The Love 30 Campaign has made a submission on the Dublin City Non-Statutory public consultation on extending 30 km/h. The full submissions is attached.

We would encourage all our supporters to make submission here by the deadline on 23 April 2021. Dublin City Council has been to the forefront in introduction 30 km/h speed limits and It is important to show support for this.

Love 30 commends Dublin City Council on its efforts to introduce a default speed limit of 30 km/h on all roads in the Dublin City Council administrative area, except roads specifically listed in the bye-laws. We believe that the introduction of the default speed limit of 30 km/h will send a very clear message to all road users that Dublin City is a place where people, in particular pedestrians and cyclists, can move about safely and that motor vehicles must slow down and respect more vulnerable road users. We hope that other Local Authorities will follow the exemplary lead being given by Dublin City Council and will introduce default 30 km/h speed limits in all of their built-up areas.

Love 30 welcomes Dublin City Council’s revised proposals to secure a default 30 km/h speed limit in the City, hopes that a budget will be secured for appropriate traffic-calming measures, and that the new speed limits will be enforced effectively.

Default 30km/h Speed Limit

By introducing a default 30km/h speed limit, reduced from the original 50kph, Dublin City Council are ensuring that motorists are absolutely clear when they drive in Dublin City that, unless otherwise posted, the speed limit is 30km/h. This sends out a clear signal to all motorists to drive slowly and with care for other road users.

We are pleased to see that many of the distributor roads that were being retained at 50 km/h speed limits in the previous proposal now have 30 km/h speed limits proposed.

40km/h Proposals

We note the different approaches to some roads on the northside of the city where some councillors favour 30 km/h limits but others wish to have a 40 km/h speed limit. This is disappointing for a number of reasons. We do not accept that 40 km/h is an appropriate speed limit on Grace Park Road, where both roadway and footpath are quite narrow, and where there are a number of schools, including special schools. We believe that a 30 km/h limit would be more appropriate on this road.

Likewise, we believe that 40 km/h is inappropriate on Causeway Road. This is an amenity area leading to the conservation area on Bull Island and we believe that traffic-calming measures are needed so that traffic will be slowed to 30 km/h or less and that people will be encouraged to walk or cycle. Given the current levels of parking on the causeway, especially at weekends, while people walking are protected cycling has become more dangerous. Therefore, speed should be lowered to improve safety and there is no good rationale for increasing speeds to 40 km/h in this leisure area of vital biodiversity.

Another issue is the need for protected cycleways along the full route of Griffith Avenue, especially important for children given the number of schools in that vicinity.

Love 30 is of the view that it would be counter-productive to introduce a 30 km/h speed limit on Ballymun Road this road without very serious traffic calming measures, although lower speeds are very desirable because there are several schools and a special school on the road. A compromise could be a periodic 30 km/h but even this is unlikely to be achievable without very serious traffic-calming measures.

Traffic-Calming Measures

Love 30 is very pleased to see the emphasis in these proposals on achieving lower speed limits outside the greatest possible number of schools, while being disappointed that it may not be achieved on Griffith Avenue and Ballymun Road. As mentioned in our previous submission we believe that Dublin City Council should secure funding for implementation of traffic-calming measures that will encourage adherence to the 30 km/h limits.