Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, when the Road Safety Authority does its various surveys on driver acceptability of speeding, it is very high, and a significant percentage of drivers openly admit to speeding when they are anonymously surveyed. It is unfortunately socially acceptable to many. For many drivers who are compliant, the speed limit is often the target rather than being aware of the wider environment. By setting a safer default baseline, many people will comply and that will help to reduce overall speeds on roads. Yes, there will be a cohort of our population to whom speeding is acceptable, and they need to be targeted through improved enforcement. I am not for one minute denying that strengthened enforcement can play a key role in this. We have a technology group with the National Transport Authority and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. People will be aware of technological interventions that have been used elsewhere to improve compliance, and there is work progressing on that as well. The default baseline will make it more consistent and will ensure safer speed limits. In rural Fingal there are certain country roads that have limits set at 80 km/h. If you go at 80 km/h on those roads, which some drivers target, you will be in a ditch. This is about setting the baseline at 60 km/h, which is safer for a cyclist or a pedestrian on the road. It is just to have a safer baseline for everybody, and I think it will save lives. We know that if someone is hit by a vehicle in an urban area, at 30 km/h 90% survive and as the speed increases the chances of survival radically reduce. That is the whole evidence base behind what we are trying to do.