Minister Ryan launches Speed Limit Appeals Process and New Shared Space Signage

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan TD has today launched a Speed Limit Appeals Procedure which allows members of the public to object and appeal existing speed limits contained within a Local Authority’s current Speed Limit Bye-laws. This new process will highlight certain speed limits which are considered inappropriate and require investigation.

The Speed Limits Appeals Procedure is intended to facilitate a legitimate query a member of the public or interested party may have regarding a particular speed limit. It is also intended to speed up the process of reviewing speed limit queries raised between full Local Authority speed limit reviews which are normally carried out every five years.

The process includes an initial appeal application to the relevant Local Authority Panel who will review the application (at no cost) followed by an escalation of the appeal to an Independent Regional Panel (administration fee of €125), should the applicant not accept the decision of the Local Authority Panel.

All speed limit appeals will be reviewed in accordance with the Guidelines for Setting and Managing Speed Limits in Ireland (Speed Limit Guidelines). If a speed limit is deemed to not be set in accordance with the Speed Limit Guidelines, the Local Authority will notify the applicant and begin the process of rectifying the speed limit. The statutory power to adopt speed limit bye-laws will remain with the Elected Members of Local Authorities on roads in their administrative area.

Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan TD said: “The Programme for Government committed to reviewing and reducing speed limits with a view to addressing both road safety issues and carbon emissions and ensuring greater compliance. This process will highlight speed limits that are deemed inappropriate, and which require further investigation. It is important to note however that this is not a mechanism for appealing penalties issued for speeding offences.”

Minister Ryan also announced further measures designed to reduce the dominance of motor vehicles in areas shared by pedestrians and cyclists. New Shared Space Signage will be introduced to alert road users that the area they are approaching and entering is a low-speed shared ‘public realm’ space in an urban environment with speed limits of 30km/h or 20km/h only. This space is where pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles share the main carriageway.

Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton TD said: “The shared space signage highlight to drivers that the area they are entering is a shared space and they should react by driving very slowly so that pedestrians feel that they can move freely anywhere. The signs will play an important part in enhancing road safety in these areas and ensure that pedestrians are prioritised.”

The Speed Limit Appeal Process is live from 3rd December 2021 and further information is available at: www.speedlimits.ie/appeals

Notes to the Editors

Shared Space Signage

• New Shared Space Signage is being introduced to alert road users that the environment they are approaching will be substantially different to normal built-up areas.

• Shared Space signs can be erected in urban low speed environments of 30km/h or 20km/h only and where pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles share the main carriageway and where the space is enhanced as a public realm area. Full details of these types of designs/projects are outlined in the Design Manual for Urban Roads and Streets (see www.dmurs.ie.)

• The various shared space signage signs shown above are to be used in specific instances or locations only. They are NOT to be used to supplement a standard 30 km/h Special Speed Limit where the public realm has not been enhanced to facilitate vulnerable road users. Local Authorities will be asked to remove these signs in these cases.

• The signs are introduced to highlight the Shared Space/Public Realm/DMURS projects that are increasingly more popular. A key condition in the design of the shared spaces public realm is that drivers, upon entering the street, recognise that they are in a shared space and react by driving very slowly so that pedestrians feel that they can move freely anywhere and where cyclists and drivers should feel they are a guest.

• It is also introduced to reinforce the need for a reduced speed limit in these areas and as such these signs, at vehicular entry points, can only be erected when the speed limit is reduced by Local Authority Special Speed Limit Bye-laws to 30km/h or 20km/h.

• Particular consideration should also be given to the requirement that if the Shared Space is only available for certain times of the day, a 20 km/h speed limit MUST apply. A typical example of this would be a pedestrianised area like Grafton Street or Henry Street in Dublin which is mainly a pedestrianised area but sees vehicular traffic in the form of deliveries and street cleaning at certain times (see 'the Guidelines'and Chapter 4 of the Traffic Signs Manual.)