Crash on Henry St

krudler

Anyone pass this tonight? was driving down that way earlier and it looks like a car collided with the traffic lights/cctv camera on the little island in the middle of the junction, right across from the spar up by the garda station, was a pile of fire brigade trucks and they were running about so maybe whoever was in the car is trapped, the trucks are surrounding the car(s?) so couldnt see anthing though

Kess73

Nope but passed one early in the evening after the traffic lights were switched off for the match. One car was stuck to the side of the one on the main road. The driver of the car coming off of the smaller road was yelling that because the lights were off that it was a case of getting out whenever you could :rolleyes:

Mc Love

Was just up from that, my father passed by it and said they had taken away two cars and there were ambulances etc there. Looked a mess

Wetbench4

Why are the traffic lights always off during matches? Isn't that when the traffic is heaviest and , I might be wrong but isn't that the whole point of traffic lights in the first place, to control heavy traffic? Can anyone explain the reasoning behind this?

bazz26

Wetbench4 wrote: »

Why are the traffic lights always off during matches? Isn't that when the traffic is heaviest and , I might be wrong but isn't that the whole point of traffic lights in the first place, to control heavy traffic? Can anyone explain the reasoning behind this?

The traffic lights are calibrated based on measured peak/off peak traffic volumes. On a match day that level of traffic can increase 10 fold or more so normal traffic light sequences can cause more gridlock than they solve.

manna452121

Three people taken to the Reg Hosp.Their was a problem with a second ambulance and one of the injured was taken to Henry St station on a board until it arrived.

Wetbench4

bazz26 wrote: »

The traffic lights are calibrated based on measured peak/off peak traffic volumes. On a match day that level of traffic can increase 10 fold or more so normal traffic light sequences can cause more gridlock than they solve.

I'm not sure about that. Look at the traffic on any weekday at around 5pm. Your telling me there's ten times more than that traffic when the match is on. Maybe it would make more sense to recalibrate the lights, because to me it seems the worst gridlock happens when they switch off the lights. Its horrible trying to get across the city when there's no red lights to stop the traffic, so people at junctions can get onto the main roads.

phog

Wetbench4 wrote: »

I'm not sure about that. Look at the traffic on any weekday at around 5pm. Your telling me there's ten times more than that traffic when the match is on. Maybe it would make more sense to recalibrate the lights, because to me it seems the worst gridlock happens when they switch off the lights. Its horrible trying to get across the city when there's no red lights to stop the traffic, so people at junctions can get onto the main roads.

There are no main roads at traffic lights, when the lights are out the roads become roads of equal importance and you give way to traffic on your right.

Wetbench4

phog wrote: »

There are no main roads at traffic lights, when the lights are out the roads become roads of equal importance and you give way to traffic on your right.

Have you tried getting onto the dock road, or the dublin road with no lights when its busy?

concussion

phog wrote: »

There are no main roads at traffic lights, when the lights are out the roads become roads of equal importance and you give way to traffic on your right.

Not true - some junctions have flashing orange for one road and flashing red for the other. In this case, the road with orange has priority.

source

Wetbench4 wrote: »

I'm not sure about that. Look at the traffic on any weekday at around 5pm. Your telling me there's ten times more than that traffic when the match is on. Maybe it would make more sense to recalibrate the lights, because to me it seems the worst gridlock happens when they switch off the lights. Its horrible trying to get across the city when there's no red lights to stop the traffic, so people at junctions can get onto the main roads.

Well how about you take the fact that nearly all matches are on at around 7pm this means that you have a lot of people travelling into the city at the same time that everybody else is trying to get home, so you have the regular rush hour traffic and then you have the match traffic on top of that.

steveon

I for one think its about time that every single traffic light in Limerick is adjusted as they are all useless and completly out of sync with one another, sensors should be placed at all junctions as Im sick and tired of sitting at red lights for long periods of time, when nothing is coming the other way.

As for lights being turned off at times of Matches, events I beleive this should be banned as for one, its only a matter of time before some1 is killed or hurt due to this fact, its impossible to cross the road due to the large amounts of cars on the roads during these events. The idea of the lights is to control the flow of traffic, if they dont due there job then remove or alter the junction, there is plenty of young children and blind people, who are told not to cross the road unless theres a green man present....bout time something was done about it.

phog

Wetbench4 wrote: »

Have you tried getting onto the dock road, or the dublin road with no lights when its busy?

