Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 September 2020
81. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Transport if the operation of heavy vehicles - for example, bin trucks - will be limited in urban areas to off-peak traffic times in order to improve safety for cyclists and to improve traffic flow. [22727/20]
View answerThe Road Traffic (Signs) (Amendment) Regulations 2012, SI 331 of 2012, and the Road Traffic (Traffic and Parking) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2012, SI 332 of 2012, provide local authorities with a legislative basis for restricting vehicles from entering particular roads on the basis of weight. The relevant sign in this instance is Sign RUS 015, which is erected at the entrance to a road and provides that drivers of vehicles whose design gross vehicle weight exceeds the weight specified on the sign are prohibited from proceeding beyond that point except where it is necessary for a vehicle to gain access to, or egress from, premises accessible only from that road.
Individual local authorities are best placed to assess the particular local vehicle weight requirements, based on either road safety or traffic management grounds, which should apply to any particular individual road. My Department has no role in deciding where and in which circumstances such weight restrictions should apply.
