Viewpoint: Back on the Sunnyhill Road

Graphic: Brendan Duffy.

Anyone walking or cycling on the Sunnyhill Road in the middle of a typical afternoon will be meeting, or be passed by, a vehicle every ten seconds, writes Brian Byrne.

That's the essence of a snapshot survey I did over an hour on Monday afternoon last, to get a sense of the level of traffic on a road where there's a proposal to raise the speed limit from 60km/h to 80km/h.

It's a rural road without footpaths and in many parts limited verge areas to which a walker could retreat from traffic that includes a significant percentage of heavy goods vehicles. It is a road which has been described by a local resident as being designed 'like a Celtic knot' in terms of visibility for those travelling it.

I have — though not so much lately — walked and cycled that road regularly. So I have a direct knowledge of what the experience is like. It is possibly significant that not one pedestrian or cyclist passed me during my survey hour, despite the fact that there are some 400 nearby homes opening onto the road. For them it would be a wholly uncomfortable, if not downright scary endeavour.

How much more so if the speed limit is increased to a level which would almost double to 75 percent the chances of someone dying from the impact of a car compared to what it is at the current limit?

I do understand that pedestrian and cyclist use of the Sunnyhill Road is probably mainly in later evening and at weekends. That's all the more reason to at least maintain the existing limit, when a lower traffic density might encourage some drivers to go faster. Indeed, that also makes a case for lowering the limit to 50km/h as many residents have sought over many years.

The officials at their desks who are proposing this increase in speed limit might take issue with my 'snapshot' survey. But that's all I, or any of the residents on the road, have resources for. Kildare County Council has more information, most recently from the 2019 Annual average daily traffic (AADT) count on the road, which has not been made available to the public. It should have been made available as part of the current public consultation on the Speed Limits Review.

The closing date is tomorrow, Thursday 16 September 2021, for submissions on the proposed speed limit changes to Sunnyhill Road and the New Abbey Road. They can be made online here, in what is a somewhat cumbersome process, or in writing to: A/Senior Executive Officer, Roads Transportation and Public Safety Department, Kildare County Council, Aras Chill Dara, Devoy Park, Naas, Co Kildare W91 X77F.  

READ: Deadline for speed limit submissions is Thursday

READ: Viewpoint: Insanity in speed limit proposals 

LISTEN: Strong reaction to proposed speed limit changes 

LISTEN: Speed limits proposal 'beggars belief' 

READ: Sunnyhill Road speed to be raised under proposals revealed today 

READ: Speed limits consultations open next Wednesday 

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