Emergency Phones On Motorways

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

marmurr1916

tech2 wrote: »

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

They should have been fitted on all motorways in advance of them being opened, even on stretches that were originally designated as HQDC.

Still better late than never.

BluntGuy

tech2 wrote: »

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

I was wondering when a paper/website etc. would pick up on this. This was meant to be done last year, but as marmurr says better late than never.

I'm just glad the bloody things are being installed at all.

There is a good deal of work in retro-fitting the motorways though. Would've been much easier (and cheaper) to do it from the start.

The Word Is Bor

Some of the phones have been installed on the M8 Cashel - Mitchelstown Southbound. Covered over at the moment.

KevR

Any sign of emergency phones on Athlone-Ballinasloe M6 yet? It's the only section of the M6/4 route that doesn't yet have emergency phones. (N6 Athlone Bypass and N4 Lucan Bypass won't get emergency phones as they are DC sections rather than motorway).

L1011

The NRA made inclinations towards emergency phones on N roads last year, Kev. Add to that that theres a multi-million upgrade for the Athlone BP planned and we may see them yet...

KevR

Not that it would do any harm if emergency phones were installed on the Athlone Bypass or Lucan Bypass but I would have to question how necessary it would be and where on the NRA's list of priorities it should be.

There is good mobile phone reception on both those bypasses (unlike some sections of motorway). The junctions are really close together also - more chance of reaching the next junction before you reach an emergency phone (if the phones are spaced 2km apart from each other). If you break down on the Lucan Bypass you can just walk to the nearest bus stop and take the bus :P.

Given that quite a few pedestrians and cyclists use the busy Athlone Bypass, I would rather see the money go towards putting in streetlights (either over the full length or even just on the mainline near junctions and on the ramps). Streetlights would be more expensive but would improve safety on the road a lot more than emergency phones.

Going off-topic but I wonder if streetlighting will be part of the multi-million euro upgrade of the ABP? I hope so! Would be great to see streetlights and emergency phones.

L1011

Seeing as its suspected the upgrade is to make it motorway grade to push the redesignation through I doubt streetlighting to improve pedestrian/cyclist safety is part of it! Though based on the short distance between junctions and inherent weaving, it'd still be a good idea.

Zoney

KevR: In a *major* incident, mobile phone cells do not have capacity to cope with everyone in the area trying to use their phone at the same time.

There are many other reasons mobile phones are only just acceptable as a *last* resort:

a) people may not have one, even today someone if they do have one may have left it behind somewhere on the specific occasion they need it

b) again, in the single car scenario, someone's battery may be flat

c) even apart from local congestion, at certain times of day on certain networks there is sufficient network congestion to ensure that calls are not handled

d) the user needs to know their location. We are not all road enthusiasts and even motorists may not even know the route number they are on (even if really, they should).

All of the above are reasons why emergency services also need to be kept up to date in equipment and procedures for using their own fault-tolerant and secure radio links, rather than individual members attempting to use mobile phones. There are other reasons for this too in the case of emergency services - ensuring comms are through proper channels etc. You might think this seems unnecessary advice, but emergency services in many jurisdictions, at the very least the police, have become over-dependant on mobile phones with detrimental results.

Mobile phones are pretty rudimentary at best as a comms device, mainly succeeding most at the aim of being *mobile*.

KevR

Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favour of emergency phones but I wouldn't have the Athlone or Lucan Bypasses as a priority for them. There are a lot of other N roads (DC and single carriageway) which I would put them on first if I had the choice.

• Athlone and Lucan have closely spaced junctions, probably closer than the emergency phones would be spaced from each other - ABP and LBP are through urban areas, you could walk to the nearest junction to get help; it would probably be quicker than walking to an emergency phone.
• Signage all over the place (so you couldn't not know you're route number) and the closely spaced junctions are numbered, this is in stark contrast to many other N roads where you honestly wouldn't have a clue where you were if you missed one tiny little sign or took a wrong turn.
• Some other sections of N road actually have no mobile phone signal or a very poor one, Athlone and Lucan have good signal.

It's not that I think ABP and LBP should never get emergency phones. Both should get them but only after many other routes are done first.

I'm fairly familiar with how mobile phone networks work. Emergency calls (to 999 or 112) get priority. It really should not be a problem getting through to emergency services in Athlone or Lucan through a mobile phone even if there was a pretty big incident with lots of people ringing. However, if someone wants to phone their mother, for example, to inform them of the incident they might have trouble getting through if the network is busy as the emergency calls will get priority.

Amtmann

Has anyone noticed that the older emergency phones on the M8 Cashel to Cullahill and M7 Portlaoise to Newbridge sections have been wrapped in black plastic and appear non-functional? Any ideas why?