Motorway Madness

Cookie_Monster

INCREDIBLE footage from one of the country's new motorways graphically illustrates the disaster that can arise when drivers ignore the rules.

Traffic camera stills show a dark-coloured estate car pull over to the hard shoulder of the Dublin to Limerick M7 motorway just before half-past seven in the morning.

As two cars approach from behind, the driver of the estate begins an illegal U-turn, which puts the car directly in the path of oncoming traffic.

Only evasive action from one of the other drivers prevents what would have been a major collision.

Incredibly, the blue estate car continues to drive in the wrong direction along the motorway, driving against the traffic and forcing oncoming cars to swerve in order to avoid a head-on crash.

Gardai were unable to read the registration plate of the offending car from the traffic camera footage, allowing the lucky motorist to avoid prosecution -- as well as a serious accident

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/moment-of-motoring-madness-2616060.html?start=1

Check out the pictures :eek:
(never mind the blue car, look at those Mirca foglights, you could see them from space :P)

Atlantic Dawn

Frightening stuff.

There should be Apache Gunships above the motorways to take out people like this, would remove them and their knowledge of driving from the gene pool.

I like the fact that for the first time ever the new adverts mention moving out of the overtaking ("fast lane" for slow drivers ) lane once you have overtaken traffic.

ScouseMouse

Dont know what to say.

If caught, I dont think there is a charge relevant to this.

Complete and Utter stupidity.

edwinkane

superscouse wrote: »

Dont know what to say.

If caught, I dont think there is a charge relevant to this.

Complete and Utter stupidity.

I imagine the charge of dangerous driving might be appropriate.

As someone who drives on motorways in the UK, Ireland and further afield, there appears to be a "fast lane/slow lane" mentality in Ireland, where cars invariably don't use the left hand lane on a three lane motorway, preferring instead to use the middle lane or the overtaking lane.

By staying doggedly in the middle lane, and not moving over into the left hand lane, perhaps drivers are hedging their bets in some way, or avoiding moving into what is referred to as the "slow lane".

Cuddlesworth

So apparently its not that uncommon.

Cabaal

For something that bloody stupid the fool needs to loose their license for a min of 10 years, they are far too thick to drive on any road

CreepingDeath

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

So apparently its not that uncommon.

Last year I was driving on the Tallaght (by)pass, towards the Square.
It's a dual carriageway, with hedges dividing the roads.

This middle aged woman was driving on the wrong side of the road in the fast lane, towards myself and 2 other cars in front of me.
Dozy cow probably came out of the garage up ahead and thought it was a two-lane road I imagine.

cabrwab

Jesus how scary would that have been!

They were blessed they didn't cause a huge accident.
Even if it was a normal road they don't do a correct uturn, its still dangerous.

Wow mind boggles.

Twin-go

Looks like it was just before the Limerick Tunnel based on the "art" on the left side. Was he avoiding the toll? Almost payed a big price to save a couple of euros.

Anyone else think it's crazy that the cameras can't read the number plate?

People that do this need to be identified and taken off the road.

godtabh

I wonder is there any chance of that person being caught?

Should never be allowed to drive again

The Muppet

That's frightening , you just don't expect to meet a car coming at you on the overtaking lane on a motorway.

KamiKazi

I imagine Iwannahurl will be along any minute now to blame speed for this one.

mb1725

The frightening thing is guys and gals, he or she is still out there!

godtabh

KamiKazi wrote: »

I imagine Iwannahurl will be along any minute now to blame speed for this one.

The idiot was going to fast and missed their turn off.

Its common enough to see them jam on at the last minute when they realize they are about to miss their turn off. I've nearly been side sipped a few times from actions like this

cabrwab

Not too fast then, NOTHING to do with speed,head up their arse not paying attention, what else have they missed?

Atomic Pineapple

It was on the news last night that 70 people have been done for driving the wrong way on motorways in the last 3 months! :eek:

Crazy stuff, when oh when will we ever get some proper driver education in this country.

Alanstrainor

draffodx wrote: »

It was on the news last night that 70 people have been done for driving the wrong way on motorways in the last 3 months! :eek:

Crazy stuff, when oh when will we ever get some proper driver education in this country.

I agree.

But seriously, do people need to be told not to drive the wrong way down the motorway!

Whoever that was should not be on the road.

You'd want to be an abject numpty, incompetent (insert expletive of choice) of the highest order to driver the wrong way down a motorway, the exists off them that folks drive down are tapered away from the roundabout so to drive down them takes some doing. Any one doing a U turn on a dual carraigeway should get jail time not a fine, they should also be banned from driving for life.

Muckie

About two years ago one sunday foggy morning i met a people carrier been driven by a non-national coming around the roundabout at the Tallaght junction of the M50(near Kilsaran Plant) the wrong way!

As long as i live, i'll never forget, the beat up brown heap coming out of the fog and just missing me! You can never be careful enough.

langdang

I moved to Limerick a few years ago - the standard of driving amazed me. I'm not putting all the blame Limerick people - there are obviously people coming in from rural areas who have NO idea how to drive on anything other than a boreen.
Drove around portugal recently a few times (motorway, rural and city routes) without seeing anything wacky. Came back to Limerick and had 3 WTF? moments within an hour...

