Emergency Phones On Motorways

BluntGuy

On September 24th, 125 km of HQDC technically becomes motorway. But although most of these sections now have the blue signage, solid yellow hard shoulder and lay-bys removed... I've noticed the emergency phones are missing. Are they going to be added?

Amtmann

BluntGuy wrote: »

On September 24th, 125 km of HQDC technically becomes motorway. But although most of these sections now have the blue signage, solid yellow hard shoulder and lay-bys removed... I've noticed the emergency phones are missing. Are they going to be added?

Somehow I think not. The Lay Bys haven't been removed between Cashel and Cahir on the M8 either.

Victor

With mobile phone penetration in excess of 100%, fixed emergency phones have limited use.

marmurr1916

But they should be in place. Not everyone has a mobile phone, not everyone's mobile will work.

It's also much easier to figure out where people are when they use the emergency phones, especially if the person phoning is a tourist who might not be able to speak English very well.

Aren't they a legal requirement anyway?

BTW, the lay-bys will probably be reserved for Garda use only (for doing speed-checks mostly) as was done on the M6 between Kinnegad and Athlone.

BluntGuy

I believe emergency phones are very useful and are one of the elements, that help to make motorways safer than ordinary roads.

I know that most people will have mobiles, but there needs to be a redudancy in the system. What if your phone isn't working, isn't charged, you don't have credit, or you simply don't have a mobile? There has to be backup provided for all those cases.

Anyway, as stated above: emergency phones ARE a legal requirement on both Irish and British motorways.

I don't think the government have any plans to do away with them either, because they just replaced the M4 motorway phones. So I dunno, in this case, it must just be laziness...

marmurr1916

Don't worry.

I'm sure that someone high up in the NRA reads this forum regularly.

No doubt they'll be sorted before the 24th.

BluntGuy

marmurr1916 wrote: »

Don't worry.

I'm sure that someone high up in the NRA reads this forum regularly.

No doubt they'll be sorted before the 24th.

I hope so...

Perhaps I'm being too sceptical, and by September 24th they will in place. In that case, I'll shut up. But if they're missing come that day, they will feel my e-mail wrath...

You can't just overlook things like that...

slimjimmc

Don't hold your breath for 24th Sept of this year. The emergency phones on the M7 were only installed this year and the plastic covers are still on so I guess they're not working yet.

icdg

slimjimmc wrote: »

Don't hold your breath for 24th Sept of this year. The emergency phones on the M7 were only installed this year and the plastic covers are still on so I guess they're not working yet.

Which section? The first section of the M7 opened 25 years ago, and I'm pretty sure emergency phones were in place on that for as long as I can remember. Certainly the Newbridge and Portlaoise bypasses have had them since the day the opened...

slimjimmc

The bit around Newhall.
I'm nearly sure they installed phones 'cause they dug up the soft-verge at the time they re-surfaced the road and I never noticed phones there before .

BluntGuy

Well the M8 Fermoy Bypass was built with emergency phones as well, so I guess they are installed with the road.

I'm sure I've seen the M7 phones as well...

Amtmann

I've just been informed by the NRA that emergency phones will not now be added to former HQDCs until "towards the end of the year".

Chris_533976

Translation: Long finger

Although with the proliferation of mobile phones thesedays I'm not sure emergency phones are all that relevant, but if we're supposed to have them we damn well should have them.

Amtmann

They are necessary because mobile or not, motorway corridors are not exactly landmark friendly. If I broke down on the M8 I'd be fine because I would happen to know where I was. On the M6, however, I'd be quite clueless unless I had noted the exit numbers as I passed by (then again, I do tend to notice these things. Most people wouldn't). The NRA told me last winter that the phones would be installed during summer 2009. So yes, long finger.

No service areas and no emergency phones. Bad form, NRA.

BluntGuy

They are necessary, and should've been installed as part of the redesignation package.

It's rather unacceptable to simply fling them off the "to-do" list, I don't think phones are expendable.

But given the current economic circumstances, I do have a small degree of understanding.

That said, part of me doubts that it was ever going to happen anyway.:mad:

Carawaystick

I noticed on the M8, there are variable distances between the phones and as far as I could see, no markings on the road to direct pedestrians toward the nearest one.

On Autoroutes, there are markings on the hard shoulder every 400m or so pointing toward the nearest sos phone, so if you break down between them you know the quckest way to get help.
The Autoroutes also have Km posts and every structure and power line crossing also has a chainage distance to let you know where they are.

if you break down on a motorway here, you have no idea of where you are.

markers to determine location or even chainage distances stenciled on the hard shoulder are very cheap to install, as a quick fix solution.

csd

Carawaystick wrote: »

The Autoroutes also have Km posts and every structure and power line crossing also has a chainage distance to let you know where they are.

if you break down on a motorway here, you have no idea of where you are.

markers to determine location or even chainage distances stenciled on the hard shoulder are very cheap to install, as a quick fix solution.

