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THIS MORNING BROUGHT news that Dublin City Council is to extend its 30 km/h speed limit in the city to nine further residential areas, Sandymount, Crumlin, and Glasnevin being just three.
Previously, the limit applied to the city centre area only, along with the northside suburb of Marino.
Reaction to the central speed limit was not universally positive when it was first introduced in 2013, while the AA has previously warned that certain improperly set, “needlessly low” limits, can damage the system as a whole, leading drivers to opt to break the limit rather than adhering to the law.
But is this something that affects you when driving in built-up areas?
We’re asking: Do you always obey urban speed limits?
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Any motorist saying they obey the speed limits is lying.
@Kal Ipers: Or have 8 points!
@Kal Ipers: Any any cyclist who says they never jump a red light, ride on the pavement, go past a “No Entry” sign on the road or go into pedestrianised areas is similarly lying.
Oh – and all happened on a 20 minute walk to work this morning.
I’m not a motorist btw.
@CeannairBlue: Boom! The cycle user blamed for motorists speeding yet again!
@Dub_Right: Oh fkuc off.
@CeannairBlue: I saw 5 cars break a no entry sign before I even got out of the garden. 40 odd cars all parked on the path which meant they all drove on the path. Interesting how motorists don’t accept their own actions
@Kal Ipers: where’s your garden? The Phoenix park ! Muppet …
@Nucky: No a Dublin suburb with a no left turn on to the road. I can see the cars turning from my garden as I am leaving. Gardai turn up a few days a month and catch them. Parking gets enforced about one a year
@Kal Ipers: A no left turn is not the same as a No Entry sign, you can still enter the junction but just by going straight or turning right onto it. Somebody doesn’t know their road signs
@Boeing Lover: They are still breaking the rules of the road that is all that matters. Usual selfish driver behaviour on selecting what rules apply to them.
@Kal Ipers: that maybe so but you showed your own ignorance not knowing what the correct signs mean, meaning you have most likely and are still as likely to break a road rule just like every other cyclist, motorcyclist and driver of any other vehicles on the roads.
@CeannairBlue: anywhere you see a 30KPH sign you’ll also see a speed van.
@Boeing Lover: LOL. how do you know the original poster was correctly calling the sign a no entry sign? Misnaming a sign doesn’t mean I don’t know any road rules. You aren’t allowed enter the road coming from the left or in common language no entry which is perfectly acceptable. Unless comment sections are now legal binding contracts.
@Kal Ipers: I try to do the 30kph thing – but not for the entire zone. Self driving cars are the only way we’ll have compliance
@CeannairBlue: I’ve recently become aware of the phenomenon of “walkists”. They constantly break red lights, walk on the road, walk around drunk late at night at the weekends, don’t wear “hi viz” or helmets; generally ignoring the rules of the road. It’s only a matter of time before one of these “walkists” causes a serious injury to someone.
@CeannairBlue: I’ve recently become aware of the phenomenon of “walkists”. They constantly break red lights, walk on the road, walk around drunk late at night at the weekends, don’t wear “hi viz” or helmets; generally ignoring the rules of the road. It’s only a matter of time before one of these “walkists” causes a serious injury to someone.
Driving at 30kph or 18mph is a joke. Tried it the other day and I spent more time checking my speedo than would have liked. It’s actually difficult to maintain such a low speed.
@Peter Cavey: maybe you need more driving lessons. It is a fairly basic competence.
@Cathal O’Neill: flash for cash move nothing to do with safety
@Cathal O’Neill: Maybe you could buy a car and try for yourself rather than trolling.
@Peter Cavey: I do own a car and find it very easy to drive at the speed limit. Like I said, it is a basic driver competence to control speed while keeping attention on the road. 30kph zones are very common across Europe.
It’s genuinely impossible to drive at the current speed limits in this country and get from point A to B in a sufficient time!! I mean we have a 50k speed limit on duel carriage ways Ireland.
@liam hayes: even if I take away the time factor it is impossible to drive at some speed limits without the person behind you driving too close or trying to overtake you.
@liam hayes: 50km on some dual carriageways yet 80km outside my house…which is a boreen with grass up the middle. Madness.
If you were to drive at 30km on some of Dublin city centre roads you’d have a lot of angry people behind you. The road layouts don’t lend themselves to low speed limits
@liam hayes: It is all estate agents fault, saying it will take 10 min from house in Rathfarnham to Stephens Green. Then if you buy the house you have to speed 90km to get to work on time.
@Barry Davidson: Let them overtake you.
I find it impossible to keep my car at 30k as the speed tends to creep up slowly unless I keep my eyes on the speedometer. If I keep my eyes there I may well miss a child who runs in front of me so going slower won’t prevent an accident. I really have tried to obey this new low limit but I find it difficult. Another point. There used to be a rule that a ‘repeat’ speed sign would be placed every 100m to remind the motorist of the limit they were in. I don’t see them any more. After some distance the limit may have changed but there is not always a speed sign to indicate this.
@John Hagin Meade: You control the car, speed doesnt creep up you are accelerating.
@John Hagin Meade: Nonsence
People should drive at a speed appropriate to the condition that present themselves. Doing 80kph in an 80kph zone but the road is the width of one car is crazy. Doing 100kph in an 80kph but the road is akin to a dual carriageway isn’t that bad. If you see kids in an area. Slow down. Common sense stuff, we don’t need to be nannied for everything.
