I have made comments to Dublin City Council in relation to their
proposal to increase the speed limit on the Grange Road west of the
railway line and arguing for more 30km/hr zones in residential areas
and near schools in Dublin North-East. 
Lower speed limits mean not only a much reduced likelihood of accidents
but also much better survival rates for pedestrians who do get
hit.  Over half of pedestrians hit at the current urban speed
limit of 50km/hr are killed.  At 30km/hr, your chance of being
killed is below 10%.  The letter is below.
              
           
            
             
              
           
           
           
              
54, Páirc Éabhóra,
              
           
           
           
           
            
           
           
           
        Beann Éadair,
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
            B.Á.C. 13

           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
            25th November
2005

Executive Manager,
Roads & Traffic Department,
Civic Offices,
Wood Quay,
Dublin 8

Re: Speed limits

A chara,

I refer to the public consulation above and would like to make the following comments.

Firstly the map as displayed on your website is very hard to
understand.  Many roads are missing from it and the words on the
map are very unclear.

Having said that, I wish to raise two areas of concern.

Grange Road:

The 60km/hr speed limit you are proposing on the Grange road west of
the railway line is out of keeping with the surrounding area.  To
the east of the railway, Fingal County Council has traffic calmed the
Grange Rd. in Baldoyle and I have verified myself that traffic slows to
a maximum of 30km/hr going over the ramps.  I anticipate therefore
that we in Fingal County Council will designate Baldoyle as a 30km/hr
zone.  It would not be in keeping with that designation to have a
60km/hr designation implemented on the other side of the railway
bridge.  

Additionally, motorists and cyclists in the housing estates on both
sides of the Grange Road have difficulty coming out onto the Grange
Road and pedestrians have difficulty crossing the road to access
schools, buses shops etc.  This road needs to be slowed and calmed
not speeded up.

A further consideration is the difficulty pedestrians have in using the
roundabout at the junction of Grange Road and Hole in the Wall
road.  Increased traffic speeds on Grange Road and Clare Hall
Avenue will only worsen this problem.

30km/hr zones

It is disappointing that you are not proposing any 30km/hr zones on the
Northside, except for Marino.  There are many residential areas
such as Darndale or Ayrfield which could appropriately be made 30km/hr
zones and I urge you to include more 30km/hr zones in these residential
areas.

In particular, there are many schools in the area and I recommend that
all roads in the vicinity of schools be considered for 30km/hr zones.

Is mise, le meas,

David Healy
Green Councillor for Baldoyle/Sutton/ Howth area