they think 120 KMH is too fast to drive on a motorway, fuel economy aside of course.

    If the car passes the NCT, then it must be fit for Irish roads and speed limits or it would not be passed in the first place.

    Well, that's the theory anyway..;)

    My opinion is that 130-140 would be a safe limit on the newer roads in this country such as the M7/8 etc, but it wouldn't be long before some clown came along and ruined it for us all so its not likely to happen :(.


  • #57
    Berty
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,197 ✭✭✭✭Berty


    I drive my car to the prevailing conditions whether they be other cars, weather, being tired etc etc.


  • #58
    PaulKK
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,263 ✭✭✭PaulKK


    I think I would be in favour of a speed limit increase to about 140kmph for inter city motorways (M8, M7, M6, M4 etc), because I agree with the comments about Irish drivers not being able to handle 160kmph.

    I see too much crap everyday with drivers not being able to manage roundabouts properly etc to allow us to drive any faster. We also need to remember that most on here are some bit car enthusiasts, and so are more likely to have decent tyres etc, and cars generally in better nick than the average joe, and so more confident of travelling at higher limits.


    I've had experience of journeys at 160kmph on the motorway, and in fairness you really need to be super concentrating even more than normal, if you got a blowout or anything you are up shit creek.


    Oh and people forget that a lot of cars can handle high speed pretty economically, mine is at 2k revs and 50mpg in 6th at 115kmph, so I'm sure 140kmph or so wouldn't see a huge difference.


  • #59
    L1011
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 75,483 ✭✭✭✭L1011


    PaulKK wrote: »


    I've had experience of journeys at 160kmph on the motorway, and in fairness you really need to be super concentrating even more than normal, if you got a blowout or anything you are up shit creek.

    If you've a blowout at 120 in the outside lane, you're in the exact same trouble.

    However, I've never seen a passenger car get a blowout on a motorway, ever. Trucks, repeatedly...


  • #60
    Mr.David
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,703 ✭✭✭Mr.David


    PaulKK wrote: »

    Oh and people forget that a lot of cars can handle high speed pretty economically, mine is at 2k revs and 50mpg in 6th at 115kmph, so I'm sure 140kmph or so wouldn't see a huge difference.

    Thats the thing....it would make a big difference. Its not a linear relationship i.e. 10% speed increase does not equal 10% fuel increase. The energy required is proportional to the square of the velocity so fuel comsumption increases rapidly at higher speeds.


  • Advertisement
  • #61
    kippy
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,853 ✭✭✭✭kippy


    160 is a tad on the dangerous side all things considered.
    Very few in this country have any motorway driving practical training and none have ANY "Speed" training whatsoever as most driving test areas (and hence lessons) are in built up areas.
    Also, theres only one country in the EU that I can see that has a limit more than that or even close to it and that is Germany, which is very much the exception to the rules across the EU.
    120 actually appears to be the standard on most with some at 130.

    I would advocate better driver training and better rules of the road enforcement, than increasing the speed limits to be honest.


Advertisement
Advertisement