Increase in Speed Limit on Motorways?

trotter_inc

Came across this article in the Independant this morning, claiming that the new metric system will allow different lanes on the countries motorways and dual-carriageways to have different speed limits!

I wonder if they will increase the 70 mph limit??

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=9&si=1310521&issue_id=11863

dcGT

I thought they were increasing the speed limit to 120 km/h when we go metric. This conversion is long over-due though. Only on Irish roads would you have distances in km and speeds in mph :rolleyes: What must other countries think.

DC.

trotter_inc

dcGT wrote:

I thought they were increasing the speed limit to 120 km/h when we go metric.
DC.

Thats about 74 mph which isnt too bad - coz then most people would get away with doing about 77 mph which isnt bad I suppose.

Gmodified

motorway will be fine at 120km/h but town max is going to be 60km/h which is less then 40mph

Bobby04

Heard it mentioned this morning on the radio that different councils will be able to set different limits on different lanes of motorways and/or dual carriageways in their area. I reckon it'll just add to the amount of morons hugging the overtaking lane aka M50! :mad:

trotter_inc

Bobby04 wrote:

Heard it mentioned this morning on the radio that different councils will be able to set different limits on different lanes of motorways and/or dual carriageways in their area. I reckon it'll just add to the amount of morons hugging the overtaking lane aka M50! :mad:

If ppl used the slower lane correctly it would ease the problem - ppl keep sitting in the faster lane while the slower lane is free, impatient ppl then have to overtake on the slower lane.

mackerski

trotter_inc wrote:

Came across this article in the Independant this morning, claiming that the new metric system will allow different lanes on the countries motorways and dual-carriageways to have different speed limits!

There was a silly commotion on Newstalk about this too. The key word here is "allow". There are only very specific cases where you would do such a thing, though:

a) Different limit on same stretch of road in different direction - to reflect a one-way hazard. In this instance, the driver only sees one limit, so there's no apparent difference over today.

b) Approaching a junction, to cut the speed of somebody in a peel-off lane where the junction involves a lane drop. Particularly useful if the exit slip road has sharp curves. Amusingly, given that this is supposed to be a new rule, there is such a one-lane limit marked on the M1 northbound, in the lane that exits for the airport. Lane limits like this are typically marked on overhead signs to keep things clearer.

c) In road work zones, where, say, a single lane is about to peel off into contraflow but the other one continues straight. This is similar to (b). You might also leave a lower limit on the lane that's in contraflow to reflect the hazard of oncoming traffic.

It would be contrary to international best-practice and common sense to use this power willy-nilly and allow adjacent, identical lanes to have different limits. It would also make limit enforcement ineffective. Just not going to happen. What is widely used on the continent is per-lane minimum speed limits. You'll typically see these used on a steep uphill stretch of 3-lane-plus motorway. The purpose is to give teeth to progress-in-traffic and the (over there) keep-right rules. It's a bigger nuisance and burden on the environment to be forced to brake on an uphill stretch.

Minimum speed limit signs are round with white or silver lettering on a blue background. Don't expect to see them in Ireland for a while yet.

Dermot

unkel

trotter_inc wrote:

Thats about 74 mph

It is (or should I say was?) 75 mph

Let's finally get rid of the last silly British measures - metrification - cead mile failte

CJhaughey

unkel wrote:

It is (or should I say was?) 75 mph

Let's finally get rid of the last silly British measures - metrification - cead mile failte

Believe it or not there is another nation using miles too, The US still uses miles and not just miles but US miles.
In fact there is also an Irish Mile which is a little longer than the Imperial Mile.

Alun

A US mile is the same as an Imperial mile, it's pints (and therfore gallons) that are different. A US pint is 16 fluid ounces whereas an imperial pint is 20 fluid ounces, both gallons are 8 pints, but the difference in pint sizes makes the US gallon smaller.

Blitzkrieger

Putting speed limits into the hands of local councils is a bad move. Can you imagine the purile self serving twits on your local council setting speed limits for national traffic? Speed limits should be in the hands of professionals - not some 'elected' official who's slightly better at kissing babies than everybody else who probably got less than 25% of the population's vote.

Our man in Havana

Blitzkrieger wrote:

Putting speed limits into the hands of local councils is a bad move. Can you imagine the purile self serving twits on your local council setting speed limits for national traffic? Speed limits should be in the hands of professionals - not some 'elected' official who's slightly better at kissing babies than everybody else who probably got less than 25% of the population's vote.

The setting of speed limits was the role of the Gardai up until 1992 where the job was given to local authourities.

mike65

Its quite astonishing that something so important is left to "amatures" to consider esp when you remember the calibre of most councilers.

Mike.

BrianD

Putting speed limits into the hands of councils was a bad move and explains some of the extended 30 and 40 mph limits that we have.

As you may be aware, planning rules/guidelines state that new entrances onto certain roads such as national primaries (N routes) is not allowed. However, this is negated when you enter a settlement area where the limit is 30 mph. Therefore to facilitate landowners around the edges of towns the 30 mph limit is extended outwards. This normally results from land owners lobbying local elected representatives.

Victor

unkel wrote:

It is (or should I say was?) 75 mph

70mph even! :eek:

BrianD wrote:

As you may be aware, planning rules/guidelines state that new entrances onto certain roads such as national primaries (N routes) is not allowed. However, this is negated when you enter a settlement area where the limit is 30 mph. Therefore to facilitate landowners around the edges of towns the 30 mph limit is extended outwards. This normally results from land owners lobbying local elected representatives.

