The Dublin Cycling Campaign, together with Cyclist.ie, strongly support the introduction of widespread 30Kp/h zones in the city, particularly in residential streets and in the vicinity of schools. In fact we are calling for 30Kp/h to be the default speed limit in urban areas, with higher speed only allowed where they are shown to be safe.

There is an increasing body of evidence showing that 30Kp/h zones can dramatically reduce accident rates. In London streets, imposing 20mph (32km/h) speed limits has cut road injuries by 40%, and was particularly useful in saving young children from death and injury, according to researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Also in the UK, the Grundy study, published in the British Medical Journal, found a reduction to a 20mph (32km/h) limit led to a 40 per cent fall in casualties and collisions over a 20-year period to 2006

30Kp/h is the norm for many of our European neighbours (2,150 such zones in England; widespread use in Scotland, and many cities: London; Munich; Utrecht; Stuttgart; Barcelona; Graz; Freiburg; Ghent).

And safety is not the only benefit of lower speed limits: they also lead to less emissions, less noise pollution (since most emissions and traffic noise are caused when accelerating or decelerating), and greater fuel efficiency.

Check out the Cyclist.ie speed limits fact sheet for details of more research supporting lower speed limits.

The Dublin Cycling Campaign is also supporting a European Citizen’s Initiative calling for “a 30km/h (20mph) EU-wide default speed limit for urban/residential areas. Local authorities may set other speed limits if they can show how environmental and safety needs of the most vulnerable road users are met.”