Mad drivers down the country

unkel

Coming back from the midlands yesterday about 6pm going from Ballymahon (Co. Longford) to Mullingar (Co. Westmeath) on the R392. Narrow reasonable quality quiet regional road, no hard shoulder whatsoever, pretty straight but hilly. Max speed 80km/h. I was doing various speeds between 80km/h and 100km/h

Was overtaken 4 times on a stretch of about 25km, twice by a car and twice by a van. The cars and the one van carried on at speeds of about 110-120km/h. The other van carried on at about 130-140km/h :eek:

Subsequently on a stretch of about 60km on the M4, I was doing 130km/h and was not overtaken once

In my 7-series I felt 100km/h was the max I could safely do on the R392 under perfect conditions. In a family hatch, I would not have gone over 80km/h, let alone in a van

I don't spend much time driving on R-roads. Is it your experience there are a lot of people speeding on them?

Edit: And by speeding I mean doing speeds like 140km/h in a van on that type of road. (as opposed to doing 130 on a 120 motorway). Don't get me wrong. I don't condone speeding, even though I was speeding myself

giveth

I notice that aswell....

It seems to me that in this country the worse the road, the faster the people drive.

I'd drive 130kmh or a little more on motorways, 110 - 120 kmp on dual carraigways where I think it is perfectly safe to do this speeds. But on these roads I always seem to be going faster than everyone else.

Then on narrow country roads with no visibility and not enough space for 2 cars to pass I always have people up my ass trying to overtake me. And on these roads I'm regularly almost run off the road by people going too fast and on the wrong side of the road going around corners.

I think it proabably has to do with that fact that your much more likely to get caught speeding on the wide open roads, as this is where all the speed traps are.

Seth Brundle

familiarisation breeds contempt
They are probably used to driving the roads and know the max speeds possible for certain stretches (but don't factor in potential hazards)

gstonesmx5

from living in the country for most of my life there are two answers to this.
1. for some the back road is that and take at leisure or the legal limit.
2. for others its a main road and they treat it like a motorway.

either way i still have to do lots of back rd driving and see both every day
so its a common thing and i think will stay that way.

thats my 2cents anyway.

bennyc

I drive what has to be one of the worst roads in the west every day about 20 miles long.
Its nuts what I get every week, I have to go that route as I have kids to drop off at a certin time and if I go the long way we are talking about 45 mins extra. At leat twice a week (at least twice usually more)I will meet a car / van / bus / lorry / tractor comming head on taking up half the road (my side) and have to swerve to avoid. I have to add that I am not the over cautious driver I sound like but Jesus Christ between the vans with the ni reg heading home in a rush and the boy racers on that road a smash is comming my way. When I get my **** together I will be driving a tank s80 / s60 basically for my protection as this bit of road is getting worse every day.
Mentioned it to a local garda once. reply : sure that road is nuts :eek: :eek: :eek: never once have I seen them on it.

shoegirl

Sorry to say this, but as a Dub who lives in east Cork I regularly see behaviour on the road which simply defies belief. The main problem in rural areas is that a lot of people deliberately go to work at off peak times (often ridiculously early) to avoid traffic so are blissfully unaware of other drivers. Just yesterday I saw a driver overtake a car on the left hand side of a slip road and nearly crashed straight into a car coming down the main road in order to try to "sneak" in front of the car that was waiting to merge onto the main road. He then tailgated the car he nearly crashed into (who had spotted him and roared the horn at him) for the next mile before speeding off in another direction. I spotted him further down - was a guy in his 50s. Absolutely appalling and dangerous driver who simply should be taken off the road. The likes of him are a particular menace to pedestrians and cyclists.

I once was sitting at the front of a bus near Midleton and the drivers used to fly so fast we were literally less than 8 inches once from a head-on collision!

BrianD3

Yes, an awful lot of drivers speed and/or drive dangerously on country roads. Either they ignore the 80 km/h limit or they drive at 80 km/h when the road is clearly not suitable for that speed. One of the biggest dangers on country roads is as already mentioned, drivers coming around bends far too fast with no hope in hell of stopping in the distance they can see to be clear. On R-roads if they come across a pedestrian or tractor on their side of the road they're in trouble. On narrower roads (below R standard) its even worse as all oncoming traffic that they meet is in danger too.

