Mayo speed limit row is brewing
Councillors are set to oppose speed limit reductions on certain roads in the county.
Mayo councillors look set to oppose speed limit reductions on certain roads in the county.
A full debate on the issue will be heard at next month’s meeting of Mayo County Council.
Speed limits are to be reduced on a number of roads across the county following a national speed limit review by the Department of Transport.
While councillors accept that action needs to be taken to reduce the speed of drivers and the number of deaths on the roads, there are concerns that some of the measures being introduced are not suitable in all cases.
Fianna Fail’s Damien Ryan told the Western People that there will be pushback from councillors in some areas.
He said proposals to reduce the speed limit to 60km on some regional roads will create more problems than solutions.
“The carriageways are well able to take the speed and the only thing that’s changing those roads is the criteria where if you have more than 10 houses on a linear kilometre then they are destined to fail.
“When the document went for public consultation we were led to believe that we could make amendments afterwards but now we are being told that the legislation has been framed in such a way that now we can’t. That’s an erosion of our reserve function.
"If we reduce the speed on some of those roads were are going to create tailgating and further hazards. It’s going to make the roads more dangerous,” said Cllr Ryan.
He believes local knowledge is being ignored and a “one size fits all” approach is being taken.
“It’s going to drive the public mad, we are going to cause nothing but frustration on our roads, and we could end up making the situation far worse,” said Cllr Ryan.
"We need to look at the statistics on fatal accidents over the last five years and where they occurred. We are making a decision in a vacuum without the full facts as they pertain to our county," he added.
Default speed limits on national secondary roads will be cut from 100km/h to 80km/h, from 80km/h to 60km/h on rural or local roads, and from 50km/h to 30km/h on roads in built-up or urban areas.
