Absurd new speed limit will infuriate motorists, says AA
Friday January 29 2010
A NEW 'go-slow' zone across the capital has been dismissed as "absurd".
AA Ireland has heavily criticised plans to put in place a 30kph speed limit in the centre of Dublin from next Monday, saying motorists will be frustrated for no reason.
Dublin city councillors voted in favour of the new measures last October in an attempt to cut road deaths.
The new zone will extend from Bolton Street to Kevin Street and include St Stephen's Green, Gardiner Street, Dame Street and Dawson Street.
However, Conor Faughnan said the new restrictions would infuriate careful motorists.
"There is just no sense in this," Mr Faughnan said. "30kph zones work when they are engineered properly, in traffic-calmed areas where they are self policing.
"But applying them en masse on roads that are engineered for high volumes at flowing speeds is absurd."
The low speed limit was introduced in the 2004 Road Traffic Act for the switch to metric units, said Mr Faughnan. It was intended for use in specific areas such as where there were a lot of pedestrians, and not in a large area, he said.
Last night, a spokesman for Dublin City Council said the local authority had "implemented what had been voted on by the councillors".
Labour councillor Andrew Montague rejected the complaints by the AA, saying the average speed in the city is 13kph.
"Getting to 30kph will be quite a bonus for most people. I don't think they will feel really restricted in not being able to get to 50kph because they don't get to 50kph anyway."
The council said it was not anticipated that travel times would be affected.
- Shane Hickey
Irish Independent