The same people probably dawdle along at 90 km/h on deserted motorways :rolleyes: In fact I have seen this happen. I have been tailgated and overtaken dangerously on R-roads then a few miles down the road when the R-road has led onto a M-way I've caught up with the assholes.

PS a tip for anyone who is worried about being wiped out on a narrow country road. Drive at a speed which allows you to stop in HALF the distance you can see to be clear. That way you have some extra protection if an oncoming car comes around a bend too fast and is taking up more than half the road. At least if there is a crash you'll probably be stationary when it happens.

maidhc

Being a citizen of the coutryside beyond midleton, I dont think things are that bad at all. The roads are good, and while speeds of 60mph are pretty common, people don't do too much more than that.

Having said that I recently met a guy at a blind bend in a Mazda who ended up in the ditch trying to avoid me in a tractor. He totally accepted he was at fault. He didn't do much damage apart from blowing his tyre and scraping his bumper. He was still only doing about 30mph.

kluivert

Country road driving....the joys

You dublin boys give out about driving on the M50 or M1 thats a piece of pee compared to country road driving.

You must give they to oncoming lorries underwise you will end up under neath them.

You must be able to safe the rear end of the car from slipping out from the water grass verge.

You must be able to vision oncoming accidents, ie every car that approaches you in order to avoid it.

You must be able to play chicken with overtaking cars.

You must be able to driving at least a metre from the car in front in order to drive safely.

Country driving is incrediblely dangerous. I was trying to be smart above but its not a joke, Lorries cant take country road corners without crossing the white line. I dont know how many times I have nearly lost the back end of the car from wet grass and leafs on the road. You need to expect the unexpected every minute on the road, because everyday without fail you see the most stupidest things. And tailgating is very common, I still cant understand why people do it.

Overtaking....I only overtake when am on roads that I know, and even then when I overtake I normally have a good run at the car in front so I can get pass them as quick as possible. The road I travel I would have four overtaking spots and dont try to overtake anywhere else as I know its too risky and not worth even the effort or risk

maidhc

kluivert wrote:

Country road driving....the joys

You dublin boys give out about driving on the M50 or M1 thats a piece of pee compared to country road driving.

You must give they to oncoming lorries underwise you will end up under neath them.

You must be able to safe the rear end of the car from slipping out from the water grass verge.

You must be able to vision oncoming accidents, ie every car that approaches you in order to avoid it.

You must be able to play chicken with overtaking cars.

You must be able to driving at least a metre from the car in front in order to drive safely.

Country driving is incrediblely dangerous. I was trying to be smart above but its not a joke, Lorries cant take country road corners without crossing the white line. I dont know how many times I have nearly lost the back end of the car from wet grass and leafs on the road. You need to expect the unexpected every minute on the road, because everyday without fail you see the most stupidest things. And tailgating is very common, I still cant understand why people do it.

Overtaking....I only overtake when am on roads that I know, and even then when I overtake I normally have a good run at the car in front so I can get pass them as quick as possible. The road I travel I would have four overtaking spots and dont try to overtake anywhere else as I know its too risky and not worth even the effort or risk

All the above is pretty much true. Driving in the coutry is much more difficult and tiring that in and around Dublin or anywhere built up. It sure as hell is more enjoyable on a day like today though.

mike65

unkel wrote:

The other van carried on at about 130-140km/h :eek:

I gave you a wave as I passed!

Mike.

Wolverine_1999

I would definately say that country drivers are more skilled than city drivers or people always driving on motorways, i.e Dublin, Cork, Galway...

You see it when people come here from abroad in their Dan Dooley rentals. They are petrified of the narrow roads and waddle along at 50kph. I think the same would apply for some up country people, who are just no way fit for driving on normal Irish country roads. The reason they think everyone is speeding is because they cannot navigate the road at a pace that locally everyone is used to doing.

Having said that, it's no excuse for anyone to speed along at 140kph on a regional road... Depending on the road in question, it's not normally possible to drive faster than 80kph anyway because of the state of the road.

mike65

I like to think I can get along "b-roads" quickly without doing stupid things. Today I went from Cashel to Kilkenny via Fethard and Callan, the road until Callan is a neverending sucession of hairpin bends and corners but I managed the journey in less than 50 mins. Quiet enough road luckily.