Reloc8

Jaysus !

And not an isolated incident !

For me that driving = convict dangerous driving, ban 20 years (means minimum 13 years of road), full resit of driving test, borderline for a 3 month jail sentence...and that's me being lenient.

Actually sod it its a jail sentence and its longer than 3 months - that's minimum 3/4 people who could now be suffering from deadness from this incident not including the criminal who's driving the offending vehicle.

Owen

Twin-go wrote: »

Anyone else think it's crazy that the cameras can't read the number plate?

I really REALLY wanted to put this image inline, but I'd be permabanned if I did. Well worth clicking though for the hell of it :

http://files.sharenator.com/1268044127756_You_Laugh_You_Lose_VERTICAL_STYLE-s244x4250-46489-580.jpg

no1beemerfan

Twin-go wrote: »

....Anyone else think it's crazy that the cameras can't read the number plate?

People that do this need to be identified and taken off the road.

I find it unbelievable. What surprised me is that there is no mention of the other cars reporting the car as the first two cars should have been able to get the number but mabey it happend so fast.


Think the aul Gardaí should post the footage to CSI Miami. Will get the number for them!

Vertakill

Muckie wrote: »

About two years ago one sunday foggy morning i met a people carrier been driven by a non-national coming around the roundabout at the Tallaght junction of the M50(near Kilsaran Plant) the wrong way!

As long as i live, i'll never forget, the beat up brown heap coming out of the fog and just missing me! You can never be careful enough.

I'm assuming the brown heap you're referring to was the car.. ?

Muckie

Could have been red(ish) was foggy!

Reloc8

Muckie wrote: »

About two years ago one sunday foggy morning i met a people carrier been driven by a non-national coming around the roundabout at the Tallaght junction of the M50(near Kilsaran Plant) the wrong way!

As long as i live, i'll never forget, the beat up brown heap coming out of the fog and just missing me! You can never be careful enough.

irrelevant...

In any event I can't tell the nationality of people driving cars past me.

Vertakill wrote: »

I'm assuming the brown heap you're referring to was the car.. ?

ffs...

phill106

Considering i drive that road everyday, that scares the crap outta me.

Ronan|Raven

I was going home on the M6 last week and came across and a tractor and slurry tanker chugging along happily at 25kmph.

bonzos

Last year in Sligo a group of travelers took over the N4 for a horse race with a fleet of cars and 4x4's driving behind them....they forced oncoming traffic onto the hard shoulder on a stretch of road that has claimed many lives in recent times.This was well reported in the media at the time but no action was taken!!! dont be so sure the just because they have the reg anything will happen.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=68137803

EPM

Jibes concerning the race of the drivers will not be tolerated in here. I will ban indefinitely anyone else that tries it again.

Vertakill

Reloc8 wrote: »

ffs...

Sorry, I didn't mean any offence there, I wasn't actually intending that as a joke despite how it turned out - I was genuinely looking for Muckie to clarify that he was talking about the car rather than the comment being about the driver in case he muddled his words.

The smiley at the end of my post (which I just removed) made it look like I was taking the pi$s but I wasn't.

Muckie

Hi, Spot on Vertakill.
Honestly i think it was a brown Mazda, was battered up too,
wasn't trying to be funny or racist in my either in my earlier posts.
Sorry folks.

savagecabbages

Theres also the strong possibility that the driver concerned has a full driving licence...
The test in this country is a joke. Many people never encounter any dual carriageway driving in their lessons or test, so how are they expected to behave properly on one???

Having said that the driver in this case must not have been at his/her senses at all, or had a death wish... I question the sanity of the driver, not his/her ability to drive!

alias no.9

The possibility of the driver realising they were approaching a toll struck me too, still no excuse for their action. For wanton reckleness like this, the car should be seized and crushed (how does that compare to a toll payment), the driver should be fined, have their license revoked and should be made do a period of comunity service picking up litter on motorway medians to make them realise how dangerous an environment it is.

Having said that, because these idiots exist and are capable of breeding and therefore spawning future idiots, to help protect other users of tolled roads, it should be manditorary to have a return loop at every toll barrier to enable traffic to go back to where they came from, without paying a toll but more importantly, without presenting a danger to others.

Cookie_Monster

alias no.9 wrote: »

The possibility of the driver realising they were approaching a toll struck me too, still no excuse for their action.

One wonders exactly how far he drove up the overtaking lane like that before thinking it was a bad idea...

alias no.9

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

One wonders exactly how far he drove up the overtaking lane like that before thinking it was a bad idea...

Reminds me of a joke I heard which went something like this

http://www.marcogiunco.com/jokes/jokes1.htm wrote:

Paddy is driving down the motorway, when his mobile phone suddenly rings.
He answers the call and hears his wife on the phone, "Paddy" she cried, "I've just heard a traffic report on the wireless, there's some idiot driving the wrong way down the motorway, be careful."
Paddy replied, "It's not just one, there's bloody loads of them!"

except in the version I remember the roles may have been reversed and the wife a blonde but paddy may be most appropriate here.

amacachi

Really, really incredible stuff.