No. Or not quite. The 30mph limit will typically extend to the legal town boundary, as opposed to the actual end of development. The Garda still needs to be consulted about changes.

unkel

Victor wrote:

70mph even! :eek:

You missed my wishfully sarcastic jump into the era where the new metric system is in place and another one of the British imperial measures has been abolished

120 km/h = 74.6 (75) mph

CJhaughey

unkel wrote:

You missed my wishfully sarcastic jump into the era where the new metric system is in place and another one of the British imperial measures has been abolished

120 km/h = 74.6 (75) mph

New Metric system?
New to who?
The Metric system was developed in France during the Napoleonic reign of France in the 1790's.

jlang

Probably worth noting that any increase on the M50 will only be temporary as I read in the EIS for the upgrade that the design speed of the upgraded road is only 100kph all the way from the M1 to Sandyford, as was done on the Southen Cross from the start. With the design speed of 100kph, it is unlikely (probably illegal, but I'm not sure) that the 70mph/120kph limit can be retained. Not saying I agree with it, but that's the way it is.

unkel

CJhaughey wrote:

New to who?

Speed limits on roads in the Republic of Ireland

CJhaughey wrote:

The Metric system was developed in France during the Napoleonic reign of France in the 1790's.

Indeed, it's been around for a bit. I'm delighted that school children don't think imperial any more in this country. Soon will come the day I can stop having to make the translations in my head 10 times a day. Death to the imperial system

The original meter:

The length of the metre, one 10-millionth of one quarter of the Earth's meridian, was estimated using the best measurements available. A rod of platinum was produced that was supposed to merely represent this ideal, unchanging length. However, in 1799 the rod itself was declared to be the standard metre

Victor

Will we be able to do away with the twelve-times (and eleven-times) tables then?

Capt'n Midnight

trotter_inc wrote:

If ppl used the slower lane correctly it would ease the problem - ppl keep sitting in the faster lane while the slower lane is free, impatient ppl then have to overtake on the slower lane.

Point of Information - in Europe there is no "faster lane" - it's an overtaking lane

unkel wrote:

Death to the imperial system

For shame sir, does this imply that you have no scruples when it comes to tradition ?

Also you forgot to mention that the meridian was the one that went through Paris from the Equator to the North Pole, and what makes that interesting is that no one had actually been to the North Pole at that time, and even though the rod was placed on rollers it drooped and elongated over time.

BTW: When the Romans left Britan there were a nice round number of 5,000 feet in a Mile.

Again motorists are still bound to travel at a speed in which they can stop in the distance they can see to be clear, and to reduce speed under adverse conditions.

Tired of this - good road / good car / good driver / good day / good job the Guard was on duty - lipservice from those who make and apply the laws.

If anyone remembers the UK's attempt to use Nimrods as AWACS http://www.geocities.com/lucktam/awacs/nimwacs.htm one of the problems they had too many targets on the scope until they told the software to ignore anything under 60mph - the point being you could simply put a radar in a ballon over Dublin and set it to 40Kmph

unkel

Victor wrote:

Will we be able to do away with the twelve-times (and eleven-times) tables then?

I suppose

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

For shame sir, does this to imply that you have no scruples when it comes to tradition ?

Tradition is good but can get in the way of progress sometimes. Many are smart enough to see this. Few are brave enough to implement the change. Just as well there are the brave, because otherwise we wouldn't even be at the stage where we could use spears to hunt

Our feet are a lot bigger these days than the ones the Romans had

Capt'n Midnight

unkel wrote:

Our feet are a lot bigger these days than the ones the Romans had

:eek: - it's true one ped (foot) = but .. there are now 280 more feet per mile than in Roman
times.

(actually that site is a bit misleading since it doesn't say which of the different american feet is in use - old imperial / metric / us geological survey or modern)

BTW: one scruple

How about we all just use the Hexadecimal system ?
this has the advantage that 1 mile = 1.609km is nearly the same as 1.6

But they have said they won't let people off who use the wrong limit by mistake when it comes in.

unkel

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

How about we all just use the Hexadecimal system ?

No, no, no!

Decimal it is as we haven't evolved enough yet to turn ourselves into computers and use the even more superior binary system

Capt'n Midnight

unkel wrote:

No, no, no!

Decimal it is as we haven't evolved enough yet to turn ourselves into computers and use the even more superior binary system

Why wait, just use a little genetic engineering to clone more fingers, be dead handy having an extra pair of thumbs too - people could use them to work the indicators without having to take their hands off the wheel - so it would be safer. While we are at it an extra eye in the back of the head would be good too.

Only problem is that if people drive beyond their limits (24 crashes on the M50, Christmas morning) as is, having higher limits and more "safety features" would only encourage a significant minority to "push the envelope" further. We should adopt the "R" system as was in the North and in use in Canada and the continent - for the first year after their passing their exam and for younger drivers there would be restrictions on what they can do until they have built up experiance.

Or should we allow those who hold higher than a B license / advanced driving test higher limits than those on just a B license ?

Also in Germany commercial traffic have a sticker indicating the Max speed it can do on it, laden and unladen in the case of some goods vehicles - we should get them here too. Too many trucks doing over 50mph on our roads and it could keep people using company "vans" (cars with no rear seats) at safer speeds - their higher milage means that IF they aren't competant drivers there is a greater risk of a collision.