Road Accidents

Joeface

Hi all
With all the accidents of late and how much there in news , I said i ask this , Are all the drivers to blame. I mean im sure the do hold most of the blame , everybody drives like at idoit at some stage I know i do.
I got a phone call this morning from the GF she told me sister had just been in a car accident and broke her leg . She was not at fault in the accident but I know the road the accident occured on so I know that the other driver isnt really that much at fault either , he did make a mistake but its the layout of the road that caused this is just one of many at this location some ppl here will know it... accidents here every other day usually small ones but sill accidents, its only a matter of time before someone gets killed
its the exit from the Dublin -Cork Link in limerick , the exit to the Ballysimon road . Basicly the Ballysimon road is one the busyest roads in ireland , and so is the dual carriage way that pass under neat it , and the link up between these 2 roads a bloody T junction . its insane I mean who designed that .the rest is kinda easy to see where this is going , Stuck at the T junction on a busy road 100km zone 8.30am and u cant get out u take the first chance u get which is what this guy did ..bad desison bad timing what ever ... it just the worst place to get stuck......

ok rant over

Matfinn

What they really should do is put up a small 3 minute clip on RTE or something just after the news, showing the common causes of road accidents. They should show a demo of what can happen when people do various careless things on the road. They also need to update that rules of the road booklet. Is it true that they have been the same since in and around 1992 ??

Henry Ford III

Road fatalites are the same in 2006 as to the same point as last year infact.

Details on the Garda site.

Poor driving standards, excessive speed, drunk/drugged driving, and poor and uneven enforcement are all to blame.

p.s. I know that junction. It's not a perect design, but patience might have meant a crash would have been avoided. Sorry to hear that lady got hurt.

Seth Brundle

The gardai keep extremely poor RTA stats.

The majority of incidents (please avoid using the term 'accidents') are caused by driver behaviour in some shape or form.
Excessive speed, lack of concentration/awareness, drink/drugs, etc.
Im not saying road design and also car defects are not to blame for some incidents but in comparison they are shadowed by driver behaviour.

The incident with the Ops sister was caused (from what I gather) because the other driver made a dangerous manouvre which could have (and did) result in contact.

Has there been many incidents at this junction? Has anyone contacted the council & local representatives about it?

MrPudding

I think you could say tat in this case the road may be a contributing factor but at the end of the day the driver decided to make a manouver at a point when he should not have. Driver error. We can do the usual Irish "find someone / something else to blame but at the end of the day it is the drivers fault.

MrP

Joeface

I am aware that its the other drivers fault , im just pointing out that well if the road had been designed properly in the first place many of the accidents that have happened there and many of the ones that will happen there could have been avoided. What I cant understand is Who approved this layout its just crap. This guy has now caused an accident , He is going to have to fork out for his car and hers his insurance might be screwed its his fault completly. he normally might be a good driver .and its the same for everyone at the junction.
Shouldnt the road safty drives the gov and gardai are always talkin about involve improved roads and as well as clamp down on dangerous driving not just blame the drivers all the time . I mean so much money is been spent on our roads and all of them over budget , with the amounts of money been spent they have to start getting that part right as well as cutting down on the dangerous driving. Can do one with out doing the other

bazz26

Joeface wrote:

Hi all
With all the accidents of late and how much there in news , I said i ask this , Are all the drivers to blame. I mean im sure the do hold most of the blame , everybody drives like at idoit at some stage I know i do.
I got a phone call this morning from the GF she told me sister had just been in a car accident and broke her leg . She was not at fault in the accident but I know the road the accident occured on so I know that the other driver isnt really that much at fault either , he did make a mistake but its the layout of the road that caused this is just one of many at this location some ppl here will know it... accidents here every other day usually small ones but sill accidents, its only a matter of time before someone gets killed
its the exit from the Dublin -Cork Link in limerick , the exit to the Ballysimon road . Basicly the Ballysimon road is one the busyest roads in ireland , and so is the dual carriage way that pass under neat it , and the link up between these 2 roads a bloody T junction . its insane I mean who designed that .the rest is kinda easy to see where this is going , Stuck at the T junction on a busy road 100km zone 8.30am and u cant get out u take the first chance u get which is what this guy did ..bad desison bad timing what ever ... it just the worst place to get stuck......

ok rant over

I know that junction that you are talking about and there are two T-junctions there in close proximity of the each - one for both the southbound and northbound carriage ways of the N21 southern ring road that passes underneath it. Only the NRA would design such a disaster of a junction.

I remember that there was someone killed at that junction a week after it was opened. It's a known fact that most trucks that use that road frequently are now avoiding it altogether as they find it too dangerous. So they just use the old route through the suberbs of the city. So thanks to blind stupidity by the engineers in the NRA the new bypass designed to divert heavy trafic from the city is having the opposite effect

Archeron

OP, I see your point. While probably 99% of incidents are caused by driver error or stupidity, there is no denyng that some of the roads in this country are laughably bad. I dont know how many times people have expressed their utter shock the first time they came across the Walkinstown roundabout in Dublin. Most of them even admit that the only way they could cross it was to put the foot down and hope for the best. Combine that type of road layout with the general unawareness that most people are guily of, and you are asking for trouble.

Joeface

Archeron >>> NAIL ON HEAD GOOD SIR

peasant

When you drive along country roads, you will come across all sorts of sections of road that are downright criminal. Sharp bends without any warning, roads narrowing without warning, massive potholes and ondulating surfaces, hard shoulders that com to an abprubt end, unannounced bridges that are barely wide enough for one vehicle ...the list goes on ...

And when I say "without warning" or "unannounced" I would like to point out that a warning sign erected right at the dangerous spot does not constitute a warning/announcement in my book:D

But the authorities like to call that "excessive speeding" ...yeah sure ...the poor fecker that lost control of his car at that point WAS going to fast for the conditions at that very spot ....but how was he to know? ...when a hundred yards further up the (then perfect road) he was actually going slower than permitted and thinking he was doing great safety-wise?

And the greatest perfidity of it all was the erection of all the new speed limit signs ...reminding you to do no more than 80/100 exactly at every spot where you are risking your neck doing 60 kmh ...

(The best one being a 100km/h sign on a road that is until then limited to 60 km/h ...just 30 meters from a STOP sign and a T-junction that are hidden behind the next bend ...ridiculous !! )

mike65

I know that junction the Ballysimon road is the n24 to Tipperary etc, the junctions if leaving the N21 south ring Dual Carriagway seem to have been designed to cause a crash, the visibility if trying to join the N24 is nearly zero. I've meant to take some pics of it but this is what it looks like in simple terms



The whole section illustrated is like a very slight hump back bridge, the view is foreshortened because of that which makes estimating speed and distance harder.

Mike.

Joeface

Well today im blaming the complete stupidity of drivers ...at this Junction yesterday evening on my way home , driver of a wine BMW 5 series reg 89-MO-5
went up the left lane which means ur turning left, in to limerick city , i was right behind him ...What does he do he gets to the stop sign to get out on to the ballysimon road and goes RIGHT ...yes thats what i said RIGHT he cut off 3 ppl , the person in the right lane and the 2 ppl coming form either direction ....So driver of a wine bmw reg 89-mo-5 ur an ass and u should be banned for driving , its quite visible that that cross is dangerous enough with out u making it worse ,
If any one here knows this idiot Beat him over the head................that reg is 89-MO-5


Im going to get a ban for this am'nt i

Seth Brundle

With that reg, was it an M5?

Joeface

did notice that i was stopped at the stop sign wondering what the hell 89-MO-5 was doing:D