By Dan Walsh
Sections of the Road Traffic Act 2024 comes into effect today (Friday), February 7th. Local roads will see a reduction in speed limits from 80 km/h to 60 km/h.
WexfordLocal.com has been creating awareness around the new changes to rural roads speed limits this week and there has been public reaction, which is always welcome!
Barrister and former County Councillor for the Gorey-Kilmuckridge district, Andrew Bolger believes that these changes won’t be seismic. “What comes next after this initial step is what motorists should really take notice of.”
“Is speeding normally enforced on a local or rural road? Probably not. There can’t be a Guard on every corner, nor should there be. It’s just not practical.”
Mr. Bolger believes that many motorists will find themselves charged with speeding when they honestly believed they were within the speed limit.“I would imagine that there will be a number of challenges brought before the District Court on the basis of incorrect signage on the road or in circumstances where people use an App which tells them the speed limit, and that limit may now be wrong. People are bound to make an honest mistake; should they be punished for it?”
Later this year, on national secondary roads, speed limits will decrease from 100 km/h to 80 km/h. Mr. Bolger believes this is where most of the issues will arise. “There seems to be more enforcement on these roads, and I think local authorities really need to ramp up their communication campaign about what speed limits will be changing. Councils can increase the speed limit back to its original limit if they feel this is necessary, and I suspect the local engineers’ inboxes will be bursting at the seams once the speed limits drop.
“When the motorways opened in County Wexford, some roads had a speed limit reduction applied to them. It was like shooting fish in a barrel for a GoSafe van. I suspect these changes will be no different.”
These changes are happening against the backdrop of a significant number of road deaths in Ireland. “Perhaps this is the dramatic change of the speed limits that will bring down the number of road deaths. I hope it does, and I think it can, eventually. However, there are bound to be people caught out with speeding fines and penalty points when it was never their intention to speed,” concluded Mr. Bolger.
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