Sir, – In his letter of April 1st, “Combat soaring fuel prices with 30km/h speed limit”, Ola Løkken Nordrum makes a very important point about how speed limits have a role to play in helping people reduce the amount of money they spend on fuel.
It is important to note that significant fuel consumption reductions can be had if the Government were to decide to reduce our 100km/h speed limits to 80km/h and our 120km/h limits to 90km/h.
In its 2023 Speed Limit Review, the Department of Transport published a table comparing the emissions of different classes of vehicle at different speeds. The data showed that reducing speed limits from 50km/h to 30km/h would lead to an increase in emissions (and therefore fuel use) of between 15 per cent (small petrol cars) and 33 per cent (large HGVs).
On a more positive note, the data also showed that reducing 100km/h limits to 80km/h could reduce emissions/fuel use by between 5 per cent and 8 per cent, and reducing 120km/h limits to 90km/h could reduce emissions/fuel use by up to 25 per cent.
READ MORE
There is precedent for such a measure as, in 1974, the Fine Gael government introduced a 50mph speed limit as a fuel-saving measure during the first oil crisis, and in 1979 the Fianna Fáil government introduced a 55mph speed limit as a fuel-saving measure during the second oil crisis.
We can hope that the Government and Opposition parties will see the value of such a straightforward and proven measure as the 2026 oil crisis starts to bite. – Yours, etc,
STAN NANGLE
Tramore,
Co Waterford
