Lower speed limits were failing to slow down drivers in housing estates — a 30kph speed sign was even dug up in one estate and thrown over a wall by one resident.

A motion calling on Galway City Council to review its policy of not installing traffic calming measures in established housing estates on a retrospective basis was tabled by Councillor John Connolly (FF) at at meeting. of the council.

A 30kph speed limit now exists in the majority of estates in the city and county and will become law when speed limit legislation passed in the Dáil is enacted next year.

But changing the speed limits has not always alleviated the fears of parents of children living in them, Cllr Connolly stated.

“It should be safe for them to play but I hear about near misses and close calls all the time, some of it is due to motorists not being aware of the 30kph limit.#

“The Council used to develop ramps to slow traffic down. I think, as a policy, we need to be looking at existing estates and working out how to develop traffic calming measures in each estate.”

Cllr Alan Curran (Soc Dem) said it was the number one thing that terrified him as a dad. In his own estate the 30kph speed limit was being “completely ignored”.

“The sign was dug up and thrown over the wall,” he revealed.

Cllr Donal Lyons (Ind) said ramps put in up to now had been crude and were disliked by ambulances as patients were thrown around in the back.

On the Clybaun Road in Knocknacarra there were raised platforms which appeared to be less problematic while slowing down the traffic.

Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) said it was nerve racking for parents of children to keep them safe from speeding cars. She said raised beds on Shangort Road were the only ones that appeared to have worked to curb excessive speeds.

Gardaí should be on patrol for speeding in more estates in the city as enforcement was the only deterrent. There was no enforcement on College Road, Cllr Declan McDonnell (Ind) complained.

Director of Services for Operational Development, Patrick Greene, said his unit would bring forward a scoping document next month examining traffic calming  measures across the city which would be presented to councillors.

The motion was carried unanimously.

Pictured: 30 km/h road signs beside the New Cemetery, Bohermore.