Though I love the line that the Gardai couldn't read the reg from any cameras, money well spent there.

Orando Broom

Met a guy coming towards me on the M4 just the western side of the Enfield tool bridge. Kudos to the biker who had the wit to anticipate what I had to do. I had just passed out a car so I was on the outside lane the bike was right behind me, he spotted the danger and immediately cut up inside me and into the hard shoulder giving me time to pull in safely in front of the car I passed out. The oncoming driver kept pottering away happy as a clam! It was mental. The lightning quick actions of the motorcyclist make the whole event a bit of a non event but had he not, I'd have either taken him out or the the oncoming driver. Blessed.

cjt156

Saw the exact same thing entering the Dublin Port Tunnel from the airport end.
This time it was a foreign national; I'm not adding a racial element to the post. Simply indicating that the guy had obviously got off a plane and jumped in a rental car ten minutes previously. Promptly shat himself upon finding a great big scary hole in the ground and pulled a U-turn IN the tunnel. Claxons and red lights, all traffic ordered to a halt.
Oh how we laughed...

bazzachazza

We have been very lucky in this country that we haven't had any deaths from idiots like this. I can seriously imagine our luck will run out and several people will be killed.

Anyone caught should be banned for life from driving and fined a huge sum of money and imprisoned. It may seem harsh but this is reckless driving of the highest order. A head on at 140mph has only one result.

If it's this obvious how many people are doing this then the NRA, Gardai and RSA need to tackle this immediately. Find out why so many idiots are doing it. Make it impossible to enter a motorway the wrong way i.e. modify slips so they are not so easy to enter. Signage. Increase the number of cameras and improve their quality so they can zoom in and get the registrations.

stevenmu

From another article today in the Indo as well:

Two fatalities last year were caused by drivers going the wrong way on high-speed carriageways.

It's a miracle there aren't more fatalities though:

Up to 30 motorists each month are driving the wrong way on a stretch of road in Limerick, and gardai have issued 69 motorists with penalty points for this offence

KamiKazi

But we all know speed is the real killer, right?

Orando Broom

stevenmu wrote: »

From another article today in the Indo as well:




It's a miracle there aren't more fatalities though:

Is there a study by Guards as to why this is happening. The lazy approach is to say stupidity etc. but is there a pattern.

It's probably something easily remedied with a bit of study.

AugustusMinimus

KamiKazi wrote: »

But we all know speed is the real killer, right?

Head on crash would have been blamed on the individual in the overtaking lane doing a wreckless 127kph.

Seasoft

KamiKazi wrote: »

But we all know speed is the real killer, right?

Inappropriate speed is the killer. After all, 120 kph is safe on motorways, yet 60 kph could be too fast elsewhere.

It's drivers who (a) ignore speed limits; and (b) fools with impaired judgement who cannot drive safely based on conditions who are the real killers (among others).

maclek

literal_libertarian posted this gif of the incident on another forum: http://i.imgur.com/7pGcI.gif

testicle

The part of the road pictured in the original article is not a motorway, it's a dual carriageway. While it's obviously not acceptible to drive the wrong way on a dualler, it must be pointed out that the speed limit there is 60 I think, and not the OMG 120 that everything thinks the cars coming the other way are doing.

Buffman

bazzachazza wrote: »

We have been very lucky in this country that we haven't had any deaths from idiots like this. I can seriously imagine our luck will run out and several people will be killed.

It's all too common unfortunately. I'd say a lot of dual carriageway/motorway deaths are caused by this.

October 2010 N7 at Rathcoole.




Less than a month ago in Cork.

SeaFields

stevenmu wrote: »

"Up to 30 motorists each month are driving the wrong way on a stretch of road in Limerick, and gardai have issued 69 motorists with penalty points for this offence"

Might be a little too obvious but have they checked the road signs there? There must be something drastically wrong for that many mistakes a month on a particular stretch of road - cant all be driver error surely.

Seth Brundle

Orando Broom wrote: »

Is there a study by Guards as to why this is happening. The lazy approach is to say stupidity etc. but is there a pattern.

It's probably something easily remedied with a bit of study.

* Poor & confusing road signage at junctions.
* Poor junction layout
* Shithead incompetent drivers

AugustusMinimus

Buffman wrote: »

Less than a month ago in Cork.

Right. I think I know what happened in this one.

The picture above is between the Cobh Cross exit and the Little Island exit.

I'd imagine that the women was entering the dual carriageway from the roundabout in Little Island which is just around the corner from KFC. The way it is done, there is a road from that roadabout which leads down to the dual carriageway. This road is standard road with traffic on the left entering the dc and traffic on the right exiting it.

if she strayed onto the right hand side of this, she would have been taken onto the DC going in the wrong direction. While the driver should have known what was going on, both lanes on this connection road need to be sperated to ensure this doesn't happen again.

The red line below is the path I think the driver might have taken.