Chainage posts have started appearing on Irish motorways. So far the only sections I've seen them on are:

1. The PPP section of the M1. These are every 100m, with zero being the M1/M50 junction.
2. The M50 south of Sandyford. Again, every 100m, and the zero point appears to be the DPT.
3. The M8 Fermoy bypass. These are every 500m, with the zero point being the Cork end of the N8.

So for the present, it seems that only PPP sections have these markers, but presumably they'll be rolled out across the network. I have a photo of one of the ones on the M1 if anyone's interested.

/csd

L1011

I thought this deserved a new thread based on how excited some certain posters here (:p) will be with this news:

Motorway telephone bases have been installed on the redesignated sections of the M6.

I've not driven any of the other redesignated sections in the past week or so, but I assume this is the start...

BluntGuy

I love you for telling me this. :D:D

That is all.

Amtmann

^^ Probably shoulda sent him a PM.

BluntGuy

In all seriousness, this is excellent news.

Do you have any insight to offer as to why/how this ended up happening? Will the other redesignated stretches receive the same treatment?

I'll keep an eye out on the M8 tommorow, but is it possible it's just the M6 getting these?

Amtmann

It's good news alright, but do they not feel a little foolish installing these things on a road that opened only a few months ago? Very much interested also in seeing if these appear on the M9 in the next few weeks, as well as on the M8.

L1011

Some of the redesignated M6 opened in 2006 Furet.

Amtmann

MYOB wrote: »

Some of the redesignated M6 opened in 2006 Furet.

Is Athlone to Ballinasloe getting them?

I've noticed that there are new phones on the (completed section of the) M50, still covered in orange sheeting.
They weren't there a couple of weeks ago.

MYOB

MYOB wrote: »

I thought this deserved a new thread based on how excited some certain posters here (:p) will be with this news:

Motorway telephone bases have been installed on the redesignated sections of the M6.

I've not driven any of the other redesignated sections in the past week or so, but I assume this is the start...

That explains the roadworks I saw Tuesday evening, I was wondering what they were doing!

L1011

Furet wrote: »

Is Athlone to Ballinasloe getting them?

I, um, can't remember. I drove the entire length of the M6 westbound in a mad rush but only from Athlone east on the way back.

Amtmann

MYOB wrote: »

I, um, can't remember. I drove the entire length of the M6 westbound in a mad rush but only from Athlone east on the way back.

I see...I wonder if they'll do the whole lot now that they're at it, or if it will be done in a more piecemeal fashion. I also wonder if they'll install new phones on the unopened sections of the M9. They should appear a few weeks prior to opening if so.

BluntGuy

Furet wrote: »

I see...I wonder if they'll do the whole lot now that they're at it, or if it will be done in a more piecemeal fashion. I also wonder if they'll install new phones on the unopened sections of the M9. They should appear a few weeks prior to opening if so.

Hopefully people will keep an eye out. I'm driving the whole length of the M8 tommorow, so I'll take a look.

sonyair

none on the m7 or m20(limerick bypass) yet

wellbutty

I do know that Elmore, who often work with Roadbridge, got the contract for the phones on the Cullahill-Cashel scheme.

BluntGuy

None on the M8.

nordydan

Haven't seen any on the new M11 stretches either

L1011

Right, the full phones are in but shrouded from Kinnegad to about 3km short of Kilbeggan (both sides) and bases are installed right up the END chopsticks at the start of the Athlone BP.

No bases along the Athlone BP *or* the A-B scheme; so we can't yet take this as a sign of future redesignation to come or not.

BluntGuy

I have seen absolutely no indication of work being done on the M8.

Perhaps on the M9 Carlow Bypass there may be some activity?

KevR

I wonder if they'll be on Galway-Ballinasloe from opening..


It's nearly 20km between the Monksland and Ballinasloe East junctions so it could be argued that phones would be more necessary on this stretch than other stretches of the M6.

Also, won't it be roughly 26km between Ballinasloe West and the Loughrea junction. I know there's the toll in between but it's still a long way between junctions if you're trying to pin-point your location to the emergency services or breakdown assistance is using a mobile phone.

Amtmann

In an email I received today from the NRA I was informed that

The deployment programme in respect of emergency telephones is underway and should be complete during 2010.

No specifics of course.

Could I also request that the mods merge this thread with this one?

The Word Is Bor

Furet wrote: »

In an email I received today from the NRA I was informed that



No specifics of course.

Could I also request that the mods merge this thread with this one?

The bases for the emergency phones have been installed on the Cashel-Mitchelstown section of the M8.