Mike.

heggie

Wolverine_1999 wrote:

I would definately say that country drivers are more skilled than city drivers or people always driving on motorways, i.e Dublin, Cork,

absolutely, thats why the vast majority of deaths on our road are rural drivers

they're more skilled to speed on dangerous roads, and theyre even more skilled to drink and drive

:rolleyes:

kluivert

maidhc wrote:

All the above is pretty much true. Driving in the coutry is much more difficult and tiring that in and around Dublin or anywhere built up. It sure as hell is more enjoyable on a day like today though.

Driving home from work windows down sunroof open wind in my air not stucj in traffic free flowing all the way air, priceless

maidhc

heggie wrote:

absolutely, thats why the vast majority of deaths on our road are rural drivers

they're more skilled to speed on dangerous roads, and theyre even more skilled to drink and drive

:rolleyes:

Meh. Its hard to die when you can only do 10mph on the M50.

Munya

I dont drive but usually cause a delay and therefore make the driver speed sorry.

I dont think theres much speeding on my little third class road the cars go by pretty fast but too fast? Not sure

elexes

i fully agree with kluivert about what you have to expect in country roads

lorries crossing the white line ... ive had that problom loads and its bloody scary im just glad that they are widening most roads in ireland now

curiosity

unkel wrote:

In my 7-series I felt 100km/h was the max I could safely do on the R392 under perfect conditions. In a family hatch, I would not have gone over 80km/h, let alone in a van

Curious as to why you hold this opinion. Would you be good enough to elaborate?

mike65

Cos BMWs rule! Maybe something to do with the balance between weight and height (centre of gravity)

Mike.

curiosity

mike65 wrote:

Cos BMWs rule! Maybe something to do with the balance between weight and height (centre of gravity)

Mike.

Naw, if that was the case beemer drivers would need to go slower (higher centre of gravity caused by massive egos;)

Seth Brundle

curiosity wrote:

Naw, if that was the case beemer drivers would need to go slower (higher centre of gravity caused by massive egos

har har
:rolleyes:

mike65 wrote:

Cos BMWs rule! Maybe something to do with the balance between weight and height (centre of gravity)

Mike.

...and that coming from a merc driver!

mike65

Thats what Unkel might say, I would'nt naturally.

Mike.

Rudolph Claus

Curious as to why you hold this opinion. Would you be good enough to elaborate?

He probably cant drive a nail. Obviously others thought a slightly faster speed was safe. And i doublt they were doing above 70mph to be honest. If vans were passing him I suspect he was dwadling along at an annoying 50mph and not the 60mph he says, thinking he was being nice and safe. Most people will sit at 60mph on them roads, even vans so they were passing him for some reason. Do you brake at every slight bend you come to "Unkel"? Does being overtaken get to you, especially by vans? Pity the 7series is wasted on an incompetent driver. Perhaps your female? :rolleyes:

In my 7-series I felt 100km/h was the max I could safely do on the R392 under perfect conditions. In a family hatch, I would not have gone over 80km/h, let alone in a van

Are you incompetent? If you cant do 60mph on them roads you shouldnt be driving. Sure a lot of them roads used be 60mph before being stupidly changed to 50mph.

In a family hatch, I would not have gone over 80km/h, let alone in a van

So you reckon a difference of 10mph is a big factor between a family hatch/van compared to your bmw when we`re talking of small speeds of 50 and 60mph? Why so, or do you even know why you think that. :rolleyes: Thats laughable, such utter bull talk.

I don't spend much time driving on R-roads.

No ****! So you were probably being over-cautious slowing down for every little bend. Maybe the lads that over took you travel the road regularly and know where the safe spots are to over-take nerds.

was the max I could safely do on the R392 under perfect conditions

lol,, anyone that comes out with driving instructor jargon like that statement has to be gay.