@Joshua Walsh: I know right!! Sometimes people walk out in front of cars – It happens in every country in the world every single day. I don’t understand why motorists are penalised. Maybe an advertising campaign telling pedestrians to look up from their phones while walking in Dublin.
@Peter Cavey: don’t talk to me about people on there phones. If you walk across a street or housing estate entrance and don’t look up you deserve what you get I’m afraid. Everyone has a responsibility on the roads. Cyclists, pedestrian and motorist. Everyone has to play ball.
@Joshua Walsh:
And if that is a child that runs onto the road too chase a ball do they deserve what they get.
@Nick Allen:
*to
@Nick Allen: I remember my 1st driving lesson from almost 20 years ago. He said to me, what do you do if you see a ball on the road? You brake, cause in many instances, you will see a kid running out after it. It stuck with me and will stay with me forever.
@Joshua Walsh: sadly it seems that ‘common sense’ is the one thing thats sorely lacking both from drivers and indeed the planners in Ireland – it would be common sense to introduce 30km around all schools and residential areas – having it in areas like the quays is idiotic – the quays are congested so much anyways that speed is not an issue – are there any statistics to show that when they reduced the quays to 30kmh around 10 years ago that it made ANY difference to safety – my recollection was that everybody just ignored the new limits – in the name of progress cars are limited to horse drawn carriage speeds – and when there is any opportunity to try have a discussion examples of speed killing like idiotic drivers doing 100 in a 60 zone or crashing on poor country roads are rolled out – totally irrelevant to the traffic calming measures that are sensible around schools but actually create slower congestion around our badly planned and operated city.
@Joshua Walsh: Totally agree. There is a strip of road near me and I would say it’s not much wider than the average drive way and it’s 80km acommon sense isn’t so common however as there are some that travel at stupid speeds down it. As always the minority dictate how the majority are ruled.
What we really need here is to license pedestrians. Imagine the tax that would bring in!
Then we can look at mandatory training on how to use your knife and fork safely at dinner time.
@Random_paddy: you’re right pavement tolls as well
@Random_paddy: what,set up another quango? Irish Walker!
@Random_paddy:
I am already taxed as a pedestrian, they take a little over 51% of my salary every month!
@Nick Allen: you’re taxed on your earnings not for the paths you use, if thats the case my 42% tax should pay my road tax, fuel tax, home tax and any other tax I pay separately to my earnings.
Most of the time the limits are too low to respect
Speed limits should only be obeyed when they’re logical.
A vast amount of them don’t make sense at all. Too high in places where they should be slow, and too low in places where it’s perfectly safe (and probably safer) to go faster.
@The Thinker: When you kill a kid with your speeding you can offer this as your defence. You can also show them your degree in traffic management
@The Thinker: Garda to Mr. thethinker, so can you tell me why you were doing 100 in a 60 zone.. Ah sure you know Gard, the oul schpeed limit wasn’t logical ya kno…!
Try that next time and see how far you get…
Roads need to be engineered for the speed limit, i.e. Speed ramps, chicanes and speed cameras, otherwise everyone will ignore the signs..
What is with all the really slow speed limit zones in the 1St place? In Northern towns they have 40 & 50 MPH zones out of their towns while here we have 50 KPH zones going miles out of alot of towns surrounded only by fields nevermind any homes etc. There is damn all signs telling you if you are in a 50 or 60km/hr zone but plenty of camera speed vans signs so you ate blackmailed into doing 50 km everywhere to no risk camera speed vans. The speed vans should have a 10% tolerance for being 10% the same way as Gardai use common sense and discretion for doing 55 & 66 km/hr in those zones. Also camera vans need be not allowed be in slow down or speed up boundaries especially slowing from 100km/hr to 60km/hr zones.
I try but 30kph is ridiculous. A money making racket.
@Eamonn Sheen: Explain where the money is being made. They don’t enforce it enough for it to get revenue from fine. Maybe it is a safety measure like they say.
Speed limits are for Micras and Puntos.
Only time I follow the speed limit is when the car in front is a tractor.
My granny walks at aroud 36kmph and she has been dead for 2 years
I was a passage (ahem) in a Garda car going from a station to the courts and I heard the Gards saying how the current 30km limit was totally impractical!
Nope, honestly I ignore all the speed signs and drive accordingly to the conditions, match the general traffic speed or what I think is a safe speed. Most of the time it’s there or there abouts on the limit.
@Shane Kinsella: Drumcondra doesnt make sense, inside housing estates yes, but a 4 lane wide road is thick, 50km yea but 30km? We have way too many traffic lights in the city that dont manage the traffic properly, its not a smooth flow. Driver’s understandably get frustrated and stress makes people take chances. More roundabouts, less traffic lights and stick them on amber (yield) from 2am to 6 am, its ridiculous
I dont pay much attention to them, 20 years driving no accidents. No points.
I wonder how cyclists will avoid exceeding the limit, as most of them don’t have speedometers?
@Gary Rowe: Huge different to being hit by a bike at 60 – 80kg as opposed to a car at 1500kg+ and 30km is the speed by which injury from motor vehicles is drastically reduced. So therefore you must be referring to 50km of which would be a hard speed to maintain for majority of cyclists. Also would be more of a danger to themselves.
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