BluntGuy

The Word Is Bor wrote: »

The bases for the emergency phones have been installed on the Cashel-Mitchelstown section of the M8.

Excellent stuff. Anything on the other sections?

35x

Thankfully I have never had to use M-way phones but I consider them an essential.
A problem however is knowing which is the nearest one to you because, depending on which direction you decide to go, you could be actually going away from one which is very close to you! I saw (I think in France or Italy) that there are markers on the edge marked 1,2,3,4 ....10 so that you know exactly where you are between phones.This could be a critical time-save in an emergency accident / medical situation
Any observations...?? What is NRA view??

NFD100

Emergency phones are not being replaced on Brititain's motorway network. With blanket mobile coverage, they are no longer needed. Just like phone boxes.

Instead, the Highways Agency are rolling out markers every 100 yards. You are given a phone number with your exact location on the motoway. You call this number a Highways Agency Support vehicle will pick you up (off the bank (behind the barrier) in 10 minutes.

csd

35x wrote: »

Thankfully I have never had to use M-way phones but I consider them an essential.
A problem however is knowing which is the nearest one to you because, depending on which direction you decide to go, you could be actually going away from one which is very close to you! I saw (I think in France or Italy) that there are markers on the edge marked 1,2,3,4 ....10 so that you know exactly where you are between phones.This could be a critical time-save in an emergency accident / medical situation
Any observations...?? What is NRA view??

On the newer PPP motorway sections, markers have been erected every 100 m (or 500 m in the case of the Fermoy bypass) showing a km and hundreds of metres figure from the zero point of the motorway, and a small phone icon and arrow pointing to the nearest emergency phone. I've seen these on the M1 (PPP section), M50 (south of Sandyford), and M8 (Fermoy bypass).

This is great in that even if you have a mobile and are calling the AA, you can say something like "I'm at km 32.5 on the southbound M1, please help me". I hope these km posts are rolled out to the rest of the network.

Has anyone seen them anywhere else?

/csd

L1011

NFD100 wrote: »

Emergency phones are not being replaced on Brititain's motorway network. With blanket mobile coverage, they are no longer needed. Just like phone boxes.

Instead, the Highways Agency are rolling out markers every 100 yards. You are given a phone number with your exact location on the motoway. You call this number a Highways Agency Support vehicle will pick you up (off the bank (behind the barrier) in 10 minutes.

Ireland does not have blanket mobile coverage, even on the motorway network. If you live around where I do, theres a known black spot on the M4 where no network at all has reliable signal. Add to that the "mountain" sections of the M8 north of Fermoy, the bits of the M6 running through formerly open countryside, etc, etc. Emergency phones are still needed.

The UK is not only replacing ones that break, they're putting them on non-motorway trunk roads too!

shaymousse

None on the new part of the M9.

Amtmann

Any new phones on the M8 so?

marmurr1916

BluntGuy wrote: »

None on the M8.

There are on the Fermoy bypass, but there aren't any on the Dunkettle - near Fermoy section.

Some other problems:

a. there's a parking area (layby) on the M8 southbound (can't remember where exactly - north of Cashel IIRC) which has no litter bins.

The amount of rubbish that's accumulated is a disgrace and could cause an accident if high winds pick it up and drop it onto the carriageway or onto someone's windscreen.

b. every time I'm on an Irish motorway I see people who have parked on the hard shoulder to talk on their mobiles. It's time the Gardai took this seriously and started prosecuting people.

BluntGuy

marmurr1916 wrote: »

There are on the Fermoy bypass, but there aren't any on the Dunkettle - near Fermoy section.

Phones will soon be installed on the Cashel-Mitchelstown section.
I saw no sign of work on any other sections when I drove it today.

The amount of rubbish that's accumulated is a disgrace and could cause an accident if high winds pick it up and drop it onto the carriageway or onto someone's windscreen.

The M8 just as it sets off from Dunkettle is a litter dump. Hideous.

And I need to get a picture of the barrier near Junction 11, it is revolting beyond all belief.

BluntGuy

Concrete bases for phones have now been installed on the Fermoy-Mitchelstown stretch.

nordydan

Still no sign of them on the northern section of the redesignated M11 as of last week. Don't know about the southern bit

L1011

None down that way either, drove it (well, slid and spun it...) during the big freeze.

Tech3

SOS phones for motorways
Monday January 25 2010

ALL motorways in Ireland will be equipped with emergency SOS phones before the end of the year.

The National Roads Authority (NRA) has made the pledge to install motorways with the life-saving phones.

A retro-fit programme is under way to locate the phones along motorways which were previously not fitted with them.

Anyone who stops to make a call from any of these emergency phones is promptly connected to the Emergency Services Operations Centre.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sos-phones-for-motorways-2030117.html