I have and I find the busier the road the easier to get onto the road as traffic is moving at a slower pace. What's the difference of trying to get onto the Dublin Rd at the AI Bar where lights are flashing amber and trying to get onto the Dublin Road from Lelia St where there are no lights?

concussion wrote: »

Not true - some junctions have flashing orange for one road and flashing red for the other. In this case, the road with orange has priority.

New one on me - can you post a link to the relevant ROTR?

Raiser

steveon wrote: »

As for lights being turned off at times of Matches, events I beleive this should be banned as for one, its only a matter of time before some1 is killed or hurt due to this fact, its impossible to cross the road due to the large amounts of cars on the roads during these events. The idea of the lights is to control the flow of traffic, if they dont due there job then remove or alter the junction, there is plenty of young children and blind people, who are told not to cross the road unless theres a green man present....bout time something was done about it.

It is certainly a bit odd to implement a traffic management system for the safety of road Users and then suddenly abandon it at the drop of a hat in favour of stark random chaos because there's a Match on in Thomond Park

- I always feel like looting shops when I see thems lights flashing amber, but maybe thats just me

Delirium

concussion wrote: »

Not true - some junctions have flashing orange for one road and flashing red for the other. In this case, the road with orange has priority.

Thats pretty pointless as it would require the two groups of traffic to able to see both sets of lights.

osarusan

koth wrote: »

Thats pretty pointless as it would require the two groups of traffic to able to see both sets of lights.

When I lived in Japan there were both orange and red flashing lights at intersections (usually after midnight). The rules of the road were that the drivers who see the orange light are aware they need to proceed when safe to do so, and thee drivers who see the red light need to come to a stop, then proceed if safe to do so.

concussion

koth wrote: »

Thats pretty pointless as it would require the two groups of traffic to able to see both sets of lights.

No neccessarily; if you're approaching flashing amber traffic lights you should already be aware that there is no definate stop/go sequence in operation. If you have flashing amber you proceed with caution, if you have flashing red you proceed with caution but giving priority to the other road

phog wrote: »

New one on me - can you post a link to the relevant ROTR?

I can't; it's not mentioned in the ROTR. With regard to this situation, neither is flashing amber however!

The only mention of red flashing lights is for unguarded level crossings.

The only remarks for flashing amber are for amber filters where you can proceed with caution but must give priority to other traffic, pelican crossings, zebra crossings, cyclist crossings, guarded level crossings and variable speed limit signs.

osarusan wrote: »

When I lived in Japan there were both orange and red flashing lights at intersections (usually after midnight). The rules of the road were that the drivers who see the orange light are aware they need to proceed when safe to do so, and thee drivers who see the red light need to come to a stop, then proceed if safe to do so.

Good system, should be implemented here to avoid pointlessly waiting on empty roads.

source

koth wrote: »

Thats pretty pointless as it would require the two groups of traffic to able to see both sets of lights.

As Osarusan said above, each driver only needs to see their own light, then obey what the light is saying, the problem in Limerick is that as soon as drivers see a flashing light they think it's a free for all.

Vegeta

Is it possible to have two set-ups or sequences for the traffic lights?

One for normal days
One for the Matches?

Raiser

concussion wrote: »

I can't; it's not mentioned in the rules of the road. With regard to this situation, neither is flashing amber however!

The only mention of red flashing lights is for unguarded level crossings.

Are there many civilised first World Countries on the Planet where a young, inexperienced or any other type of Driver for that matter can suddenly turn a corner and see a junction with a set of flashing lights which means absolutely nothing to them as they have never been legislated for or even had any formal decorum, rules or set of behaviours passed on from any Party to any Party?

- Today is match day, fight and fend for yourselves its Marshall Law on our Streets!!!!

concussion

Possibly...my google-fu is weak today and this coupled with a terrible internet connection means I can't even find reference to traffic lights in the RTA or amendments.

Delirium

concussion wrote: »

No neccessarily; if you're approaching flashing amber traffic lights you should already be aware that there is no definate stop/go sequence in operation. If you have flashing amber you proceed with caution, if you have flashing red you proceed with caution but giving priority to the other road

foinse wrote: »

As Osarusan said above, each driver only needs to see their own light, then obey what the light is saying, the problem in Limerick is that as soon as drivers see a flashing light they think it's a free for all.

