M50 speed limit

Captain Trips

Am I on crack or something, or does no-one obey the 60kph limit on the M50 at the moment? I was on it last night and felt I was driving uncomfortably slow for other cars if I was doing 80, with plenty of people whizzing by at 100+ I estimate.

The road is still has two lanes, is the 60 limit too slow? It felt like it was in light traffic that 80 or even 100 would be more appropriate, if it weren't for the areas where the white merge triangles used to be.

mackerski

On a German autobahn a works site like that (and many with narrow lanes) would have an 80 limit with 60 at lane shift sections.

60 is very conservative IMHO. They even apply it on sections with no works and no cones.

Dermot

Sandwich

Regularly find the same thing, but it seems 80 to 90 is the accepted speed so I guess no one is being stopped for breaking 60:


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055007266&referrerid=&highlight=M50+speed+limit%22

bazz26

Captain Trips wrote:

Am I on crack or something, or does no-one obey the 60kph limit on the M50 at the moment? I was on it last night and felt I was driving uncomfortably slow for other cars if I was doing 80, with plenty of people whizzing by at 100+ I estimate.

The road is still has two lanes, is the 60 limit too slow? It felt like it was in light traffic that 80 or even 100 would be more appropriate, if it weren't for the areas where the white merge triangles used to be.

I know what you mean, I was trying to keep to the 60kph myself limit last Friday lunchtime for a few miles before it became bumper to bumper again. When traffic did thin out lots of vehicles were doing about 80 - 100kph.

Maybe they should introduce different speed limits at different times - say 60kph at peak times when there actually are road works happening and 80kph at off peak times.

Capt'n Midnight

either enforce the 60Kph or change the sign :mad:
unenforced laws that are blatently disregarded is just training people to speed, and lets not forget that some of the drivers are now learning bad habbits before their test.

layke

They can't up it. The EU says there are too many bends in that particular southern section hence the 100kp/h limit and sanctions on the gov to keep it that way. Tbh I do believe it's safe to drive at 120kh/h on that bit of road except perhaps one bend and defiately not if it's raining but the traffic tends to go slower when the rain comes out anyway bar a few idiots.

All in all a 100km/h limit for just that bend would be a tad silly imo so why not just keep it the way it is. I mean they aren't exactly sharp.

Seth Brundle

layke - i think they are talking about the roadworks areas

ninty9er

I think it needs a 160-180 limit in places with the full 3 lanes open.

80 is as slow as anyone should be travelling on a dual carriageway, sleet, rain, roadworks or snow

Captain Trips

160-180 would be perfect indeed for the three lanes of the N7 coming into the red cow, it's a beautiful road really !

That bit someone mentioned above southbound after tallaght I figured was some sort of Eu legislation. You can see the same on autobahns where they switch to 130 and then 100 for bends of probably some calculated camber or turn or something.

It's actually quite difficult to drive at 60 on the road works section, as you can get flashes and so on from people behind.

What's the time frame on this improvement. If it's like the N7 when finished it iwll be very nice assumign a return to 120kph (+?) - any websites that deal with these roadworks and monitor the progress or anything?

ninty9er

Should be delivered on budget just in time to bring young baby Byrne home from the Rotunda for grandad Bertie to see him/her;)

leeroybrown

As was pointed out above unrealistically low speed limits are generally exceeded and result in bad habits.

I'm reminded of getting a lift with someone a few years ago. They kept to the 60MPH speed limit on the national roads most of the time, likewise with the standard urban 30MPH limits but they hit 80MPH on a long dual lane section with an unrealistically low 30MPH limit. People routinely pass 80KPH on that section of road and you really are crawling by comparison if you keep to the limit.

Victor

ninty9er wrote:

I think it needs a 160-180 limit in places with the full 3 lanes open.

Can't be done. To fit the fourth (weaving) lane, the other lanes are being made slightly narrower.

