tulips that drive at 35-40mph!!!!

laoisfan

hi
i know this has probably been discussed before but just have to get this off my chest!!

was heading home last night, on bus eireann to laois, and between monasterevin and portlaoise some tulip (do not want to use colourful language here) was doing about 35-40mph. there was about 5 cars behind this tulip and then our bus.

what made it even worse was 1) the tulip would not even go the speed limit or pull in slightly (which is illegal) to let people past them OR 2) the tulips behind the main tulip would not even attempt to overtake them and believe me they had2 very good opportunities to do so and safely i might add!!!

the police and government complain about people who constantly exceed the speed limit!! fair enough - but what about those who do not do the speed limits??

ah well - got that off my chest.

--laoisfan

ArphaRima

Its been mentioned in the media plenty of times. Even judges have mentioned it in court and been slated for it.

The problem is that the government has spent so much time telling us that speed is "bad" that they cant rightly say that being slower is "bad" too. Perhaps you should have rang the garda confidential hotline and reported drunk driving. After all who else would drive as slowly on a national road?

magpie

What's really killing people on Irish roads is Irish roads.

The Government are ever-eager to attribute the blame to individuals, but to be frank if there were decent dual carriageways on most of the main routes in the country (rather than the ridiculous winding single-lane each way jobs we have) there would be a lot less accidents. Why? Because it would be safe to overtake those who take it upon themselves to do 40mph on a national road, and those who feel like driving too fast at least have a fast lane in which to do it.

dmeehan

fluffer wrote:

Perhaps you should have rang the garda confidential hotline and reported drunk driving. After all who else would drive as slowly on a national road?

geriatric twits who cannot see over the steering wheel, and we all know that there's plenty of those about on the roads

ArphaRima

No. I figure they are drunk. Or at least if i was in a line of traffic in a bus, I would report it as such.

Capt'n Midnight

You'll probably find that the same muppets drive at 35 through a 30mph zone - it's because they are totally inconsiderate. They should be done for both Speeding and Obstruction, and then dangerous driving.

this morning a car did a U-Turn on a roundabout in Park West then through the next three roundabouts and finally turned left on a side road. He indicated left ONCE. Traffic was VERY heavy and there was one horn blowing incident where two other cars had a jostle at one of the roundabouts in front of him. I was at the stage where if he had hit anyone I was ready to be testify in court that his indicators worked but that he didn't use them.

If you don't follow the rules of the road you have no business using it, and you should be charged with possesion of a dangerous weapon.

In the EU in general you DO NOT drive in the centre of the road, that means here and in the UK you keep in the LEFT of your lane. Also here (unlike the UK) the rules of the road sugest you pull in to the hard shoulder to let traffic past.

narommy

What's worse is those who drive 45-50 on national roads and when the road straightens up they speed up to 60 so that you can't keep to the speed limit and overtake. THen when a bend approaches they're back down to 45 :rolleyes:

There should be a law that if you are not within 5 mph of speed limit and there is a line of 5 cars behind you then you must pull into the left and stop to let others pass. Would reduce the number of head on collisions by half at least. It would also reduce pile ups as drivers wouldn't be tail gating for as long.

Personally i prefer to only do long distance after 8pm. Most people are going someplace at that time of the night and even though i am tireder i feel it is safer.

Bee

dmeehan wrote:

No. I figure they are drunk. Or at least if i was in a line of traffic in a bus, I would report it as such

Be aware that there is a large portion of the population driving? perfectly legally whilst consuming a range of medically prescribed prescription drugs.

Scary...damned Scary

Bee

P.S. Speed never kills but inappropriate speed kills

Victor

narommy wrote:

What's worse is those who drive 45-50 on national roads and when the road straightens up they speed up to 60 so that you can't keep to the speed limit and overtake. THen when a bend approaches they're back down to 45 :rolleyes:

You mean they actually slow down for the bends and corners? :rolleyes:

robbie1876

I think he means a 'meander'. A bend that a rally co-driver would describe as 'Easy Left 1', one you don't have to slow down for. Like the people who slow down for the bends on the M50 south of Firhouse. That's annoying.

Victor

robbie1876 wrote:

I think he means a 'meander'. A bend that a rally co-driver would describe as 'Easy Left 1', one you don't have to slow down for. Like the people who slow down for the bends on the M50 south of Firhouse. That's annoying.

