Dramatic speed limit changes on way on Westmeath roads

Dramatic changes are on the way for motorists in Westmeath, with an agreement by the County Council this week to slash speed limits across over 1900 kms of local roads across the county to 60 kph - and to drop it to 30 kph in built up areas.

There was unanimous approval for the proposals introduced by the council executive, with some members calling also for increased fines and enforcement on the roads in a bid to lower death rates and keep the roads safer.

The council decision means that from the end of November the current default speed limit of 80 kph for rural local roads defaults to 60 kph. In the first half of next year the current 50 kph default speed limit in urban areas reduces to 30 kph and the current 100 kph limit on national secondary roads defaults to 80 kph.

While councillors had the option of introducing by-laws to retain current limits on certain roads they were not interested in considering this option and instead opted for a blanket reduction in speed limits – but they do still have a week to make appeals over individual roads if they wish.

Neil Egerton, executive engineer in the county council’s transportation section, explained that as well as addressing the road safety question, the reduction in speed limits is intended to help lower Ireland's carbon emissions. Approximately seven out of every ten fatal accidents in 2023 took place on rural roads.

Senior engineer Damien Grennan told the meeting that as things stand, 85% of the 1914 km of rural local roads in Westmeath have a speed limit of 80 km an hour.

“Under this default, all of those roads will be reduced down to 60 kph. We want to get speed down. It reduces the number of fatal accidents. It reduces the number of fatal collisions. It reduces the severity of injuries and the unfortunate follow up on these things,” Mr Grennan said.

He added that it was the council's recommendation that all of the local rural roads go with the new default speed limit. But he pointed out that that decision was the responsibility of the members. He said the review on national roads is going to happen towards the latter end of this year and the executive will be returning to the members early next year with proposals on those roads.

Councillor Tom Farrell said he wondered how the system would work across county boundaries and pointed to the N55 which has an 80 kph limit between Athlone and Tang and 100 kph between Tang and Ballymahon.

Responding to the query about differences across county boundaries, Mr Grennan said that there does need to be continuity, but the new guidelines are quite robust and quite clear, which should mean everyone ends up in alignment going forward.

A welcome for the changes came from Councillor Vinnie McCormack. “Another issue that needed to be tackled,” Cllr McCormack said, was that of driver distraction principally brought about through mobile phone use.

“Maybe a bit of pressure needs to be brought to bear on some of the technology companies to put in place measures that would reduce mobile phone usage while driving,” he said.

Continuing, he said he was keen to see speed in urban areas tackled, particularly as someone who lives in a village with a particularly bad speeding problem (Ballymore).

“It's a good initiative,” Cllr Frankie Keena said before going on to enquire what would happen with tertiary roads and cul-de-sacs. Cllr John Dolan said that the first thing to consider was personal responsibility. He said that the quality of road was also a factor but he was of the view that enforcement would be most important.

Cllr Aengus O’Rourke questioned whether the move would be effective if it were not backed up with proper sanctions: “I'd start with sanctions first, a complete review of sanctions,” he said.

Cllr Paul Hogan expressed concern about the levels of speed by drivers in some housing estates as well as on narrow rural roads. However, while welcoming the changes, one urban change that he was unsure of was that requiring a drop in speed along the entire 4.2km stretch from Cornamaddy to Golden Island.

Cllr Kevin Boxer Moran said children at school should learn about the dangers of speed. It was simply not possible to have enough gardaí to prevent the carnage that was taking place on the roads, he said. It was also not good practice to inadequately maintain roads, he said.