Council director rules out speed ramps

Calls by councillors to put down road ramps in towns and villages throughout the country in a bid to stop motorists driving at excessive speeds are being resisted by Tipperary County Council management.

Councillor Michael Murphy, raising the issue at the February meeting of the council held on Zoom, said there was no directive from Transport Infrastructure Ireland to state that speed ramps could not be put on roads within speed limits of 50km.

Noting that the council was not in favour of speed ramps, he asked if the policy could be reconsidered to tackle speeding in towns and villages in the county. He pointed to one road in his own area where a survey had found that eight our of every ten drivers were breaking the 50km urban speed limit and he felt ramps might be a way of tackling such non-compliance.

Councillor Andy Moloney said speed ramps should be considered in Tipperary as legislation allowed them. He said there was a precedent for the introduction of ramps in villages as there was already one in Rosegreen near Cashel. Councillor Mary Hanna Hourigan said Limerick County Council seemed to operate a different policy to Tipperary as speed ramps could be seen on roads in many areas within its jurisdiction. She felt they made a huge difference in terms of tackling excessive speeding within villages and towns.

Councillor Hughie McGrath felt there were areas of his own town of Nenagh were speed ramps would be effective. There were at least three speed ramps on the main street in the County Cork town of Buttevant; ramps ensured that pedestrians got priority.

Councillor Tony Black said he would welcome the introduction of ramps to towns and villages in Tipperary, “because I am getting ever-increasing complaints from villages about people speeding, and it's only a matter of time before there are fatalities. Ramps are the only way to go from the feedback I am getting.” Councillor Pat English felt the council should change its policy and introduce more ramps in areas where people were regularly exceeding speed in urban areas.

The council's Director of Roads, Marcus O' Connor said the council was guided by an authoritative manual in relation to road works in which it was stated that ramps were the least preferred option for consideration when introducing traffic calming measures. He said the fire and ambulance services did not like ramps on roads and they were also very expensive to put down. If they were introduced on roads all over the county it would seriously erode the funds the council had to carry out road maintenance works.

Mr O' Connor said he personally was not a fan of ramps. They made life uncomfortable for people who had to drive over them, particularly for local communities where they had been put down. “The local people get punished the most because they have to drive over them all the time.”

He said the Department of Transport had issued a directive stating that ramps should not be used on regional roads.