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The ‘blanket reduction’ planned by Dublin City Council in the city’s speed limit to 30 km / h has been modified to allow speeds of 40 km / h on certain routes.
The amendment providing for council area committees to consider appropriate speed limits on major highways was approved by councilors Monday night. It will involve a new round of public consultations that will delay the introduction of reduced limits on key arterial routes until next year at the earliest.
The move is a blow to Dublin city administration plans to introduce a predetermined speed limit of 30km / h across the city.
Earlier this year, Dublin City Council said it planned to introduce a 30km / h limit in all residential areas by September. However, after the coronavirus outbreak, it was decided to extend the limit to almost all the main access roads to the city to “protect the largest number of pedestrians, cyclists and vulnerable road users” who access the city.
But at the council meeting Monday night, Cllr Naoise Ó Muirí (Fine Gael) said it was “just not realistic” to “introduce a blanket ban” at speeds above 30km / h on key routes like Collins Avenue, Griffith Avenue and Malahide Road. .
He said it was not tolerant of speeding, but on some roads outside the city canals, a 30 km / h limit was neither realistic nor practical.
He proposed an amendment that would make the issue of the local speed limit section on arterial roads decided by the relevant area council committees.
Ó Muirí was supported by Cllr Mary Freehill (Labor) who said that public transport would also be affected by a 30 km / h limit and said that commuters could not be expected to tolerate it. He said he supported taking more cars off the road, but “what we are seeing here is too much.” He said arterial roads through Harold’s Cross, Rathgar Road and Crumlin Road should not be subject to a 30 km / h limit.
Cllr Damian O’Farrell (Ind) said “40 is a good compromise.” He said local area committees were “in the best position” to decide on local boundaries. Cllr Anne Feeney said the amendment “makes sense.”
However, Green Councilor Donna Cooney said, “I know these roads, which are some of the most dangerous and I would not support this amendment.” She said Dublin buses “rarely” hit the speed limit on travel times.
Cllr Ó Muirí’s amendment was approved by 32 votes to 18.
Dublin City Council has already begun introducing public transport and pedestrian, cyclist and pedestrian priority measures under its ‘mobility intervention program’ designed to facilitate the reopening of the city after Covid-19 restrictions .
In June, the council said its proposal to reduce the speed limit was “in line with other European cities” that had taken similar measures “to protect the largest number of pedestrians, cyclists and vulnerable road users moving in these areas and on the roadway due to Covid-19 travel restrictions and social distancing requirements ”.
While the council had described these measures as temporary, the 30km / h restrictions were being proposed under the statutes, which would mean that they would remain in effect permanently, unless new statutes were introduced to rescind them.
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