Drivers who break new limits face points, fine

MOTORISTS WHO break Dublin city centre’s new 30km/h speed limit will face two penalty points and a €80 fine.

They will be treated no differently to other motorists, according to a spokesman for the Department of Transport, who added that motorists who try to appeal a speeding conviction for driving over 30km/h risk getting four penalty points on their licence.

The bylaws came into effect on Sunday and are contained in the Dublin City Council Special Speed Limit bylaws 2009, which were passed by councillors last year.

Four years ago the city council and other Dublin local authorities were left embarrassed when hundreds of speeding fines were thrown out because the bylaw was not published in Iris Oifigiúil.

Traffic gardaí from a mobile Gatso unit were out yesterday morning enforcing the new speed limits on the quays into Dublin.

The new limit applies to all roads within an area extending from Bolton Street on the northside to Kevin Street Lower and St Stephen’s Green on the southside, and from Church Street and Bridge Street in the west to Gardiner Street, Tara Street and Dawson Street in the east.

The zone includes national roads such as O’Connell Street, Dame Street and the North and South Quays between Church Street and Tara Street.

The council maintains the new limits will make it safer for pedestrians and cyclists because of the significant decrease in the risk of death or serious injury at 30km/h.

Dublin City Councillor Andrew Montague, who championed the extension of the lower limit to new areas including much of the city quays, said the council was hoping that traffic light sequencing there and in other parts of the city would be a better way of enforcement than speeding fines.

The sequence of traffic light will be timed for motorists driving at 30km/h. Those who drive faster will find themselves stuck at lights.

“It is early days yet and we may not see the benefit of this for several years. The main change of the sequencing is on the quays because that is where people get up their speeds,” he said.

The new limits are proving unpopular with motorists, judging by the comments left on the AA website this morning, which attracted nearly 300 respondents with a ratio of three to one against.

One said it was “just another scheme for the gardaí to make money by sitting along the quays and pouncing on someone doing 35km/h”. Another said: “It is just to support the speeding fine industry. It will not be well signposted, I bet.” One motorist said the “outlandish slow speed limits do nothing for road safety. In reality they cause frustration, annoyance and certainly damage to environment by having more idling cars in traffic jams.”

Dublin Bus said it was too early to ascertain if the new limits will have any effect on its routes.