NeMiSiS

Did my best to obey this speed limit yesterday, and every single car/truck/whatever, overtook me. To be honest they can overtake/beep/flash all they want, it's not a secret that people are being done on that stretch for breaking the limit, not that I agree with it in the slightest, but I'd rather be late than to have a few penalty points, if other people feel differently about that , then they are free to break the limit.

TK

drdre

Sandwich wrote:

Regularly find the same thing, but it seems 80 to 90 is the accepted speed so I guess no one is being stopped for breaking 60:


http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055007266&referrerid=&highlight=M50+speed+limit%22

i have seen the white camera van parked at the ballymount flyover, so some people might have got caught going over 60

ando

Im not going to lie, I totally ignored the limit last night. Its way to slow. Only when I saw men working on the road behind the barriers did I slow down to the limit

Alun

I was over in the UK a few weeks ago, and on one stretch of the M6 where there were roadworks with a contraflow and a 40mph limit, they had those new "average speed" cameras. They were very prominent and well signposted and absolutely everybody stuck to exactly 40mph for the entire duration of the roadworks. Traffic flowed a lot more easily too as a result.

Thing is, if there's just a warning that there 'might' be a speed camera there, people tend to risk it on the assumption that if they see it they'll be able to slam on the brakes and slow down in time. But with these new average speed cameras, there's basically no escape. They really do seem to work, both at roadworks and other locations I've seen hem too.

[CrimsonGhost]

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

either enforce the 60Kph or change the sign :mad:
unenforced laws that are blatently disregarded is just training people to speed, and lets not forget that some of the drivers are now learning bad habbits before their test.

Provisional driver shouldn't be there in the first place.

ambro25

AFAIK (from 3 airport taxi drives since they started the M50 works and seen it myself at least twice), there's an absolute sh1tload of M50 drivers (incl. taxis) that have been barrel-fished by the GATSO van parked in the middle of the road works over the past couple of months. Points and fines galore, and I'm surprised there hasn't yet been much public stuff about it (not that I'd complain about it myself - for once, it's 60kph for a reason).

Sandwich

ambro25 wrote:

Points and fines galore, and I'm surprised there hasn't yet been much public stuff about it (not that I'd complain about it myself - for once, it's 60kph for a reason).

Much public stuff or not, points and fines galore is still great news. The media like bad news not good news stories.

breadmonkey

Alun wrote:

I was over in the UK a few weeks ago, and on one stretch of the M6 where there were roadworks with a contraflow and a 40mph limit, they had those new "average speed" cameras. They were very prominent and well signposted and absolutely everybody stuck to exactly 40mph for the entire duration of the roadworks. Traffic flowed a lot more easily too as a result.

Thing is, if there's just a warning that there 'might' be a speed camera there, people tend to risk it on the assumption that if they see it they'll be able to slam on the brakes and slow down in time. But with these new average speed cameras, there's basically no escape. They really do seem to work, both at roadworks and other locations I've seen hem too.

What is an 'average speed camera'?

overdriver

http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/SPECS.htm

Apparently, you can evade it by changing lanes between cameras.

KeRbDoG

Reads your number plate as you enter a stretch of road, and another camera at the end of a stretch of road reads your plate again. From this, knowing the distance between cameras and the time you took to travel between the two cameras and work out if you where driving over the speed limit.
Great idea in my opinion.

unkel

breadmonkey wrote:

What is an 'average speed camera'?

A system where a camera takes a pic of a vehicles' license. A camera further down the road takes another pic. With the known distance between the cameras and the recorded times of taking the pictures, the system can calculate the average speed of the vehicle

KeRbDoG

overdriver wrote:

http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/SPECS.htm

Apparently, you can evade it by changing lanes between cameras.

How ****e is that: http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/16/uk-drivers-change-lanes-to-outsmart-specs-speeding-cameras/

Alun

overdriver wrote:

http://www.speedcamerasuk.com/SPECS.htm

Apparently, you can evade it by changing lanes between cameras.

