Audit of speed limits on nation's roads due today

The Minister for Transport is to unveil details of an audit of the speed limits on the country's roads today.

The plan comes a year after Leo Varadkar appointed a working group to assess areas where the limit may be too high or too low.

"So many people in this country appear to regard the speed limits as a target speed to be attained," said Gay Byrne, Chairman of the Road Safety Authority.

"The complaint keeps on being worded: 'how can I possibly travel at 80km an hour on a little laneway like this' - as if the speed limit is telling them that this is the speed you must travel at, instead of the highest permitted speed."