Seth Brundle

@ Nuttzy - how long have you been driving? You really do sound like a snotty teenager who knows it all and think they are better than Schumacher.
Knowing a road does not make it safe to overtake! Simple fact!
Just because a road has a limit of whatever, does not mean that it automatically can take that speed. Anyone who is familiar with our roads would know that. In saying that many roads could cater for higher speed limits but like it or not they still have a speed limit. [I do like to occasionally put the foot down but I know what Im doing and will accept any consequences]
Lastly, I don't think you really know what being gay is if you think there is a connection with being a driving instructor. Maybe type 'gay' into google and see what you get - you might even like it.

edit: upon re-reading your post, I see another reference to being less of a man if you can't drive. I strongly suspect that you are in denial about your sexuality.

maidhc

I thought Nuttzy was being sarcastic!

Lots of vulgar abuse and weird driving observations for one post.

6ix

kbannon wrote:

familiarisation breeds contempt
They are probably used to driving the roads and know the max speeds possible for certain stretches (but don't factor in potential hazards)

I would agree with this. When you're used to driving the same road every day, you know the best overtaking spots, the max speeds etc. If the drivers who overtook the OP were overtaking in dangerous places, that's obviously reckless - a different matter. One can only assume they knew the road better than he did, and believed that they could get their their destination quicker by overtaking.

Everyone here has been on a road they know well, caught behind a slow-joe of some sort, dying to get past. It's quite frustrating.

Hagar

The trouble is that there is always the guy coming in the the other direction who thinks he knows the road too: result, serious injuries and deaths.

oleras

You know, i hate to make generalisations, but here goes..... if one was to take the pro overtaking average age and marital status against the anti overtaking average age and marital status i am sure it would be black and white...... country roads are not made for overtaking, but unfortunatly so many drivers assume they are on the circut of ireland rally and can drive doing 80-100kmh on these roads......how can one compare an old type N (now R in a lot of places with the introduction of bypasses) to a road where you HAVE to pull in to let a tractor, milk lorry pass you,and assume you can do the same speed because the limits are the same... you cannot drive fast on these things, 3 weeks ago i was heading to work on a country road, from my house, but unfortunatly it is also a rat run from one main road to another, the amount of cars that fly around the corners is scary....case in point, some guy came around a bend, not even a tight bend in his BMW and hit me nearly head on, only the fact i swerved i managed to reduce the colission to him hitting me on the drivers light side, still managed to write off both cars, but thankfully noone was severly hurt, or even killed.... the limit on the road was 50kmh as it was aproaching the main road but this guy was easilly doing 80 or 90....way too fast, and he could not control the car. Driving is dangerous enough, and everyone will agree there are ejits on our roads, but it does not make you a better or smarter driver to be able to rally the country roads of ireland... maybe if some of these drivers had families, either at home or in the car with them they might slow it down a bit.... and if you are stuck behind someone who is not comfortable with tearing around crap roads....sit back, pull in for a few mins..... dont go up their ass and pressure them into hugging the ditch, thats road rage in my openion...... the statistics speak for themselfs....young single males......and i know they are only statistics, but sometimes you have to stand back and look at it from someone elses point of view, they dont rally home because they might have a wife and children waiting for them..... just something to mull over.........and i would ask, before anyone flames me..... reread my post again, it might make more sense on the second read........and also, just my openion, but im sure it is shared with a lot of other drivers out there.....

maidhc

oleras wrote:

reread my post again, it might make more sense on the second read........

That would be a more attractive proposition if you used paragraphs!

I think the "mad drivers" on rural roads are invariably locals, who have neither the time nor inclination to pull over and wait a few minutes. I know my dad drives just as fast, if not faster on such roads as I do - which while much faster than a non-native would drive isn't particuarly dangerous... e.g. you dont come into an unexpected bend too fast!

Big Nelly

haha Dublin drivers saying country ones are worse....lmao, I learned to drive in the country and for the last 7-8 years have been driving in Dublin, every morning into city centre!!

I travel alot on the N3 and this is the usual that happens, get to first set of Traffic lights on the Dublin side of Navan, go green and every D reg car floors it, once it gets to the dual lane they are busting from one lane to the other nearly causing accidents to try and get in front of the car in front, finally get past as many cars in the Navan town because they have broke speed limits, nearly caused accidents, broke every green light etc

get outside of Navan on Cavan side and all the D reg cars are moving along at anywhere between 60-80kmph. Holding up all the traffic. This is the guy that nearly caused an accident in the town to try and get past these cars

Yeah Dublin drivers are great:rolleyes:

oleras

maidhc wrote:

That would be a more attractive proposition if you used paragraphs!

