NEW speed limits for local roads come into place this Friday, February 7th, with speeds being reduced from 80km/h to 60km/h, but one West Cork councillor has warned that the next tranche of speed reductions – on national secondary roads – will be more problematic.
Speaking to The Southern Star, Cllr Finbarr Harrington (Ind) said the reduction of speeds on local (‘L’) roads may not have a massive impact for most areas.
‘However, I am worried about the next tranche of speed measures, which would see the speeds on national secondary routes reduced from 100km/h to 80km/h.
‘It makes absolutely no sense and I don’t think they have thought it through properly,’ said Cllr Harrington.
‘They said they will reduce the speed on these [national] roads to 80km/h and leave regional roads alone. This will have a huge impact on transport costs, deliveries and even for tourism, and people travelling on the N71 would have to drive at 80km/h.’
He added that it will affect people in West Cork more as it will take people longer if they have to travel to Cork city for meetings or hospital appointments.
‘This measure will only create huge frustration among motorists, who might take even more risks and it will do nothing from a road safety point of view,’ he claimed.
Cllr Harrington plans to raise the issue at the next full Council meeting and will call on the Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien to maintain the national secondary routes at 100km/h.
About 30 locations across the county, mostly in North Cork, are exempt from the new reduced speed for local roads due to meeting certain engineering criteria, but none are in the West Cork Municipal District apart from just one – the L-3201 in the Bandon Kinsale Municipal District – which will remain at 80km/h.
Cork County Council has received grants from the Department of Transport to change the new speed limit signs on all relevant local roads ahead of February 7th.
