AA criticise reduced speed limit zones as ‘farcical’

The AA has described the proposal to extend 30 km/h zones across Dublin and some other urban areas as ‘farcical’, saying such limits ‘don’t fit the engineering of the road and undemine road safety.’ AA Director of Consumer Affairs Conor Faughnan says: ‘ This is clumsy and unnecessary and will do more harm than good for road safety. It is being sold as a road safety measure but it is not. ‘ The AA does support 30 km/h zones and Dublin City should have plenty of them, but when you use 30 it should be properly designed. It should be in sympathy with the engineering layout of the road and should be essentially self-policing. Instead, the Council have essentially coloured in the whole of the city centre.’ According to The AA, the behavior potentially encouraged by such speed limits would mean many drivers failing their driving test today.

‘It is of course true that when crashes happen at slower speeds they do less damage. If you have a choice between whether to be hit by a car at 30 km/h or to be hit at 50 km/h, it is absolutely clear that you would be far better off at the lower speed. There are plenty of studies that demonstrate this and I don’t know of a single sensible argument against it.

‘But that is not what is actually happening in Dublin or in our other urban environments. Most of the truly horrible crashes that hurt or kill people involve trucks or buses in collision with cyclists and pedestrians at speeds lower than 30 kmh, very often involving heavy vehicles turning left,’ said Conor.

‘ The RSA’s policy on 30 km/h limits is very much the same as the AA’s; they should be used extensively but they must be properly designed and engineered and they must be supported by the local community.’