Seems highly unlikely to me. I rather suspect they thought of that one

Capt'n Midnight

breadmonkey wrote:

What is an 'average speed camera'?

Imagine for a monent two cameras one mile apart on a 60mph stretch of road.

They both use OCR technology to recognise your numberplate and are linked by computer. If the second camera sees your number plate less than one minute after the first one your average speed is over 60mph.

IIRC there are a pair in Newry and heard something about Malahide.

Sandwich

Are they the ones that I noticed hanging over the road the other day north of Newry?

Wishbone Ash

breadmonkey wrote:

What is an 'average speed camera'?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054994654&referrerid=&highlight=

overdriver

Alun wrote:

Seems highly unlikely to me. I rather suspect they thought of that one

Seemingly not.


http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23370879-details/Drivers+can+avoid+speeding+tickets...by+changing+lanes/article.do

BrianD3

One aspect that I find amusing - many drivers who break the limit and get caught by the GATSO in the 60 km/h section don't even drive up to the limit in the 100 and 120 km/h sections (even when safe/possible to do so) A few times I have had people zoom by me in the 60 km/h section only for me to catch up with and pass them after the roadworks.

Also, it's not just GATSO vans that lurk in the roadworks section. I have seen laser speed checks too and have heard reports of unmarked cars mingling in the traffic.

Alun

overdriver wrote:

Seemingly not.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23370879-details/Drivers+can+avoid+speeding+tickets...by+changing+lanes/article.do

It's not a real technical limitation of the system though, only some silly Home Office rule that prevents the cameras on two lanes from 'talking to each other'. How utterly ridiculous !

Seth Brundle

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

IIRC there are a pair in Newry and heard something about Malahide.

Malahide? Are they traffic monitoring cameras?

unkel

BrianD3 wrote:

have heard reports of unmarked cars mingling in the traffic.

Yep, recently saw a van driver acting the total w@nker under/overtaking, driving up other cars' backsides and agressively flashing. Only to be met with the flashlights of an unmarked Garda Mondeo. He got pulled in and tried to escape on foot

Wishbone Ash

unkel wrote:

He got pulled in and tried to escape on foot

Quickest option on the M50.

Stark

Tried to escape on foot, wow, stupid. I wonder if it was the van with the people abducted from Glasnevin Avenue in it

Wishbone Ash

Stark wrote:

Tried to escape on foot, wow, stupid. I wonder if it was the van with the people abducted from Glasnevin Avenue in it

Nope, their van broke down (Citroen:)). The kidnappers made their escape on foot but the victims spent ages trying to get motorists to stop for them. A passing Garda car stopped to see what the problem was and that is how the alarm was raised.
(In fairness, I don't think I would stop for two men flagging down traffic on the M50.)

joeblogg1

Jaysus people will ye read the thread I put up on this subject a month ago.

Gatso van on M50 every Saturday morning catching everyone. Not there during the week as the bl**dy traffic never gets up to 60 anyway

:eek:

Wishbone Ash

joeblogg1 wrote:

Jaysus people will ye read the thread I put up on this subject a month ago.

Gatso van on M50 every Saturday morning catching everyone. Not there during the week as the bl**dy traffic never gets up to 60 anyway

:eek:

And as I posted in that thread, why on earth would they put a Gatso where no one is exceeding the speed limit? What would be the point? What would be achieved? Would you go to a doctor when you are not sick?

Seth Brundle

Wishbone Ash wrote:

And as I posted in that thread, why on earth would they put a Gatso where no one is exceeding the speed limit? What would be the point? What would be achieved? Would you go to a doctor when you are not sick?

Actually, even in evening traffic it is very possible to get chances to exceed the roadworks limits.
During the 'off peak' hours, traffic has plenty of opportunity to go above the limit. I was doing ~70km/h there this afternoon (and I was one of the slower cars)!

faceman

Has anyone actually been done on the M50 since the new limits came in?