Would you mean where the limit changes from 70mph to 60mph?

robbie1876

No, the people I'm talking about are people who brake when coming up to a 'bend' on a motorway, or a similar bend on a national road.

embraer170

People are obviously driving at that speed because that's the speed they are comfortable at. Would you prefer them driving beyond their confidence levels and then causing accidents?

Zaph0d

embraer170 wrote:

People are obviously driving at that speed because that's the speed they are comfortable at. Would you prefer them driving beyond their confidence levels and then causing accidents?

Good point but you often see a driver doing a constant 40 on 60mph national route and not slow down when they enter a village with a 30 limit. Just 40 all the way regardless of conditions. Also they shouldn't hang out in the fast lane of the M50.

robbie1876

embraer170 wrote:

People are obviously driving at that speed because that's the speed they are comfortable at. Would you prefer them driving beyond their confidence levels and then causing accidents?

I don't accept that. If they are not confident enough to drive at or close to the national speed limit, then either a) they should not be driving at all for lack of confidence or b) they should cop on that others may want to drive faster than them and curteously make way for them.

dmeehan

one of my pet hates is when the driver in front brakes when a car is approaching from the opposite direction.

They wont hit you, they have their own side of the road! :rolleyes:

Sleipnir

robbie1876 wrote:

I don't accept that. If they are not confident enough to drive at or close to the national speed limit, then either a) they should not be driving at all for lack of confidence or b) they should cop on that others may want to drive faster than them and curteously make way for them.

The speed limit is the maximum speed you can travel given perfect road conditions, light conditions etc.
It is not the speed you should maintain regardless of the weather etc.
i.e, if it is raining, foggy or night-time, you should reduce your speed.

dmeehan wrote:

one of my pet hates is when the driver in front brakes when a car is approaching from the opposite direction.
They wont hit you, they have their own side of the road!

While I do agree with you (it is very, very annoying) the most common cause of crash causing death or injury is where one car has crossed the white line into the other lane.

narommy

Victor wrote:

You mean they actually slow down for the bends and corners? :rolleyes:

I've no f***ing problem with people who slow dorn if they are not confident with bends. My f***ing problem is that they speed up and don't let others who are confident pass on a straight stretch whilst keeping to the speed limit.

There are very few parts of national roads that can't take 60mph

I've no problem with the consistent 40mphers.

narommy

Sleipnir wrote:

The speed limit is the maximum speed you can travel given perfect road conditions, light conditions etc.
It is not the speed you should maintain regardless of the weather etc.
i.e, if it is raining, foggy or night-time, you should reduce your speed.

While I do agree with you (it is very, very annoying) the most common cause of crash causing death or injury is where one car has crossed the white line into the other lane.

Except for the pissheads on the roads at night I would consider night time to be the safest time to drive on national roads at 60mph

Crossing the white line is usually as a result of people getting frustrated by some of the aforementioned road users and over take recklessly.

Hagar

I've seen the signs "Warning - Heavy Plant Ahead".
Are they very big tulips?

narommy

I really can't wait for the Heath to Mayfield M7 road. It is exceptionally bad for 45mphers from Monasterevin to Portlaois By Pass

Sleipnir

narommy wrote:

Except for the pissheads on the roads at night I would consider night time to be the safest time to drive on national roads at 60mph

Well, seeing as most RTA's occur at night, statistics disagree with you.

narommy wrote:

Crossing the white line is usually as a result of people getting frustrated by some of the aforementioned road users and over take recklessly.

Ah well, that's okay then.

dmeehan

narommy wrote:

I really can't wait for the Heath to Mayfield M7 road. It is exceptionally bad for 45mphers from Monasterevin to Portlaois By Pass

that stretch is a favourite haunt of portlaoise gardai with speed cameras, be warned!

narommy

Sleipnir wrote:

Well, seeing as most RTA's occur at night, statistics disagree with you.



Ah well, that's okay then.

I did say except for the pissheads. And I did say national roads. If adjusted for those two factors the statistics might agree.

How could they disagree when the numbers of cars on the roads are a fraction of daytime figures and motorists get an advanced warning when they see lights comming in distance.

I'm also sure that if you check those statistics again they will say after midnight. When people get out of the pubs. Whose going to drive long distance at between 12 & 4 am

I meant to say night time as in 8pm to 12pm and early morning as in 4am to 8am


As for the second comment. Of course it's not ok but it does back up the point that driving at an in appropriate speed does kill even if you are not doing the killing. Rules of the road do say hat you should keep to the left and let others pass you.

narommy

dmeehan wrote:

that stretch is a favourite haunt of portlaoise gardai with speed cameras, be warned!

