2009-08-31 Dublin Cycling Campaign Submission on Speed Limit Review

Download a .pdf of the full Dublin City Speed Limit Review Submission by Dublin Cycling Campaign

Summary
Dublin Cycling Campaign would like to support the expansion of the number of streets with lower speed limits, as proposed in the revised bye-laws. While the streets involved tend to be both very busy with pedestrians and congested with traffic, we feel that there is much greater scope for lower speed limits throughout the city, even to make 30 km/h the default limit, with exceptions being made for certain roads.

It is well known that lower impact speeds result in fewer and less severe injuries (see Figure 1 below). Not only that, but higher speeds have the psychological impact of discouraging pedestrians & cyclists and encouraging the use of larger and heavier cars. This has wider implications for society in impairing social interaction on the street (causing isolation), effects on the balance of trade, health issues from lack of exercise and lack of passive supervision allowing crime to go undetected.

Figure 1: Impact severity (probability of death) versus speed Source: http://can.org.nz/canpolicy/speed-limits-for-urban-areas