Madam, – I warmly welcome the extension of the 30km/h speed limit area in Dublin city centre (Front page, February 1st).
It will make an immediate impact, creating a less threatening environment both for pedestrians and cyclists. This is precisely what the recently published National Cycle Policy Framework is about. As a cyclist, there is a striking difference between being passed at close quarters by a bus, truck or other motor vehicle travelling at 50km/h, as against a more constant, civilised and safer 30km/ph. As a citizen, I will want to spend more, not less, time in a calmer city centre.
What a pity the AA and Dublin City Business Association cannot acknowledge these facts.– Yours, etc,
Madam, – I was driving to work on Monday morning observing the new (ridiculous) 30km/h speed limit. As I was trickling along I was overtaken by a senior citizen on a motorised cart. Surely the law applies to these type of vehicles as well? We all have to get to where we are going, but please could Dublin City Council or Minister for Environment John Gormley do something to put an overall restriction on all motorised vehicles and not just against the usual offenders: petrol and diesel. Just because there is no road tax necessary on other vehicles, doesn’t mean that they can’t cause harm. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Now I know the nanny state has well and truly taken over.
First, I fully support the view that some parts of the city, and other places, require the 30km/h restriction. A few years ago I recommended such restriction, to the then chief superintendent, for parts of Dún Laoghaire town centre, for school precincts and for other places with which I would be very familiar where such a restriction would be in the best interests of road safety, for all the reasons indicated in the City Council’s decision.
When I hear the explanation for some of the reasons given for the decision – pedestrian and cyclist fatalities and motor accidents caused by speed – I begin to question the plan. In the absence of specific data that shows: 1. a breakdown of the number and type of fatalities; 2. the locations of same; and 3. the causes, I remain to be convinced that it is not based on some other reasoning, far removed from good traffic planning. I’m sure the public would like to see the maps that show the number of all road fatalities in the city, in addition to the numbers, and the cause, at each location.
As a some-time cyclist, aside from also being a motorist, I am acutely conscious of the blithe disregard of traffic lights shown by many cyclists, not to mention the fact that very few wear high visibility gear and that many do not use front or rear lights.
How many cyclists have been prosecuted in the past year?
The utter disregard for traffic lights shown by pedestrians is an indictment of public attitudes towards their own safety. How many pedestrians have been fined for jay-walking in the past year?
There are good and valid reasons for having speed restrictions in residential areas where the streets are narrow, where the carriageway is shared by children and the elderly pedestrians, cyclists and public transport alike, where the 50km/h is very decidedly too fast. We all know such areas.
What should be a welcome plan should not be mired in controversy before it is even operational. Back to the drawing board. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Lord Mayor of Dublin Emer Costello’s announcement (Home News, January 29th) of the expansion of Dublin city centre’s 30km/h limit raises an interesting scenario regarding enforcement.
Previously the areas concerned were essentially flat, but now we have two significant slopes, Christchurch/Dame Street and Parnell Square. Here even the most unfit cyclist could find themselves travelling well in excess of the new limit and in receipt of an €80 speeding fine. That’s bad enough, but it may even be worse.
What happens about the two mandatory penalty points? Will an offending cyclist who also holds a driving licence end up incurring penalty points even though he/she was not actually driving at the time? Clarification of this anomaly is urgent. – Yours, etc,