I think the "mad drivers" on rural roads are invariably locals, who have neither the time nor inclination to pull over and wait a few minutes. I know my dad drives just as fast, if not faster on such roads as I do - which while much faster than a non-native would drive isn't particuarly dangerous... e.g. you dont come into an unexpected bend too fast!

apologies for the lack of paragraphs.....lol.....


but on a more serious point, especially in the nice weather now, what are u gona do if you come around a bend and meet another car....no worries, but throw the 3 walkers into the equation....its tight enough for the 2 cars, let alone a car and truck to pass....... thats the big issue, these things happen, and if you are doing 50 or 60kmh you will not be able to stop, the unexpected does happen..... as i said, just because you think you can drive fast on back roads does not make you a more competent driver, whats the big thing about slowing down a bit ?? leave 5 mins earlier for crying out loud......

Wolverine_1999

You'll notice that most of the fatal accidents in Ireland occur at around 4 or 5 in the morning, showing obviously that alcohol must come into play. The problem is that although we may have ads which may be graphic, it's still only TV and everyone knows it's just staged. Local and national newspapers will always mention that "the car went out of control" never saying that the driver was pissed off his head and was nailing his own coffin shut.

It's time people recognise the reasons for accidents in the early morning, as there are some people as thick as the ditch in Ireland..

In relation to people getting killed on country roads, the chance of having an accident when intoxicated on a road 5 metres wide is a little higher than one with 3 or 4 lanes on either side?? :rolleyes:

I still don't understand how some people can speed along at 100kph on some roads where the car can barely hold itself together. The car gets destroyed on these roads. I remember seeing a documentary on boy racers there a few years ago on RTE, this complete scanger of a girl from Tralee said that "people with modified cars take care of their cars and are the least likely to cause accidents on the roads". The biggest bull**** I've ever heard in my life. Half of those shopping trolleys are falling apart because of how "well" they take care of their cars!

Mr. Presentable

Maybe it's a Mullingar thing;)

I overtook on the by-pass a woman at the wheel of her SUV breast feeding :eek:

And near the same place a couple of months ago, a bloke at the wheel, using his mobile, with a dog on his lap :eek: :eek: :eek:

I reported both, but is anything done if the guards themselves don't see it?

Wolverine_1999

nipplenuts wrote:

Maybe it's a Mullingar thing;)

I overtook on the by-pass a woman at the wheel of her SUV breast feeding :eek:

And near the same place a couple of months ago, a bloke at the wheel, using his mobile, with a dog on his lap :eek: :eek: :eek:

I reported both, but is anything done if the guards themselves don't see it?

A bit funny these...but unlikely anything will be done! If reported as dangerous driving, you'll either have to appear as a witness in District Court, (if charges are made), or the Guards will just visit them at home and tell them not to do it again :rolleyes:

elmyra

Hmmm....well I've only been driving for about two years, my first year in the country at home and now around Dublin. I have to say, I've seen equally crazy driving in Dublin as I have on the country roads, the only difference being that Dublin traffic means speed isn't the main factor, just plain recklessness and stupidity.

I can understand the temptation to drive faster on a road you're used to, but in general I think there are safe drivers and there are crazy drivers and it doesn't make much difference where they're located, it's probably just more obvious in the country cos there are bad roads.

commited

unkel wrote:

In my 7-series I felt 100km/h was the max I could safely do on the R392 under perfect conditions. In a family hatch, I would not have gone over 80km/h, let alone in a van

How come?

babybundy

i think dublin drives are the worse drivers up the keys at 10 on a sunday morning doing over 70 mph and i suppose i am worse for keeping up with him but god almighty at least speed within reason

unkel

Wow, plenty of responses. Thanks folks!

giveth wrote:

I think it proabably has to do with that fact that your much more likely to get caught speeding on the wide open roads, as this is where all the speed traps are.

