Speed limit reduction to 60km on many rural roads takes effect next week

The default speed limit on many rural roads across Ireland will change from 80 kilometres per hour to 60 kilometres per hour from Friday next, February 7.

The Government said the change was being introduced as part of its effort to reduce the number of deaths on our roads.

It was announced today (Thursday) that a ‘Slower Speeds, Safer Roads’ information and awareness campaign is to be rolled out in tandem with the forthcoming change in speed limits on rural local roads.

The awareness campaign will run on radio, online and in print.

A Speed Limit Review was presented to the Government and published in September 2023. The final report concluded that "protecting vulnerable road users must be a key focus when setting speed limits."

It stated that the risk of being killed was much greater for collisions between a car and a vulnerable road user at 50 km/h, when compared with the same type of collision at 30 km/h.

In April 2024, the Road Traffic Act 2024 was signed into law and included provisions to amend the default speed limits on rural, local roads, urban roads and national secondary roads.

The change in default speed limits for rural local roads, from 80km/h to 60km/h, will be implemented from February 7.

Other changes which are planned will focus on the speed limits in built-up urban areas, where default speed limits are set to be reduced to 30 km/h.

The speed limit on national secondary roads is recommended to reduce from 100km/h to 80km/h.

Local authorities can make changes to the default by setting 'special speed limits' for given roads in their areas. The Department of Transport said it had issued new guidelines to local authorities in early 2024 to assist them with this process.

The Department added that local authorities had received grants to change speed limit signs from ‘80’ to ‘60’ on relevant local roads.

"These will be in place on February 7, so road users can see clearly which limit applies," the Department stated.

Commenting on the change, Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien said, "There is no doubt that speeding is a significant contributing factor to many collisions and going slower will benefit us all.

"By reducing speed limits on many rural local roads from 80km per hour to 60km per hour, the Government is taking action to reduce road fatalities and serious injuries."