New eco speed limits
Discussion
Most of Dublin will soon be subject to an 18mph (30kmh) speed limit.
18mph!
I wrote the following letter to a paper:
"It won't be long before they decide to resurrect the Locomotive Act of 1865, otherwise known as the Red Flag Act. (Pursuant to that act,
drivers were limited to 2mph in towns and each car had to be preceded by someone carrying a red flag.) In Dublin's comically-misnamed
"rush" hours, 2mph is often about right.
However, during off-peak traffic, the new 30kph (18mph in old money) limit is one that any half-fit cyclist regularly will breach. It will also increase pollution. To comply with that “speed” without lugging, manual cars will need to be driven in gears 1 or 2 lower than normal, thereby dramatically increasing revs and pollution.
Rather than making the already-neuralgic cross-Dublin journey even more miserable with virtue-signalling speed limits, it would make more
sense to ban all non-resident ICE cars from Dublin altogether, now that covid has shown us what a cod offices are."
Separately, some other do-gooder hipster is proposing that all Irish motorways have their speed limits reduced from their current 75mph to 50mph, to save on emissions.
In the appropriate gear, our old A6 is close to 2.5k revs at 50mph; but can happily sit at 1.9k revs at 75mph in 6th gear. Not that our eco hero, blindly correlating speed with revs, has any clue about that.
In both instances, the anti-speed lobby are pushing through policy changes that are unsupported by evidence.
The only upside of EVs is that these numpties will struggle to dredge up a CO2 reason for their stupid speed limits.
18mph!
I wrote the following letter to a paper:
=============================
"It won't be long before they decide to resurrect the Locomotive Act of 1865, otherwise known as the Red Flag Act. (Pursuant to that act,
drivers were limited to 2mph in towns and each car had to be preceded by someone carrying a red flag.) In Dublin's comically-misnamed
"rush" hours, 2mph is often about right.
However, during off-peak traffic, the new 30kph (18mph in old money) limit is one that any half-fit cyclist regularly will breach. It will also increase pollution. To comply with that “speed” without lugging, manual cars will need to be driven in gears 1 or 2 lower than normal, thereby dramatically increasing revs and pollution.
Rather than making the already-neuralgic cross-Dublin journey even more miserable with virtue-signalling speed limits, it would make more
sense to ban all non-resident ICE cars from Dublin altogether, now that covid has shown us what a cod offices are."
===========================
Separately, some other do-gooder hipster is proposing that all Irish motorways have their speed limits reduced from their current 75mph to 50mph, to save on emissions.
In the appropriate gear, our old A6 is close to 2.5k revs at 50mph; but can happily sit at 1.9k revs at 75mph in 6th gear. Not that our eco hero, blindly correlating speed with revs, has any clue about that.
In both instances, the anti-speed lobby are pushing through policy changes that are unsupported by evidence.
The only upside of EVs is that these numpties will struggle to dredge up a CO2 reason for their stupid speed limits.
Krikkit said:
Sorry OP but just about everything you've put in there is wrong.
It isn’t The new “green” transport minister HAS proposed reducing ALL speed limits nationwide
Motorways are currently 120kph .. he wants to reduce to 90kph(74->55mph)
Major trunk roads are 100kph .. reduce to 80kph
(62->49mph)
All other roads ( most in rural Ireland ) are 80 kph .. reduce to 50 kph (49->31mph)
Roads like this .... will be subject to blanket 50kph limits (31mph)
If they get their way
Edited to add .. they are planning on introducing the new 18 mph speed limit across the whole of Galway city
Edited by Earthdweller on Sunday 30th August 14:27
Edited by Earthdweller on Sunday 30th August 14:32
Is there a link to the official website with the proposals?