Thanks foinse, that's what I meant to say;)

Had to deal with the system recently and the traffic with the amber light all just move into the junction and block the red light traffic because of a lack of a box junction. It's at the lights just down from the train station.

phog

concussion wrote: »

I can't; it's not mentioned in the ROTR. With regard to this situation, neither is flashing amber however!

.

So who has the right of way so, I still think they are roads of equal importance and you give way to the traffic coming from your right.

Coming out of UL at the main gate (near the floag poles) the lights are so poorly positioned how would you see if the other routes have flashing red or amber?

In America, there are lights where it's okay to turn right on red at some junctions (this would be like us turning left here) and at 4 cross roads without lights, the first car to approch the junction has the right of way - these all work well because drivers are courteous to each other.

concussion

Roads of equal importance, both with flashing amber - give way to traffic on the right or traffic already in the junction.

It doesn't really matter if you can't see flashing red from the other road-if you have a flashing orange you're only going to enter the junction when it's safe anyway. Best to assume the other road also has a flashing orange and be prepared to stop.

phog

concussion wrote: »

Not true - some junctions have flashing orange for one road and flashing red for the other. In this case, the road with orange has priority.

concussion wrote: »

Roads of equal importance, both with flashing amber - give way to traffic on the right or traffic already in the junction.

It doesn't really matter if you can't see flashing red from the other road-if you have a flashing orange you're only going to enter the junction when it's safe anyway. Best to assume the other road also has a flashing orange and be prepared to stop.

But that's not what you implied above "the road with orange has priority"

source

Yes so if you're coming up to an intersection and see flashing red lights then give way to traffic on the other road, if you have flashing Amber then you have right of way over the other road, I really don't see the problem with understanding this.

concussion

As Foinse said.

I don't see why you keep asking me, I don't set the traffic lights!

phog

concussion wrote: »

As Foinse said.

I don't see why you keep asking me, I don't set the traffic lights!

I know you dont set the lights but I want to now where you get the info to state that one has higher priority than the other? It's either right or wrong and as I never heard it and cant find it anywhere I would like to know as Limerick is famous for switching the lights to "flashing" during period of traffic congestion.

source

What do you do when you see orange? proceed with caution....ie prepare to stop

When you see red you stop and give way to the other road, they still mean the same thing when they're flashing.

phog

foinse wrote: »

What do you do when you see orange? proceed with caution....ie prepare to stop

When you see red you stop and give way to the other road, they still mean the same thing when they're flashing.

I can't accpet that so we'll have to agree to disagree until someone can post me a link to the relevant ROTR.

concussion

Phog, as stated it's not in the ROTR, nor is flashing red. Whether or not it's in the RTA or Amendments would be the issue. I'm not overly concerned anyway - every other instance of flashing orange or red is to alert the driver and the closest thing in ROTR is the flashing amber filter which means proceed only if safe to do so.

phog

I sent an email of to the RSA to establish the correct driving procedure at Flashing Traffic Lights, the following is their reply.

RE: Correct driving procedue at "Flashing Traffic Lights"‏
From: Sandra McHale (xxxxxx@rsa.ie)
Sent: 07 April 2010 13:09:00
To: xxxxxxx@hotmail.com

Dear Patrick,



Thank you for contacting the Road Safety Authority. I forwarded your email to our Driver Testing Supervisor, Frank McGill. Frank came back to me this morning stating that there is nothing in the Rules of the Road Book to state the correct driving procedure at “Flashing Traffic Lights”. He stated that this junction needs to be treated of roads of equal importance, the onus is on each driver to take all precautions.



I hope this answers your query.



Kind Regards,



Sandra McHale,

Road Safety Authority



From: xxxxxx[mailto:]
Sent: 31 March 2010 22:46
To: Info
Subject: Correct driving procedue at "Flashing Traffic Lights"



Hi,

I'm looking for the correct driving procedure when approching a set of traffic lights that are turned to flashing due to traffic congestion, in particular, lights that flash red for one approch road and amber for the other approch road.

I failed to find any information of the Rules of the Road and hope that you might be of assistance.

Best Regards,
xxxxxx

Berty

Which basically means traffic from your right has priority.

I love seeing people sitting at the flashing red lights. Why? Its flashing, surely you should realise there is something wrong.

Obviously the flashing amber is no problem for most people.

phog

Berty wrote: »

Which basically means traffic from your right has priority.

I love seeing people sitting at the flashing red lights. Why? Its flashing, surely you should realise there is something wrong.

Obviously the flashing amber is no problem for most people.

Read post #8 above