Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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199. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the anticipated timeline in relation to proposed speed limit reviews; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4891/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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A key objective of the Speed Limit Review was to align speed limits with the 'Safe System' approach to managing safety on the road network. The Safe System approach is a means of managing and developing the road network so that it is forgiving of human error and mitigates serious collisions by design. The commitment in the review is to implement the recommendations over a 2-year period, and noting the nature and complexity of the recommendations, it will be necessary to do so on a phased basis across that time.

The Road Traffic Bill 2024 was published on 25 January. This Bill will address speed limits, penalty points, and testing of drivers for drugs. In the case of speed limits, it will implement the central recommendations of the Speed Limit Review in relation to safer default speed limits. The default limits on national secondary roads will be reduced from 100km/h to 80km/h, on local roads from 80km/h to 60km/h, and on roads in built-up areas from 50km/h to 30km/h. Reducing speed has been fundamentally proven to significantly reduce the risk of death or serious injury in road collisions. The World Health Organisation has estimated that a 5% reduction in average speed could result in a 30% reduction in fatal collisions. Furthermore, the evidence shows that 50% of pedestrians struck by a vehicle travelling at 60km/h will be killed, compared to 29% of pedestrians struck by a vehicle travelling at 50km/h and 5% of pedestrians struck by a vehicle travelling at 30km/h.

In addition to the Bill, my Department has commenced work on updating the Guidelines for Managing Speed Limits in Ireland. The update will seek to address matters relating to the default speed limits in support of the Bill.

Although transition arrangements will be required, any work currently underway in relation to ongoing local authority reviews should continue where possible and where such proposals are consistent with the recommendations of the review.