An Taisce’s Green-Schools programme has announced its official support for the Love 30 campaign, which calls on all Local Authorities to introduce more 30km/h zones in urban areas, particularly in the vicinity of schools, in town centres, residential estates, and places of public assembly.

Through Green-Schools’ work with schools and communities on the programme’s Travel theme – which encourages students to walk, cycle, scoot or take public transport to school – we will actively campaign to lower speed limits outside schools and in the surrounding areas.

The Love 30 campaign is supported by a group of organisations and individuals who believe that lower speed limits can make our towns and cities safer and more pleasant places to live, work, and play.

Schools taking part in the Green-Schools Travel theme undertake Walkability and Cycleability Audits with Travel Officers. These audits form the basis of reports which our officers submit to local authorities. With road safety and speed forming the basis of many parents’ decision not to allow their children to walk or cycle to school, we believe a 30km/h speed limit would see more children walking or cycling to school and less congestion at school gates around Ireland.

What we’ll do

To support the Love 30 campaign Green-Schools will:

  • Support schools in setting up their own Love 30 campaign locally
  • Offer workshops and presentations in the school about speed limits and the benefits of a 30km/h speed limit
  • Liaise with Local Authorities to promote 30km/h speed limits around schools.
  • Promote Love 30 during annual Green-Schools events including National Walk to School Week, Scoot to School Week and Bike Week through local and national media

When parents and children can walk and cycle in their neighbourhood, families benefit from healthier children, less stress and more money in their pockets. There is also overwhelming evidence that lower speed limits make streets safer and more pleasant places for children and adults to live, socialise, work and play.

For Love 30, and Green-Schools, this is not only a road safety issue as lower speed limits will:

  • Reduce air and noise pollution, especially around schools and areas in which children congregate
  • Reduce carbon emissions by increasing the number of people walking and cycling
  • Encourage young people to move about independently and encourage parents to permit their children to do so
  • Develop healthy habits by encouraging people of all ages to walk and cycle and by encouraging children to play outdoors
  • Transform our urban and village streets and residential estates from car dominated through-roads to vibrant living ‘people-friendly’ spaces
  • Bring us into line with the rest of Europe where 30km/h, (20 mph in the UK) is fast becoming the default urban speed limit.

The Road Safety Authority statistics shows how lower speeds dramatically reduce the number of people killed in collisions. They also reduce the severity of injury in any collisions that occur.

Some of the hard and fast facts are that when a pedestrian is hit by a car:

  • at 30 km/h – one in 10 will die
  • at 50km/h – five in 10 will die
  • at 60 km/h – nine in 10 will die

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