Motorway driving / rules

Wishbone Ash

Victor wrote:

Wasn't that changed to 65km/h

Yes, you are correct Victor. It was initially 64kph AFAIK when we went metric and must have been ammended to round it off.

(It doesn't really alter the point I was making though! )

Wishbone Ash

tinkerbell wrote:

I think that's a totally unfair statement - once again, the L drivers are the scapegoat. I drive on the M50 every morning (I have a full license) and the worst drivers on that motorway are middle-aged men in their BMWs / Mercedes who try to run you off the road.

Now tinkerbell, it's a bit silly to censure a poster for generalising when you go and do the same thing yourself in relation to BMW/Merc drivers!

Guy:Incognito

tinkerbell wrote:

I think that's a totally unfair statement - once again, the L drivers are the scapegoat. I drive on the M50 every morning (I have a full license) and the worst drivers on that motorway are middle-aged men in their BMWs / Mercedes who try to run you off the road.

How do you know how many, if any of them have sat a test?

corktina

damn...im banning myslef from this board for having shown myself to know just a little too much about tractors...oh the disgrace....

before i go...i'd like to ask if anyone saw a Gatso van lately ...i didnt and im wondering if they are stood down until these wretched parking ramps are built for them...(H&S issue again im guessing)

Wishbone Ash

corktina wrote:

i'd like to ask if anyone saw a Gatso van lately ...i didnt and im wondering if they are stood down until these wretched parking ramps are built for them...

Now that you mention it.............

corktina

corktina wrote:

damn...im banning myslef from this board for having shown myself to know just a little too much about tractors...oh the disgrace....

before i go...i'd like to ask if anyone saw a Gatso van lately ...i didnt and im wondering if they are stood down until these wretched parking ramps are built for them...(H&S issue again im guessing)

They probably failled the NCT

Davidth88

I saw a Gatso van about 3 weeks ago in the usual spot on the N4 near Liffey Valley, but haven't seen one since .

Coming to work this morning I saw the following.

a) HGV pull over on M4 to pick up passenger
b) The usual people waiting under the Liexlip junction for their lifts ( yes this is still motorway at that point )

I see this EVERY morning , the same people are picked up .

Yesterday I saw a guy walking along the motorway

As for the M7 , I see there was a nasty crash there over the weekend in the roadworks section( not the fatal one but another one thankfully not fatal ).
The markings in that section are an accident waiting to happen , as for the builder's holidays , wasn't that 2 weeks ago, and anyway you can't stop work on one of the main artirial roads like that !

Alun

Saw a woman with two small kids (and I mean small) running loose standing on the hard shoulder of the M11 yesterday as we were heading towards the M50 northbound from Bray. The missus phoned Bray Gardai station and told them about it. They didn't sounds at all concerned tbh, a kind of "what do want us to do about it" attitude, but said they'd look into it. About an hour later when we were coming back they were still there!! God knows what she was doing there, but there wasn't a car to be seen anywhere near her, so she hadn't broken down or anything. She wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes on a motorway anywhere else before being reported and moved on.

jrar

The monitoring and policing/law enforcement on our nascent motorway network is laughable !

Whilst I've no desire to see us become an observed state through over-use of CCTV etc. (as has happened in the UK), a little bit of mornitring on our busier roads wouldn't go amiss.

I recall back in 1991 heading north on the M1 in England near Hatfield/Luton when I had a blowout in the overtaking lane ! Managed to control the car and make it safely over to the h/s. Within 3/4 mins., a police patrol car pulled up behind me, saw that my driver-side front wheel was flat, and promptly positioned their patrol car to warn oncoming traffic / push inside lane traffic slightly out, so that I could safely change the tyre whilst HGVs thundered by. Ten minutes later, job done, they wished me well and went on their way - the speed of their reaction to the situation, and their professional approach to dealing with same was light years from the "is this your ve-hick-ul ?" approach of Templemore's finest !

cast_iron

Davidth88 wrote:

I see this EVERY morning , the same people are picked up .

And do you perform your civic duty and cal the Gardai to try to put a stop to this?

Davidth88

Good Call .... I did phone the police when I saw the naked guys jumping off the bridge into the river , but haven't for the guys being picked up

I will from now on .

But the point remains , are the motorways actually patrolled , and if so what do they look for ?

The hard shoulder of the motorway had to be one of the most dangerous places around

DerekP11

tinkerbell wrote:

I think that's a totally unfair statement - once again, the L drivers are the scapegoat. I drive on the M50 every morning (I have a full license) and the worst drivers on that motorway are middle-aged men in their BMWs / Mercedes who try to run you off the road.

My statement is in no way unfair. But I'll clarify it. Take L-Drivers off the M50 and we might reduce the amount of traffic on it.

MDTyKe

Wishbone Ash wrote:

I always presumed that they were those little sit-on electric buggies that some older people use.

Oh man. I can just picture Granny Jones scooting down the fast lane on her buggy, with a tailback of 100km.


Matt

jrar

I thought I'd seen it all on Irish motorways (combine harvesters and tractors, people walking or waiting for lifts etc.) but today I saw the sight to top all others..................a cyclist pedalling along nonchalantly in the h/s going southbound on the M50 between junctions 12 & 13 !! Unbelievable !

Wishbone Ash

jrar wrote:

today I saw the sight to top all others..................a cyclist pedalling along nonchalantly in the h/s going southbound on the M50 between junctions 12 & 13 !! Unbelievable !

They can be sighted occasionally on the stretch of the M1 between the Donabate interchange and the airport! (There was also a jogger on the same stretch last week!):eek:.