SPEED limits on roads across Ireland are set to be reduced following the report of a government review published today.
The Speed Limit Review findings were revealed by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan TD and Minister of State Jack Chambers this morning.
The Department of Transport's review, which aimed to address the “fragmentation and inconsistency of speed limits on roads all over the country”, has resulted in a set of proposals being issued to improve safety on Ireland’s roads.
Key proposals include reducing the speed limit on national secondary roads from 100km/h to 80km/h, on local and rural roads from 80km/h to 60km/h and reducing the limit on urban roads - which include built up areas as well as housing estates and town centres - to 30km/h.
“Arterial roads and radial routes around urban settings would be able to remain at 50km/h," the report states, before confirming: “There are no proposed changes to the default speed limits on motorways, national primary roads or regional roads contained in the review.”
Explaining their guidance, the Department claims the increase in road deaths in recent years is a driving factor behind the need to reduce speeds.
“There has been a remarkable transformation in safety on Irish roads in recent decades,” they state.
“Between 1997 and 2021, the number of annual road deaths fell from 472 to 137.
“This reduction was achieved despite the number of vehicles on our roads increasing significantly in the same period.
“However, there has been an alarming increase in fatalities more recently,” they add.
“In the year to date, there have been 130 deaths on Irish roads – an increase of 25 compared with the same time last year. Every single death is a tragedy for the victims’ families, friends and community.
“Reducing speed has been fundamentally proven to significantly reduce the risk of death or serious injury in road collisions.”
The report comes just weeks after a number of devastating tragedies occurred on Irish roads.
Last month four friends were killed in Clonmel, Tipperary when the car they were travelling in flipped over in wet weather.
Elsewhere in the county that month, a couple and their young grandson died when their car was involved in a collision in Cashel.
“This report is being published at a critical time, when fatalities on Irish roads are increasing at an unacceptable rate and after a particularly painful period of time when we have lost too many young people and families who all set out on their journeys expecting to arrive safely,” Minister Ryan said today.
“The devastation and loss is being felt right across the country and we have to take action to make our roads safer and more predictable for everyone who uses them.
“We committed in the Programme for Government to review and, where appropriate, reduce speed limits to address road safety issues and ensure greater compliance.
“The implementation of the recommendations in this report will contribute to making Irish roads safer for all road users.”
The World Health Organisation estimates that a fiver per cent reduction in average speed could result in a 30 per cent reduction in fatal collisions.
Further evidence shows that 50 per cent of pedestrians struck by a vehicle travelling at 60km/h will be killed, compared to 29 per cent of pedestrians struck by a vehicle travelling at 50km/h and five per cent of pedestrians struck by a vehicle travelling at 30km/h.
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