30kph speed limit to be introduced in Galway City estates
Speed limits of 30 kilometres per hour (under 19mph) are set to become a reality in city estates across the city before the end of the year.
The Road Traffic Special Speed Limit City Bye-Laws will be going through the public consultation process until July 12 next, with the changes likely to be sanctioned by the City Council at their October meeting.
The city is the latest in a series of cities and towns across the country who are now empowered to introduce the 30kph speed limits, following changes in the law over the past 18 months.
Uinsinn Finn, Senior Engineer with Galway City Council, said that the speed limits would apply to what were known as ‘home zones’ or ‘slow zones’ in all housing estates across the city.
“The Draft Bye-Laws and the maps will be on display at City Hall until July 12 and then a report will be brought back to the Transportation SPC (Strategic Policy Committee).
“The report will then come back before a full meeting of the City Council, probably in October, and once it’s passed there, the signs [speed limit] can go up in the different estates across the city,” said Uinsinn Finn.
He said that the new speed limits had been introduced across many towns across Galway and were designed to ensure that estates in towns and cities were safer for local residents and families.
The speed limits will apply to all estates across the city although in cases they many not apply where there is a through or distributor road, not close to houses.
Opposition to the new speed limits in Dublin came from the AA (Automobile Association) who argued in a submission that such low speed limits could, instead of improving road safety, actually lead to making roads more dangerous.
Surveys in Dublin have indicated a low level of compliance with the new speed limits with 90% of drivers, in cases, exceeding the 30kph restriction.
The 30kph speed limit law change was introduced following the recommendation of an inquest jury into the death of a six-year-old boy, Jake Brennan, in 2014, after being hit by a car, as he played close to his home at an estate in Kilkenny city.
Now known as ‘Jake’s Law’, the dead boy’s parents – Christopher and Roseanne Brennan – pressed for the law change that was passed through the Oireachtas via a Sinn Fein Bill that was unopposed in early 2015.