COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, February 09, 2026

MOTION NO. 2

MOTION: Councillor D. Donnelly

This council calls on the South Dublin County Council to have a week long campaign on road safety focused on bike lanes, electric scooters and mechanically propelled transport.

REPORT:

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) is the body primarily responsible for public safety campaigns relating to cycling, bike lanes, e-scooters, and other micromobility. The RSA frequently undertakes campaign (including those we see regularly on TV)  to promote visibility on our roads and the need for PPE, as well as other campaigns aimed at motorists, cyclists, and eScooter users. 

The Department of Transport leads public information campaigns relating to new legislation (such as e-scooter and e-bike regulations).

An Garda Síochána, although not generally leading campaigns, support road-user education and are responsible for enforcing micromobility rules so are involved in development and rollout of awareness campaigns linked to new regulations.

The focus of the Council's  Road Safety Officer (RSO) is on education, coordination / liaison, and community engagement.  The RSO develops unique campaigns and supports many others initiated by the stakeholders referenced above.

The following is an outlined of campaigns specific to the sentiments of the motion already undertaken or in process of the RSO

January 2025               South Dublin County Council own campaign on ‘E-Scooters’ - See attached 

August 2025                National Day of Personal Powered Transporters 

February 4th    2026     Personal Powered Transporters Enforcement Week – as part of National Awareness week on PPT’s

SDCC will be supporting other agencies during this campaign and running our own multi-agency awareness campaign on PPT’s on all SDCC social media platforms

Coupled with the above, our RSO delivers educational programmes in schools, community groups, and businesses. The current school programme focuses on the following:

In conclusion and notwithstanding all the above, campaigns are exactly as they appear - simply campaigns.  They are non-enforceable and rely heavily on public goodwill to be effective. Therefore in the absence of regulations, for example requiring e-scooter users to wear helmets or high-visibility clothing, it can be increasingly difficult to design related campaigns that influence behaviour in a meaningful way.