Reduction in speed limit on busy Carlow road making it ‘more dangerous’

The reduction in the speed limit on a busy Carlow road has only made it “more dangerous”, a local councillor has claimed.

Carlow County Council voted to reduce the speed limit on the N80 from 100km/h to 80km/h in November. The change came into effect on December 18.

Independent Ireland councillor John Cassin spoke on the subject at the council’s January plenary meeting.

Cllr Cassin said: “It doesn’t seem to be having the desired effect, ultimately. That’s really what’s happening.

“I would feel it’s certainly a little bit more dangerous now in the sense that people are taking more risks because cars are going slower.

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“It’s nearly almost impossible to do anything with but [...] is there going to be a review? Are we going to see how it’s working?

“How many extra people have been caught speeding on it? What are the statistics on it?”

In response, Coilín O’Reilly, Chief Executive of Carlow County Council, acknowledged that there has been a lot of talk about the change on social media.

He looked to quash claims that fatal accidents were only occurring at the Leagh Bends, located to the north east of Carlow Town.

Mr O’Reilly said: “The narrative that fatal accidents only happen at Leagh Bends is completely untrue.

“We’ve had fatal accidents away from Leagh Bends. We had 27 accidents last year on the N80 that our fire service was called to.

“That’s 27 that were serious enough for the fire service to be called to. Not to mention other accidents that are there.”

He said that the speed limit was reduced so that the impact of such accidents are reduced. He also argued that the impact on motorists’ time is minimal.

“The fact of the matter is the difference in 20km/h for the 34km or whatever it is through Carlow is four minutes. That’s the reality.

“There’s a lot of people that don’t like having to slow down. I get that, I’m fine with that. I don’t think it’s going to increase or decrease the number of fines.

“I don’t think that’s going to change dramatically but I do think we can certainly review it.”

The change in the speed limit was also brought up by Fine Gael councillor Fergal Browne, who enquired about the number of fines that have been issued.

Cllr Browne said: “Just in relation to the speed limit on the N80, I know it’s early days yet but I would like to know about the number of fines.

“If there’s a huge amount of fines for people doing 82km/h, I’d be worried. I’ve no qualms about some clown driving at 120km/h getting fined but I wonder if there is a review mechanism built in that we can look at some of the data on it.

“It would be interesting to know, not just the fines but the speeds of the [people getting] fines because that would be useful information.”

In response, Mr O’Reilly said that he saw a Garda speed van out on the road near Whitemills on two separate occasions recently.

He said that the council would not know what effect the change has had for about a year. However, he did not answer Cllr Browne’s specific question in relation to the fines being issued.

Mr O’Reilly went on to reassure councillors that the change will be reviewed at some stage, but not anytime soon.

He stated: “It will be a month on the 18th of January that we’re at it. We’re not a month at it yet.

“Let’s let it settle, let’s see where it goes, let’s not jump to the knee-jerk reaction that people don’t like it.

“That’s fine but I do think that we have to be really, really careful about the impact of those accidents. We will do a review at some stage but I’m not doing it 26 days into it.”

At this point, Cllr Cassin jumped back in and argued that some motorists are still overtaking other cars who are doing the speed limit.

He said: “I’m not against the reduction in speed and I can fully understand the rationale behind it and the reasons for it.

“I suppose the problem is people are still passing. I think six times in the two journeys I’ve done I was passed out.”

Mr O’Reilly responded by saying that whilst people are still breaking the speed limit, they are now doing so at a lesser speed.

He argued: “The people who were overtaking you at 110km/h when you were driving 100km/h, are now overtaking you at 90km/h when you’re driving at 80km/h.

“I think all in all, what we’re trying to do is reduce the general speed in the road to lessen the outcome of an impact, should it occur.

“So I would ask for a bit of patience. Let’s see where it goes in time and we will review it in six months. I think that’s fair to let it bed in and see where it goes.”

Fine Gael councillor Brian O’Donoghue said he agreed with Mr O’Reilly and reiterated his points around the small difference in journey times.

Meanwhile, his party colleague Ben Ward argued that the fatal crashes that have happened on the road had little to do with the speed limit.

Cllr Ward said: “I don’t accept that the fatal crashes on the N80 had anything to do with the speed limit.

“They had everything to do with speed but not the speed limit because those people, and we have the data, had already been breaking the speed limit.

“So clearly the speed limit was irrelevant in those things, so I don’t accept, and I didn’t vote for, the reduction in the speed limit.”

In response, Mr O’Reilly said he didn’t want to go into the details of fatal accidents. However, he said he was aware of some accidents that have occurred between drivers who were driving below the speed limit.

He concluded by reassuring Cllr Ward that he would privately outline the details of those accidents.

The ‘special speed limit’ on national secondary roads in Carlow were introduced following a consultation with An Garda Síochana and Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

In doing so, Carlow County Council exercised its powers conferred on it by Section 9 of the Road Traffic Act, 2004.