Members of the public urged to have say on proposed Cork city speed limit changes

Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy has said that Cork City Council is now progressing Phase 2 of the proposed speed limit changes, the implementation of built-up and urban area speed limits.

Douglas-based Mr McCarthy said the 30 km/h speed limits have already been implemented on many urban roads in Cork city over the past number of years, particularly in housing estates supported by funding from the Department of Transport.

This phase of speed limit changes will build on this positive work and proposes to introduce further 30km/h speed limits as follows: all housing estate roads, residential streets, roads adjacent to schools, roads in the urban area where there is 'significant and regular interaction with vulnerable road users.'

Mr McCarthy has welcomed the public consultation open at present: “One of the largest number of messages I get from constituents is around speeding in neighbourhoods from Douglas, Ballinlough to Rochestown in the built up areas.

“Speeding is not confined to this area either. It is rampant across the city. And some built up suburban areas have 30km/hr zones and some don’t. It is known that lower speeds improve road safety, particularly vulnerable users. Risk of death or serious injury is lower - 30km/h vs 50km/hr. Effective speed limits also need to be credible, self-regulating, and regarded as appropriate by road users.

“Enforcement will be an issue to raise with Gardai on the monitoring of the speed limits. I look forward to engaging with the outcome of the public consultation.”

Observations, submissions on the draft by-laws may be made either electronically via the Cork City Council Online Consultation Portal at https://consult.corkcity.ie/ (which hosts maps of proposed changes) or in writing to the Senior Executive Engineer, Traffic Regulation and Safety Section, Room 339, City Hall, Cork, T12 T997.

Any submissions must be made before 5pm on Monday next, September 21.