Cavan Councillor John Paul Feeley addressing a motion on Road Signage at the January meeting of Cavan County Council that the Rules of the Road set out the requirements of the Road Traffic Act 2004 for Speed Limits.
‘This issue as raised at a meeting of the West Cavan Community Council where it was clearly understood by most of those present that the ‘Default’ National Speed limit is 80 kilometres per hour for all regional roads. Naturally, irrespective of the speed limit drivers must drive in accordance with the relevant road conditions,’ stated Councillor Feeley.
The RSA have set out five factors to consider when determining speed on roads. Driving Conditions, other road users, weather conditions and other possible hazards. Speed limits are the last criteria to consider set out in the Rules of the Road.
‘Signage can be important and the option is available to Councils to erect small reminder signs. The difficulties with that are that people tend to use the speed on signs as a target rather than a maximum speed,’ stated Councillor Feeley.
Referring to the issue of speed limits for Glangevlin, Councillor Feeley stated that he had raised this issue with the Council previously and that the Garda Siochana were of the view that there was no speeding problem in Glangevlin.
‘Thankfully there is no major issue with speeding in the Glangevlin area. The other issue is practicality. Glangevlin is a dispersed village with the Church, Parish Hall and the new football field some distance from the Glan Bar and McGovern Transports property and the Post Office and shop in another location. Village signs designated the area but the speed limits would be excessively large for a dispersed village. I have been assured by Derry Scanlon, Local Engineer that signs will be erected to reduce speed in the area and I look forward to them being put up in the near future,’ stated Feeley.