Cllr Stephen Stokes has welcomed the adoption of the Speed Limit Review by Wicklow County Council on Monday, February 13th, 2023. The extensive process reviewed the road speed limits around County Wicklow with a view to amending the by laws.
Cllr Stokes stated: “The feedback from local people was decisive. Residents largely want lower speed limits for vehicles. It is encouraging to see speeds being reduced to a maximum of 30 kilometres per hour outside schools across County Wicklow. I fully support making our roads safer, especially for children.”
The speed review changes come in to force on June 1st, 2023. However the periodic speed limit changes will come into effect on August 1st, 2023. Periodic speed limits usually occur outside schools.
Cllr Stephen Stokes paid tribute to all of those who made submissions, and to the Wicklow County Council Officials who worked extensively on the project. Cllr Stokes added: “This was an excellent collaborative project between Residents, Councillors and Council Officials. It should be noted that there was an especially high level of engagement from people in the Greystones area.”
Cllr Stephen Stokes also engaged with the process, He further stated: “Like many other Public Representatives, I was approached by local people with concerns. Many of these areas will soon have safer speed limits including the Ballydonagh Road, Bellevue Hill and parts of the R761. Large parts of the built up areas in Greystones will be moving to 30 kilometre limits.”
With the changes coming into effect, Cllr Stokes believes that there will be a great deal of work to implement and advertise the changes. He concluded: “First and foremost we need plenty of signage. When I lived in the United Kingdom for 6 years, Councils were really pushing more signage. But what is increasingly popular there is smaller reminder signs. This is because sometimes people can miss the original sign indicating a change of speed. In addition we should listen to what local residents want, which could include traffic calming measures such as ramps.”
