Road Safety

joeyla

Hi, just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the accident the happened yesterday in Mullingar, at the junction of the new N52 ring road and the Rochfortbridge road.

Locals have been complaining about this junction since the ring road opened and even local cllrs. have brought up the safety fears at Westmeath County Council but were all ignored or fobbed off. Now a man has lost his life.

I don't know the full details of the accident but just now leaving Mullingar I seen 4 suits in luminous jackets standing at the junction, sticking out like sore thumbs. Obviously wondering how to cover their arses after ignoring warnings about the junction.

This is just one example of the Councils stupidity. There are many other areas/roads that are just accidents waiting to happen (Kilbride corners, Milltownpass). While they plough on with all the fancy new roads (which are welcome) they can't just ignore or create new hazards without culpability. Someone's job should go for this latest arrogance.

The roads are dangerous enough with other factors without adding to it. Maybe a Road Safety Forum could be started for each county where people could voice their concerns on dangerous sections of road. At least then there is a record of reported road problems and if the council ignore them, then on their heads be it.
:mad:

Saruman

Do you mean the junction with the N52 and the R400 (Rochfortbridge) road?
To be honest i cant say i noticed any real problem with it myself... then again though i never go in to Mullingar that way as even before the new road i could be stuck there for ages until there was a gap.
I take the shortcut through Belvidere hills to come out at either the roundabout at the racecourse or keep going to the other side of town near the other maxol garage. Although for me the new N25 means i do not need to take that way at all since i can come off the R400 on to the new ring road...

Oh wait a second.. i re-read your post and thats the junction you are talking about?? The new one? Thats odd... because as far as i am concerned thats very safe. You can see in both directions for kilometres. There is no excuse for someone to be killed there except stupidity like pulling out into traffic and hoping for the best.

The only dangerous thing about that junction is at night, the sharp cornering on both sides and no light means its hard to see. If coming from the Park hotel/Lidl side of town its almost a 180 degree turn to Rochfortbridge and since cars do not have side lights, its hard to see where the road ends. They need a light there for night time but the junction itself is grand!

All it needs is a roundabout though if people are going to be stupid and pull out into traffic though.

TheNog

I used this junction once or twice but I cannot remember anything dangerous about it.

What is it that makes it a danger?

Saruman

Like i said, nothing. Its a staggered T juncion. By that i mean of you come from the bridge you come to the junction and you take a right then a left about 20mtrs keeping on the old R400 down by belvedere hills area.
You can see both directions clarly so whoever that muppet was he was either drunk or not paying attention.

TJJP

Saruman wrote:

Like i said, nothing. Its a staggered T juncion. By that i mean of you come from the bridge you come to the junction and you take a right then a left about 20mtrs keeping on the old R400 down by belvedere hills area.
You can see both directions clarly so whoever that muppet was he was either drunk or not paying attention.

The dead man was a passenger in the van.

You want to edit that post?

joeyla

Lights are planned to go up May/Jume according to NRA, too late for that man. So it does seem there was an issue with safety...big shock that.

pablo21

TJJP wrote:

The dead man was a passenger in the van.

You want to edit that post?

I second that. The man that was killed was a passenger in a crew van returning from work and completly innocent of blame. Typical response of an ill informed individual too eager to post their opinion.

Saruman

Actually no i see no reason to edit my post. The fact the person who died was not the driver does not alter the fact there is no way this accident could have happened if the driver was not incapacitated or just stupid and did not look.

Im sorry, its harsh and someone died but it was the fault of the driver of the vehicle. I cant even comprehend how this accident could happen. This is a very safe junction compared to many around the country.
I mean i come to crossroads where there is ZERO visibility both left and right so to go straight through is taking a chance with life.. That is a dangerous scenario. This junction.... and remember i know it well as i live in the area is perfectly safe, you can see in both directions perfectly fine. So for him to pull out and get hit by another vehicle can only mean he was not paying attention or was drunk.


However... since no one posted the full details it could be different... the only dangerous thing about this junction is not the junction itself but that to get to it there is a turn on both sides (on the R400).. so if you are driving straight then all of a sudden the road goes to the left before the junction and he did not notice and went straight through, van flipped and a passenger died. In that case its dangerous at night as you might not see it if you are driving too fast. I agree that there should be lights here so you can see how the road goes...

The junction itself is perfectly safe though.

TJJP

pablo21 wrote:

Typical response of an ill informed individual too eager to post their opinion.

I second that.

Saruman

TJJP wrote:

I second that.

Oh you do, do you?

Can you explain how i am ill informed then?
Maybe instead of personal abuse someone can explain why i am ill informed and what was wrong with what i said?
Maybe someone who knows ecactly what happened can let us know how it was not driver error that caused this?
The original post in my opinion was ill-informed. It is a rant about lazy council workers and road safety in general.

Like i said, i live in the area and know the junction so how can i be ill informed? Its not like im going on about some place i have never laid eyes on.

_feedback_

Saruman wrote:

Oh you do, do you?
let us know how it was not driver error that caused this?

joeyla has pointed out that there are plans to introduce traffic lights on the junction, which would suggest a review of a spot that the NRA must have thought was unsafe............... but you obviously didn't read that post so here it is:

joeyla wrote:

Lights are planned to go up May/Jume according to NRA, too late for that man. So it does seem there was an issue with safety...big shock that.

Saruman wrote:

(FROM VARIOUS POSTS) You can see both directions clarly so whoever that muppet was he was either drunk or not paying attention / incapacitated or just stupid / he was not paying attention or was drunk /

Anything to back up what you're saying there??! apart from the rant you've already done........

Saruman wrote:

Actually no i see no reason to edit my post

One Reason: Respect.




Please edit your posts.

Saruman

Look elvis i understand what you are saying... However my big problem here is not the person who died. I have stated it from the beginning. There is nothing whatsoever about this junction that is dangerous. Nothing. There is Perfect visibility of traffic in both directions. It is not even a busy road. Only a few times on reaching this junction have i even had to wait for another vehicle as there is nothing on the road and i use this junction all the time.



So the fact i had not got all the details about who was at fault here does NOT alter the fact that someone had to have been at fault. Either the driver of the van or the driver of the truck. The junction is innocent because had both drivers been paying attention it would not have happened.

So maybe i was harsh calling the dead guy a muppet, however that was when i thought that he was the driver and had pulled out into the path of a vehicle because he did not look where he was going. I meant the driver who cause the accident and i stand by that, he is a muppet.

I do not know what more i can say on this matter. Like i said repeatadly, i live in the area and i use this junction all the time and it is safer by far than any crossroads i have come across and almost any similar type junctions around the country that are on busier roads.

All it needs are street lights to let people know there is a junction there at night.

I can not see the need for traffic lights on this junction so it must be just public outcry. All thats going to happen is im going to be sitting at a red light when there is probably no traffic, then one driver will have to stop when i get the green light.. then someone else doing 100kph (the speed limit on the n32) will fly up and have to jam on the brakes because someone stuck a traffic light in the middle of a national road. Although maybe the N32 has changed direction since they finished the rest of that road recently so its no longer 100kph. Either way its still not needed.

Oh and for the record, i cant even edit that original post even if i wanted to so stop going on about editing posts!!! If a mod wants to do it then so be it.

Occidental

Locked, as this is going nowhere fast.