Wishbone Ash

faceman wrote:

Has anyone actually been done on the M50 since the new limits came in?

A few whingers posted alright (i.e. they said they had passed it exceeding the limit).

Captain Trips

I did as I was coming down from the north last night. There are lots of road works on the M1/A1, two lanes and the limit is 40mph in places or 50mph in other areas of the works, so I suppose 60kph is comparable, just a little *too* slow when there's no traffic at all

zokrez

2 lads in the office got done in the last week i.e letters in the post.67 & 69 in a 60 !

antodeco

ambro25 wrote:

AFAIK (from 3 airport taxi drives since they started the M50 works and seen it myself at least twice), there's an absolute sh1tload of M50 drivers (incl. taxis) that have been barrel-fished by the GATSO van parked in the middle of the road works over the past couple of months. Points and fines galore, and I'm surprised there hasn't yet been much public stuff about it (not that I'd complain about it myself - for once, it's 60kph for a reason).

Hmm, didnt think the gardai could legally do you for speeding, if their van is not on the road. The roadworks are classed as private property, so their van is not legally parked..

mloc123

I obey it, mainly because they have a gatso van on that stretch most days.

The tax man

joeblogg1 wrote:

Jaysus people will ye read the thread I put up on this subject a month ago.

Gatso van on M50 every Saturday morning catching everyone. Not there during the week as the bl**dy traffic never gets up to 60 anyway

:eek:

That poxy van can be seen mid week anytime after 9.30ish after the morning rush has died down a bit and you can actually go 60+. I've coped it at least five times. True about Saturday though.Any Saturday morning I've been in work it's there. I also noticed this morning that a load of signs have been placed along the M50 stating "Garda speed checks in operation." How nice of them:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Wishbone Ash

antodeco wrote:

Hmm, didnt think the gardai could legally do you for speeding, if their van is not on the road. The roadworks are classed as private property, so their van is not legally parked..

I think ambro25 meant midway along the roadworks not in the middle of them.


Regardless of what those who are opposed to this limit think, the construction crews are entitled to work in a reasonable safe environment. I wouldn't relish the thoughts of carrying out my job with traffic passing at 120kph. :eek: There are also large electronic signs with the limit 'flashing'. I can't understand when people say that they were unaware of it.

MrPudding

Wishbone Ash wrote:

I wouldn't relish the thoughts of carrying out my job with traffic passing at 120kph. :eek: There are also large electronic signs with the limit 'flashing'. I can't understand when people say that they were unaware of it.

If the purpose of the limit is to protect the workers, which I am 100% happy with, can it nor be lifter when there are no workers present?

MrP

Wishbone Ash

MrPudding wrote:

If the purpose of the limit is to protect the workers, which I am 100% happy with, can it nor be lifter when there are no workers present?

MrP

Good point - maybe it's also because of the narrower lanes, traffic cones etc. I definitely refute any claim that it's a revenue collecting exercise as some have claimed. It would not be in any authority's interest to halt progress unnecessarily on the countiy's busiest road.

fred funk }{

Wishbone Ash wrote:

I think ambro25 meant midway along the roadworks not in the middle of them.


Regardless of what those who are opposed to this limit think, the construction crews are entitled to work in a reasonable safe environment. I wouldn't relish the thoughts of carrying out my job with traffic passing at 120kph. :eek: There are also large electronic signs with the limit 'flashing'. I can't understand when people say that they were unaware of it.

A smack of a car doing 60km will still kill you. This is the same money making ****e that they have being doing for years, the Lucan road for example.

Shooting fish in a barrel i think somebody said, very true.

Why don't they set up these vans and camera's along dangerous roads where people are being killed by speed, back roads where people hammer along knowing that they wont be caught, I'll tell you why, THEY WONT MAKE AS MUCH MONEY.

Pherekydes

fred funk }{ wrote:

A smack of a car doing 60km will still kill you.

But a car doing 60 can stop or swerve much quicker and safer than one at 120, don't you think?