I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Road Traffic Act 2004 to provide for an additional speed limit, an additional special speed limit and related matters.
This Bill, to amend the Road Traffic Act 2004, is to deal with the standardisation of speed limits throughout the country.
In the past number of years, significant strides have been made in road safety in this country. The RSA has been to the fore in pushing the agenda of road safety. We have seen the number of people killed on the roads decrease substantially over the past number of years. There has been a bit of a blip in the past year, but in general, significant strides have been made.
It is important that we look at this aspect of road safety and the implications. There are different speed limits in different areas throughout the country. In moving from one local authority area to another, different speed limits apply. There are no fixed rules on speed limits.
Particularly in residential areas, we need to set standards for main roads, motorways and secondary roads, and that is what this Bill is designed to do. It is to set these standards right across the board. It also is important that residents in housing estates see that there are fixed rules for estates in every county, because sometimes when one travels from one county to another there are different speed limits. Speeds limits of 30 kilometres per hour have been introduced in Dublin city, which seem to have worked well in some areas.
My party asks that the Government let this important Bill proceed. We badly need this debate. We need to look at standardising these speed limits. We also need to give instructions to the local authorities. They need to have it clear that specific limits are laid down and that they cannot introduce speed limits willy-nilly. It has been confusing throughout the country when one moves from one local authority area to another. I ask the Minister to allow this Bill to proceed.
