‘Legislation’ Archive

The AA is asking for help from the public to report badly set speed limits up and down the country.

Boreens with grass growing up the middle and an 80kph limit. Very safe major roads with triple and even four-lane carriageways but speed limits so low that you barely feel that you are moving. According to the AA, the setting of Irish speed limits has become a mess.

Speed limits are set legally by the local authority, not by central government. While speed limit categories are set out in road traffic law, which limit to apply on which road is a decision made locally. The problem is that some local authorities have done their job well, some have done it badly and some have not done it at all. The result is limits that have no consistency from one county to another, and many examples of dangerous, careless and just plain ridiculous local variations.

The N4 – an example of how not to do it…

The N4 is the national primary route from the M50 in Dublin to Sligo. At the Dublin end for a stretch it is four lanes wide with a solid centre divide to prevent cross-over accidents. It also has an 80kph speed limit. Regular users will know that as you approach from Sligo or Galway you are on a motorway for many miles at 120kph until suddenly the road doubles in width but the speed limit drops to 80kph.

Further west along that same national primary route in Co. Sligo the road is a narrow, winding single lane. There are ditches on either side lined with white crosses erected by local people marking spots where people have died. The speed limit on that lethal stretch is 100kph.

The AA has been arguing this issue with government literally for years, and now with the new government, have been promised meaningful co-operation at last. They have been asked to provide a list of bad speed limits nationally and have been promised that they will be supported when that list is presented to local authorities to fix.

They are asking all motorists to report bad speed limits to them directly. You can report a bad speed limit by emailing publicaffairs@aaireland.ie. The AA is asking for as much detail as possible, including a photo if available. They will be putting the best example up on the AA website and will pay €25 for every photo that is featured. To be fair, they are also asking for information on instances where the local council has done a good job, maybe by changing a limit or by assessing a road properly.

For further information, see www.aaireland.ie

Source: The AA, 08/02/2012

THOUSANDS OF Irish tourists who will take their car with them to France this summer will face fines unless they are carrying a breathalyser with them in their vehicle.

A new law is coming into operation before the start of the summer which will make it obligatory for all drivers in France to have an alcohol breathalyser with them at all times. It is the latest part of a clampdown on road deaths and accidents by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who last week announced the latest in a series of hard-hitting road safety measures.

In recent years legislation has been introduced forcing drivers to have a hi-visibility jacket within reach, along with an accident warning triangle. From the end of spring, all drivers in France will also now be required to carry the personal alcohol testers in their vehicles.

The breathalysers will become available at reasonable prices throughout France – some for as little as €2 – but Irish motorists could have to fork out as much as €50 if they buy them here before departing for France.
However, an award-winning road safety officer has said that while the new French law has some merit, he did not see a need for it here. Noel Gibbons, road safety officer with Mayo County Council, said the French were trying to promote a message of zero alcohol for drivers. “The French plan is a good one ideally, but there is no requirement for it here at all. We already are preaching the message that there is no safe limit to drive with drink in your system, so what use would carrying a breathalyser do?” he asked. “We don’t want people to be taking a chance if they are close to the legal limit, putting people’s lives at risk.”

France is the world’s largest tourist market – 78.95 million tourists visited there in 2010 – and visitors will need to take care when bringing their own cars to the country. An estimated 765,000 Irish people travel to France from Ireland each year. Anyone bringing their own transport and found in breach of the new French law faces a €17 fine.

The operator of one of Ireland’s biggest specialists in French camping holidays, Pearse Keller of Keller Travel in Ballinasloe, Co Galway, says holidaymakers will have to be fully aware of the implications.

“I suppose it will be up to us as travel agents to make sure our customers are made aware of the new rules of the road in France. Just like drivers have to carry a high-visibility vest and an accident triangle, they will now have to carry the breathalyser,” Mr Keller said. “While it appears it will not be an expensive item, it is one more thing that holidaymakers have to be aware of before leaving,” he pointed out. “But in fairness to the French administrators, they have made a concerted effort to reduce their accidents on the road. Going back 10 or 12 years they had huge numbers of road deaths, but the hard work in that department should be applauded. Anything that makes it safer for our holidaymakers is a positive thing,” he continued.

President Sarkozy’s latest manoeuvres come on the back of his 2007 pledge to cut road deaths in the country to 3,000 in 2012. Last year the death toll on French roads dipped below 4,000 for the first time, but is still a long way off target.

JOHN FALLON, The Irish Times, 30th Jan 2012

Motornet.ie, October 2011

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has rejected claims that a penalty points system introduced as part of a new crackdown on drink driving is a soft touch. The new regime, which is now in force, will give authorities a sliding scale to deal with offenders instead of mandatory court appearances. Mr Varadkar dismissed accusations that removing the automatic driving ban for first time lawbreakers was too lenient.

“It’s important that people don’t mistake this as being a soft touch,” he said. “It’s not, it’s actually getting a lot stricter.”

The new measures, which took effect at midnight on Thursday 27th October, will see the drink drive limit reduced from 50mg to 20mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood for specified drivers, which includes people who have been driving for less than two years and professional drivers. The limit for other drivers will be reduced from 80mg to 50mg.

If a motorist is caught driving over the limit but between 50mg and 80mg, and has not already been disqualified, they will be served with a fixed penalty notice, a fine and three points on their licence.

Motorists caught over the limit but between 80mg and 100mg will receive a fine and a six-month driving ban.

The specified drivers – learners, newly qualified and professional drivers – who are over the 20mg limit up to 80mg will be fined and disqualified for three months.

The old system would have seen offending drivers sent straight to court and if convicted of an offence, immediately stripped of their licence.

Minister Varadkar explained: “It’s a system of graduated penalties. If somebody is between 50mg and 80mg they’ll get penalty points. If they are above 80mg they’ll be banned from driving.”

By reducing alcohol limits to as low as 20mg for specified drivers, Mr Varadkar said the message was to encourage people not to drink at all if they intend to drive. “We want this to be a weekend in which nobody loses their lives,” he said.

“The evidence is that when limits are reduced in other jurisdictions, in Australia for example, there’s an 18% reduction in deaths associated with drink driving. So that could be another 11 or 12 lives saved this year.”

The Department of Transport, Road Safety Authority and An Garda Siochana worked together to develop the new measures.

Garda spokesman Chief Superintendent Aidan Reid warned roadside checks would increase – and not just at weekends, but through the week too.

He said: “The advice is never ever drink and drive. You’re either fit to drive or you’re not fit to drive. We’re asking people not to drink and drive and to slow down. Speed is still the number one issue in our roads.”

Drivers are also advised to carry their licence at all times. Anyone who fails to produce their licence when stopped will be automatically classed as a specified driver, whose alcohol limit is 20mg.