‘Confusing’ speed limit signs, which are being rolled-out as part of a major change to speed limits in rural Clare this week, could inadvertently increase congestion and make the county’s local roads more dangerous.
That is according to a number of business people in North Clare who believe that the “rural speed signs” are not fit for purpose.
The signs, which are white with black stripes and include no stated speed limit, were first introduced in 2015, but have been rolled out significantly in recent weeks ahead of the change in speeds limit this Friday.
The signs are similar to the “no speed limit” sign which appear on major German motorways and, according to Janet Kavanagh of E-Whizz bike tours in Kilfenora, the signs are not currently recognised by car sign-recognition technology or by sat-nav systems.
She fears that this will create havoc on the roads in North Clare during the busy tourist season this summer and may even worsen an already difficult traffic situation.
“The way things are at present, anyone who doesn’t know the road, could turn off the N67 for example, and be directed onto one of these L-roads and think that the same limit is still in place,” she said.
“Those signs are not fit for purpose. They are not telling anyone what the speed is on the roads. People who use sign recognition systems to work out what speed they should be going on these roads are being given no information.
“The sign is not recognised by the modern cars, but if there was a simple 60km per hour sign there, everything would be fine.
“I am very concerned as to how all of this information is going to feed into the GPS and sat-nav systems. Are all of these roads now going to be designated as being ‘in limbo’, which means that the 80km per hour limit will still be given by sat-navs.
“The majority of people hiring cars while visiting North Clare will be using these systems. These signs are not recognised by anybody that I know.
“The only place that I have seen anything like them is in Germany when you hit the autobahn, and there is no speed limit on the road and you can drive as fast as you like.
“It is all unnecessarily confusing for people and I am concerned that we are going to see these signs going up everywhere instead of the 60km per hour signs. I don’t know why they are doing this.”
Tourism heavy parts of the county, such as North and West Clare, could feel the brunt of any issues that might result from the widespread use of these signs.
“This is going to be a particular issue in North Clare where we have a lot of tourists, a lot of small roads and a lot of people who are using these roads themselves, such as farmers,” said Ms Kavanagh, who lives on the L1113 just outside of Kilfenora.
“The Doolin to Kilfenora road is already an absolute disaster in the summertime. There is constantly someone in the ditch, constantly people having to be towed out, the road being blocked, and then you come across tourists there who don’t know where the reverse is in their car. A tractor and trailer can’t reverse backwards on a road like that.
“These new signs mean to use your discretion, to go at a speed that is safe. That is all very well if you go back to when people used to drive at a safe speed and there was no sat-navs and sign recognition technology in cars.
“There is a lot of confusion and a lot of misinformation out there. These roads are 80km per hour at the moment, which is ridiculous, as most of these roads are single track with passing places. Anyone who is doing 80km per hour on these roads would be a lunatic, but people do try it.”
Ms Kavanagh also fears that these new signs may result in tourists continuing to use rural “rat runs” because they are directed to use them by their phone’s navigation systems.
“I was hoping that these new speed limits would stop the rat-running which tourists in particular engage in in North Clare,” she said.
“Tourists who don’t know where they are going are being given routes down back roads instead of being given a route, that might be a half a mile longer, but is a lot safer and ultimately quicker for them.”
Andrew Hamilton is a journalist, investigative reporter and podcaster who has been working in the media in Ireland for the past 20 years. His areas of special interest include the environment, mental health and politics.