That was my intitial thought too. Then again it must be a rural thing in it's own right. Very few people would drive at a lot less than the maximum speed on reasonable quality single carriageway R and N roads, as opposed to many people crawling along at 60km/h on M roads (mainly M50, granted)

BrianD3 wrote:

I have been tailgated and overtaken dangerously on R-roads then a few miles down the road when the R-road has led onto a M-way I've caught up with the assholes

Yep happened to me a good few times too. Why do people do that?

kluivert wrote:

Country driving is incrediblely dangerous. I was trying to be smart above but its not a joke

You've good points there. It is quite likely country drivers are better drivers than city drivers. But even the best driver in the world would not be safe doing 140km/h in a van on the R392

curiosity wrote:

Curious as to why you hold this opinion. Would you be good enough to elaborate?

commited wrote:

How come?

My car is long and wide. It is heavy. It has a 50-50 rear-front weight distribution. The traction control I always leave on in normal driving works amazingly well. The car has been professionaly lowered, the suspension stiffened and the brakes uprated. The tyres are upgraded and are low-profile and very wide The car is very stable and the centre of gravity is very low. To pick one of the above as a highlight, the brake power is extremely good. The braking distance in my car from 100-0km/h would be a lot better than in an average family hatch or van from 80-0km/h

@Nuttzy - LOL, I had a good laugh from your post

DublinWriter

kluivert wrote:

You dublin boys give out about driving on the M50 or M1 thats a piece of pee compared to country road driving.
...
You must be able to play chicken with overtaking cars.
...
You must be able to driving at least a metre from the car in front in order to drive safely.

Screw that. As a Dublin Boy living in the depths of Meath, I've seen no end of lunacy from both Cavan and Lithuanian regged cars on N-roads that the phrase 'twisty slurry covered pot holed boreen' wouldn't do justice to.

You should have added 'You must be prepared to become another death statistic' to the end of your list.

Just because you've grown up in the area since the year dot and you think know every little twist and bend in the road doesn't make you super-immune and invincible in your little souped-up *insert country 20-somethings car of choice here*.

The death stats at the end of every weekend speak for themselves. It's not the Dubs dying in cars in ditches by the side of the M50 every weekend, and considering the geographical concentration of people inside Dublin, the amount of deaths outside Dublin is staggering and usually make up 95% of the total road fatalities.

...and with attitudes to driving like yours kluivert, I ain't surprised.

layke

I have a question regarding accidents these days. when I was growing up Dublin was considered the most viable place to have an accident. Hence higher insurance costs (or so it was claimed). Now it seems whenever I hear an accident has happened it's always in some county top the west on some dodgy road.

Does the above still apply to Dublin or has the west surpassed us?

DublinWriter

layke wrote:

I have a question regarding accidents these days. when I was growing up Dublin was considered the most viable place to have an accident. Hence higher insurance costs (or so it was claimed). Now it seems whenever I hear an accident has happened it's always in some county top the west on some dodgy road.

Does the above still apply to Dublin or has the west surpassed us?

It was because Dublin had 'whiplash fever' between 1970 and the early 1990s, before Whiplish could be properly medically verified as being present in someone.

The slightest shunt ended up in claims of tens of thousands of punts. Statistically Dublin always had a high rate of non-fatal non-headline making accidents.

Secondly, car insurance isn't life insurance.

kluivert

DublinWriter wrote:

Screw that. As a Dublin Boy living in the depths of Meath, I've seen no end of lunacy from both Cavan and Lithuanian regged cars on N-roads that the phrase 'twisty slurry covered pot holed boreen' wouldn't do justice to.

You should have added 'You must be prepared to become another death statistic' to the end of your list.

Just because you've grown up in the area since the year dot and you think know every little twist and bend in the road doesn't make you super-immune and invincible in your little souped-up *insert country 20-somethings car of choice here*.

The death stats at the end of every weekend speak for themselves. It's not the Dubs dying in cars in ditches by the side of the M50 every weekend, and considering the geographical concentration of people inside Dublin, the amount of deaths outside Dublin is staggering and usually make up 95% of the total road fatalities.

...and with attitudes to driving like yours kluivert, I ain't surprised.

Am sorry but you have got to be joking because if you had of read the full post you would have read

Country driving is incrediblely dangerous. I was trying to be smart above but its not a joke

Frankly I am disappointed with what you said, you dont know me nor my attitude.