Yes I know. But it doesn't bother me cos I'm no speed merchant and I keep to the speed limits most of the time. Sometimes you have to go above that limit to overtake safely, especially when the 45mphers speed up to 55 on a good stretch.

Also other stretch I refer to is a 60 zone so there is no excuse for going 40mph and definitely no need to fear gardai.

Sleipnir

narommy wrote:

If adjusted for those two factors the statistics might agree.

So, we should adjust the statistic until they show a conclusion more in line with what wewant to think are the most likely causes?


While I agree there are more drunk drivers on our roads at night during the day, speed is the number one killer on out roads, not drink.

Anyway, I've argued about roads far too often in past couple of weeks so I think I'd better give it a rest.

leeroybrown

narommy wrote:

What's worse is those who drive 45-50 on national roads and when the road straightens up they speed up to 60 so that you can't keep to the speed limit and overtake.

Generally speaking, if I were to over take a car on a decent road without infringing the speed limit slightly they would either be crawling or I would be driving poorly. I believe that once I'm in a position where it is safe to overtake I should do so safely but quickly then slow back down into normal traffic. Having been in cars with drivers who see fit to meander past a car at 5mph extra I feel a lot safer if I know that I am executing the manouver swiftly.

As for the 45mph drivers, you should try the N17 from Tuam to Galway on a Sunday afternoon. I have absolutely no issue with drivers who want to drive at 45mph so long as they show the necessary courtesy to other drivers who don't. If a faster moving car approaches me from behind I will generally make space for them to pass (both to my right and in front) but very few of these slow drivers seem to have either the courtesy or observation to realise this.

On the N17 I refer to them as rolling roadblocks. All you need is one 45mph driver who won't pull in and a second driver who slows down, doesn't pass and more importanly won't drop back a reasonable distance so as to allow another driver to overtake. I've seen tailbacks of over 100 cars at 40mph with miles of clear road ahead because of two or three inconsiderate/incompetent drivers.

narommy

Agreed

Could agrue about it for ever. Fact is people are goin to die on roads. It's just a fact of life and a combination of so many different factors.
It is my opinion that I am safer driving on the M/N7,N21,N86 after eight in the evening.

narommy

leeroybrown wrote:

Generally speaking, if I were to over take a car on a decent road without infringing the speed limit slightly they would either be crawling or I would be driving poorly. I believe that once I'm in a position where it is safe to overtake I should do so safely but quickly then slow back down into normal traffic. Having been in cars with drivers who see fit to meander past a car at 5mph extra I feel a lot safer if I know that I am executing the manouver swiftly.

As for the 45mph drivers, you should try the N17 from Tuam to Galway on a Sunday afternoon. I have absolutely no issue with drivers who want to drive at 45mph so long as they show the necessary courtesy to other drivers who don't. If a faster moving car approaches me from behind I will generally make space for them to pass (both to my right and in front) but very few of these slow drivers seem to have either the courtesy or observation to realise this.

On the N17 I refer to them as rolling roadblocks. All you need is one 45mph driver who won't pull in and a second driver who slows down, doesn't pass and more importanly won't drop back a reasonable distance so as to allow another driver to overtake. I've seen tailbacks of over 100 cars at 40mph with miles of clear road ahead because of two or three inconsiderate/incompetent drivers.

I agree with this 100%. Spot on.

GreeBo

laoisfan wrote:

hi
- but what about those who do not do the speed limits??

--laoisfan

lim·it Audio pronunciation of "limit" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (lmt)
n.

1. The point, edge, or line beyond which something cannot or may not proceed.
2. limits The boundary surrounding a specific area; bounds: within the city limits.
3. A confining or restricting object, agent, or influence.

Perhaps you need a definition of "minimum"?

ArphaRima

To the people talking about the speed limit. You should realise that though it is called a limit, it is also the speed the state expects you to drive at; conditions permitting.

Anybody who has done their driving test will know that driving constantly 5 mph below the limit will fail them the test. Only when negotiating a bend, approaching a hazard, or in poor road conditions etc should people be driving slower.
If 3 cars are causing 200 cars to drive 15-20 mph below this speed, there should be a law to correct it. It is a universal grievance.