The new “green” transport minister HAS proposed reducing ALL speed limits nationwide
Motorways are currently 120kph .. he wants to reduce to 90kph(74->55mph)
Major trunk roads are 100kph .. reduce to 80kph
(62->49mph)
All other roads ( most in rural Ireland ) are 80 kph .. reduce to 50 kph (49->31mph)
Roads like this .... will be subject to blanket 50kph limits (31mph)
If they get their way
Edited to add .. they are planning on introducing the new 18 mph speed limit across the whole of Galway city

The picture looks like a good place to drive - what's the current speed limit? Is it really one of the roads proposed for a 31mph speed limit? That would be lunacy.
Earthdweller said:
Krikkit said:
Sorry OP but just about everything you've put in there is wrong.
It isn’t The new “green” transport minister HAS proposed reducing ALL speed limits nationwide
Motorways are currently 120kph .. he wants to reduce to 90kph(74->55mph)
Major trunk roads are 100kph .. reduce to 80kph
(62->49mph)
All other roads ( most in rural Ireland ) are 80 kph .. reduce to 50 kph (49->31mph)
Roads like this .... will be subject to blanket 50kph limits (31mph)
If they get their way
Edited to add .. they are planning on introducing the new 18 mph speed limit across the whole of Galway city
Edited by Earthdweller on Sunday 30th August 14:27
Edited by Earthdweller on Sunday 30th August 14:32
OP, play it carefully... Make sure that Danny Healy-Rae receives a report that high speeds are the primary cause of gayness and you'll have him campaigning for a 10kph limit with everyone else voting for a 150kph limit just to distance themselves from him.
( *Danny Healy-Rae is the TD who famously proposed, in the Irish parliament, that people living in rural Ireland should be allowed to drink-drive, and is often used as a metric of feckwittery... From what I've seen he's also a bit obsessed with what some men do together behind closed doors too.)
( *Danny Healy-Rae is the TD who famously proposed, in the Irish parliament, that people living in rural Ireland should be allowed to drink-drive, and is often used as a metric of feckwittery... From what I've seen he's also a bit obsessed with what some men do together behind closed doors too.)
donkmeister said:
OP, play it carefully... Make sure that Danny Healy-Rae receives a report that high speeds are the primary cause of gayness and you'll have him campaigning for a 10kph limit with everyone else voting for a 150kph limit just to distance themselves from him.
( *Danny Healy-Rae is the TD who famously proposed, in the Irish parliament, that people living in rural Ireland should be allowed to drink-drive, and is often used as a metric of feckwittery... From what I've seen he's also a bit obsessed with what some men do together behind closed doors too.)
This interview might enlighten you to the reasoning for that....( *Danny Healy-Rae is the TD who famously proposed, in the Irish parliament, that people living in rural Ireland should be allowed to drink-drive, and is often used as a metric of feckwittery... From what I've seen he's also a bit obsessed with what some men do together behind closed doors too.)
https://youtu.be/o4gUaTn7hHU
revvingit said:
donkmeister said:
OP, play it carefully... Make sure that Danny Healy-Rae receives a report that high speeds are the primary cause of gayness and you'll have him campaigning for a 10kph limit with everyone else voting for a 150kph limit just to distance themselves from him.
( *Danny Healy-Rae is the TD who famously proposed, in the Irish parliament, that people living in rural Ireland should be allowed to drink-drive, and is often used as a metric of feckwittery... From what I've seen he's also a bit obsessed with what some men do together behind closed doors too.)
This interview might enlighten you to the reasoning for that....( *Danny Healy-Rae is the TD who famously proposed, in the Irish parliament, that people living in rural Ireland should be allowed to drink-drive, and is often used as a metric of feckwittery... From what I've seen he's also a bit obsessed with what some men do together behind closed doors too.)
https://youtu.be/o4gUaTn7hHU
However... DH-R's choice of "drink driving vs binge drinking in solitude" is a false dichotomy... I used to enjoy knocking back a few, and it never required someone to drink and drive... Either we'd have a designated driver (and yes, picking up and dropping off at either end of the evening could involve quite some mileage, but everyone takes their turn) or we'd drink at someone's house and camp down in whatever space they have.
