Waterford motorists urged to slow down ahead of speed limit changes

Motorists throughout County Waterford are being reminded that the speed limit on rural roads will be reduced from 80km/h to 60km/h on Friday, February 7.

A spokesperson for Waterford City & County Council, commenting on the matter to Waterford News & Star and waterford-news.ie said the speed limit changes will apply to all of Waterford’s rural local roads, outside of urban centres.

The changes are part of the, ‘Slower Speeds, Safer Roads’, campaign, recently launched by Ministers Darragh O’Brien and Sean Canney. 

In line with the ‘Vision Zero’ aspiration for 2050, adopted across EU Member States, Ireland’s Government Road Safety Strategy 2021–2030 has the primary aim of reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on Irish roads by 50 per cent by 2030.

International research indicates that speed is a contributory factor in a third of fatal collisions, and that reducing speed significantly reduces road deaths. 

Under the Phase 1 action plan for the Strategy, a working group of relevant stakeholders and subject matter experts was convened to review speed limits and to make recommendations to help set consistent and appropriate speed limits across the road network. The working group was composed of representatives from the Department of Transport, the Road Safety Authority (RSA), An Garda Síochána, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), the National Transport Authority (NTA), and the County and City Management Association (CCMA).

Speaking about the change in speed limits, Gabriel Hynes, Senior Engineer with Waterford City and County Council said: “All local rural roads in Waterford, outside of urban centres, will be subject to a reduction in speed limits from 80km/h to 60km/h. These roads are denoted as L-roads on the road network.” 

“A key objective of this change is to keep road users safe and that includes motorists, cyclists, pedestrians, in fact everyone using our roads," said Mr Hynes.

"From midnight on Friday, all speed limit signs on Waterford’s rural local roads will reflect the new speed limit of 60 km/h," he added.

He went on to comment: "In cases where a striped ‘rural speed limit sign’ (a white circle with three diagonal black lines) is used as an alternative to numeric speed limit signs on specific single lane rural roads, it will also now mean that a maximum 60km/h limit is in force.” 

Findings from the Speed Limit Review, which was published in 2023, highlighted that the risk of being killed is much greater for collisions between a car and a vulnerable road user at 50km/h compared to the same type of collision at 30km/h.

Sean Waide, the CEO of the RSA, also commented on the changes and said: "Speed is one of the most critical factors in road safety - both in the likelihood of a crash occurring and the severity of the outcome."

"The laws of physics are unforgiving," he said.

"The energy and force involved in a collision increase exponentially with speed, meaning even a small reduction can significantly improve survival rates," he added.

Mr Waide went on to comment: "The reality is stark - nine out of 10 pedestrians struck at 80km/h will not survive, while at 60km/h, that number drops to five out of 10. Lowering speed limits makes our roads safer for all users, particularly on rural roads where many serious and fatal collisions occur."

"This change will help reduce the risk of crashes and, crucially, lessen the severity of injuries when they do happen," said Mr Waide.

"We urge all road users to respect the new limits, as every kilometre per hour counts when it comes to saving lives," he said.

For more information about the new, slower speed limits visit gov.ie/speedlimits