Please read that post again and apologise!

I have had two friends die on the roads, one of which was crushed under a lorry, I have wrote off my first car after been on the road only three months after i lost the rear end on wet grass going around a corner. My best friend was runned of the road on a corner by a lorry that couldnt take it properly. I never drive above 50mph on country roads Id say on average my speed is around 40mph, I dont take chances because I am aware of the studity on the roads these days and I love my life to much to throw it away.

After reading this you should have have realised that the list I posted was based on true events.

I am highly upset with your comment. You bulled into a reply without reading the post properly because it made a reference to a dublin person. I am sitting here in rage, you wouldnt believe.

...and with attitudes to driving like yours kluivert, I ain't surprised.

My initial comment about "Dublin Boys" referred to driving on the motorways, I believe the motorways are a great thing and there should be more of them as I believe they save lives.

Pigeon Reaper

I've seen all types of driving in all parts of the country. There are idiots everywhere. Personally I never drive faster than the conditions or speed limits allow.This has meant being overtaken on doulbe white lines by cars who are impatient. Personally I prefer driving slower and knowing I'll get there in one piece than pushing it and not getting there alive. I used to speed well above the limit where possible but came across an accident once where I saw what was left after a person crashed at 80kph after hitting a diesel spill from a truck. The guy seemingly knew the road but couldn't foresee the diesel on a bend.

base2

I think it is obviously you who likes to drive a bit slow. I'd have no problem with others doing 70mph on a quality back road. Was doing it last week when I was in a rush and it was fine.

Pigeon Reaper

I'll do the speed limit no problem if conditions permit. I admit it can be infuriating at times when you have a straight and it's safe to go faster but the law forbids it. What I'm talking about are bad roads with blind bends, uneven surfaces or god knows what around the next corner. When in Germany working I do drive at high speeds on the autobahns and have passed 130MPH on my bike but to consider doing the speeds some do on Irish R roads is insane. Personally if I want to drive at high speeds I go to Mondello or road racing where the roads are clear and you know whats around the bend. Personally I choose to be late rather than risk a bad accident or injuring someone else.

Stark

base2 wrote:

I think it is obviously you who likes to drive a bit slow. I'd have no problem with others doing 70mph on a quality back road. Was doing it last week when I was in a rush and it was fine.

Ah but not everyone has a bit of Dutch courage when they're driving.

That said, I was stuck behind camper vans doing less than 30mph on a 60 mile stretch of country road over the weekend. Successfully overtook one (had to wait for a queue of cars to overtake it) only to be stuck behind another one and its queue of cars 20 miles later. Seriously did my head in. Cars were attempting more and more dangerous overtaking manouvers the longer it dragged on for.

The worst thing is if there was an accident he'd be thinking "Well I was doing 30mph the whole way so I was a safe driver, bloody murderers on our roads..."

unkel

base2 wrote:

I think it is obviously you who likes to drive a bit slow

That aimed at me? If it is, I can assure you I do not like to drive slowly

Seth Brundle

base2 wrote:

I think it is obviously you who likes to drive a bit slow. I'd have no problem with others doing 70mph on a quality back road. Was doing it last week when I was in a rush and it was fine.

Some of the comments in this thread are getting really immature.
70mph (we have now gone metric BTW!) is a fast speed for many of our minor roads - especially those with many bends. the nature of our roads is such that a bend may be just a kink or a complete hairpin and usually there is no advance notice of it.
What happens if there is a kid playing, or loose cattle on the road just around the corner? What happens if there is a tractor with two big feck off round bale tynes sticking out behind it? What happens if there is an accident around the corner?
Even straight stretches are not always safe! The amount of times I have been involved in an overtaking manouvre (both overtaking and being overtaken) when some idiot pulls out of a side road without looking. Its very common!
And before Im labelled as being a "Driving Miss Daisy", Im certainly not one!

mike65

Someone reported some of the ****e on this thread but I think its best to let the wise heads show up the stupidity of the basebal cap style speed-freaks.

Mike.

babybundy

i am a young fella and i admit i do like to drive fast but i have no prob with someone going slow (with in reason) but its when they speed up and push out when the chance comes to over take really pisses me off