The most convenient approach is to drive and stay on non-alcoholic drinks all night (or have just the one), but I can see that if someone is alcohol dependent (drinking to the point of depression and suicide, as DH-R says) there would be other issues to deal with too.
(OP, sorry for derailing topic!)
tommy1973s said:
some other do-gooder hipster is proposing that all Irish motorways have their speed limits reduced from their current 75mph to 50mph, to save on emissions.
In the appropriate gear, our old A6 is close to 2.5k revs at 50mph; but can happily sit at 1.9k revs at 75mph in 6th gear. Not that our eco hero, blindly correlating speed with revs, has any clue about that.
In both instances, the anti-speed lobby are pushing through policy changes that are unsupported by evidence.
Whilst I don't want speed limits reduced, it is very basic physics which explains why slower speeds use less fuelIn the appropriate gear, our old A6 is close to 2.5k revs at 50mph; but can happily sit at 1.9k revs at 75mph in 6th gear. Not that our eco hero, blindly correlating speed with revs, has any clue about that.
In both instances, the anti-speed lobby are pushing through policy changes that are unsupported by evidence.
https://physics.info/drag/
V8RX7 said:
tommy1973s said:
some other do-gooder hipster is proposing that all Irish motorways have their speed limits reduced from their current 75mph to 50mph, to save on emissions.
In the appropriate gear, our old A6 is close to 2.5k revs at 50mph; but can happily sit at 1.9k revs at 75mph in 6th gear. Not that our eco hero, blindly correlating speed with revs, has any clue about that.
In both instances, the anti-speed lobby are pushing through policy changes that are unsupported by evidence.
Whilst I don't want speed limits reduced, it is very basic physics which explains why slower speeds use less fuelIn the appropriate gear, our old A6 is close to 2.5k revs at 50mph; but can happily sit at 1.9k revs at 75mph in 6th gear. Not that our eco hero, blindly correlating speed with revs, has any clue about that.
In both instances, the anti-speed lobby are pushing through policy changes that are unsupported by evidence.
https://physics.info/drag/
ks. No car I've ever had wouldn't cruise quite happily in top gear from about 40 upwards, sometimes even lower - my Eunos would be quite happy at 30mph in 5th, Celica quite happy at 30mph in 5th or 6th.I suppose the reply will be the usual crap about "what if I need to accelerate suddenly to escape <insert highly unlikely event here>", and that too is a crap argument because unless you're driving a Veyron (or a Tesla
) your s
tbox is not going to accelerate enough to avoid some instant danger no matter what gear you are in.JimSuperSix said:
This drivel about needing to be in a different gear to drive at 50 compared to 75...utter b
ks. No car I've ever had wouldn't cruise quite happily in top gear from about 40 upwards, sometimes even lower - my Eunos would be quite happy at 30mph in 5th, Celica quite happy at 30mph in 5th or 6th.
I suppose the reply will be the usual crap about "what if I need to accelerate suddenly to escape <insert highly unlikely event here>", and that too is a crap argument because unless you're driving a Veyron (or a Tesla
) your s
tbox is not going to accelerate enough to avoid some instant danger no matter what gear you are in.
Driving at 30mph in fifth or sixth will use more petrol than using fourth. I have a Eunos, and I can confirm that it will lug the engine in fifth at 30mph, even with it's shorter final drive ratio. Having to negotiate miles of country lane at 30 mph will use more fuel.
ks. No car I've ever had wouldn't cruise quite happily in top gear from about 40 upwards, sometimes even lower - my Eunos would be quite happy at 30mph in 5th, Celica quite happy at 30mph in 5th or 6th.I suppose the reply will be the usual crap about "what if I need to accelerate suddenly to escape <insert highly unlikely event here>", and that too is a crap argument because unless you're driving a Veyron (or a Tesla
) your s
tbox is not going to accelerate enough to avoid some instant danger no matter what gear you are in.I also predict a lot of frustrated, bored, angry and distracted people driving very badly...
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