Changeover to metric limits went 'beautifully'

The Republic's changeover to metric speed limits was managed "beautifully" the AA said yesterday.

The AA added however that the changeover was just "one part of a process which now has to continue with a review of speed limits throughout the State."

The National Safety Council also said the changeover had been "smooth" with "attention focused on speed limits in a way that we have not seen before".

The Garda said it had manned checkpoints as usual yesterday, but apart from confirming that penalty point notices had been issued, said it would not be in a position for a few weeks to say whether they were above-average in numbers.

Commenting on the changeover, the Minister for the Environment Mr Dick Roche who has responsibility for non-national roads, said he was writing to all local authorities to ask them to review the limits of roads in their areas.

Criticism, where it was levelled, appeared to focus on inappropriate speed limits which the AA spokesman Mr Conor Faughnan said could not be blamed on the changeover, but on "old mistakes being perpetuated by translation.

"In that respect a golden opportunity to review limits had been missed" he said.

"Whether it is outside schools where the limit is too high, or on major roads where the limit is too low, inappropriate speed limits bring the whole system into disrepute" he said.

But Mr Faughnan added that "full credit" must go to the local authorities which had erected almost 60,000 new road signs. "We have heard of the odd m.p.h. sign remaining in Belmullet [Co Mayo] and Ferbane [Co Offaly] but that's all" he said. For the National Safety Council, Mr Eddie Shaw said the transition had been "successful and smooth". He agreed with the AA that the "only issues" raised related to the speed limits which people wanted to see changed.

But he said this had focused attention on speed "in a way not seen before and was leading to "community involvement and ownership of speed limits."

Mr Shaw also described the publicity campaign as successful rather than over-hyped.

"I would see this in the way that the media handled the Y2K issue. People asked 'what was all the fuss, nothing happened' but in fact 'nothing happened because of all the fuss' and that is a good thing", said Mr Shaw.

Both the AA and the National Safety Council said motorists should remember there are just four main speed limits.

They are 120 km/h on motorways which equates to 75 miles per hour; 100 km/h for national roads which equates to 62 m.p.h.; 80 km/h on regional and local roads which equates to 50 m.p.h.; and 50 km/h which equates to 31 m.p.h.

The Garda said "no special licence" was being given to anybody because of the changeover and drivers should be aware that it was up to themselves to be familiar with the new system.

Garda speed detection units had been out on many of the major approach roads to Dublin and other cities, and the garda had enough speed detectors calibrated in kilometres to manage normal duty, according to a spokesman.

The Garda Press Office said it would be "a few weeks" before individual fines worked through the system, so they did not know whether in fact an abnormally high number of tickets for speeding was issued yesterday.