Road safety in five south Westmeath towns and villages is to benefit from an extension of the speed limit territories within each of them, it was revealed this week (October 25 ).
The three-year review of speed limits within the county has seen four amendments suggested for Kilbeggan, three each for Dalystown and Mount Temple, and one each for Tyrrellspass and Streamstown.
These came to light at the most recent meeting of the Kilbeggan Area committee, when director of services Hugh O’Reilly explained to the four councillors how this review comes round every few years and “we’re at the start of the process”.
He explained how, once the engineering department had mapped out the new limits, and it was shown to the elected members, the plans went on public display for six weeks before coming back to the council for adoption.
The most contentious of the 12 suggestions was the one to change the 50kph limit at the two roundabouts at the M6 interchange south of Kilbeggan to 80kph, in line with NRA guidelines.
However, area engineer Pat Nally pointed out that “a speed limit is a limit, not a target”, and that he did not expect motorists to now increase their speed whilst negotiating these two roundabouts to 80kph.
“The NRA standard off a motorway is two step-downs [from 120kph to 80, then 80 to 50]. Coming off the motorway, and going from 120 to 50, people won’t do it,” he said.
He went on to explain some of the reasons behind the less contentious 50kph extensions, such as beyond the schools at Streamstown (100m ) and Dalystown (474m ), and for a further 200m past the entrance of the enterprise park on the Streamstown Road in Kilbeggan “to improve sight lines”.
He explained how the 120kph and 100kph on motorways and national routes were outside the remit of the local councils, and could only be amended by the NRA.
However, the county council had control over speed limits on regional, local, and built-up roads in the 80 to 50 kph range, and amended them with bye-laws under Section 9 of the Road Traffic Act 2004.
Mr Nally explained how his department had also informed the Gardaí, the NRA, and the Department of Transport of their amendments throughout the county.
All four members were in full agreement, and the proposal to review the speed limits was passed without quibble.
