Keep Left Unless Overtaking! New LED Display!

cormie

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday driving along the M50 when I saw in the overhead LED displays in large font "Keep Left Unless Overtaking". This I believe is a much better message than "Garda Message, slow down" or "Airport 18 min".

There was also "Only stop in an emergency" and another one too, the three of them rotating.

Let's hope people actually read it and don't think staying in the middle lane is "keeping left"

L-M

Should read "Keep left unless overtaking, or we will find you, and we will get you!"

Henry Ford III

Didn't seem to mention undertaking.

Jumpy

We have those signs in Australia too. I dont believe the people in Ireland actually do it out of stupidity, they just dont know the rules. Signs like these are a great help.

In saying that though, in Aus, the right lane is always the overtaking lane, but on three lane roads (which is most main roads) the center lane and left lane are of equal share. As a matter of fact the slow drivers and trucks etc usually remain in the center to allow faster vehicles to pass on either side.

E39MSport

To drive a car on a motorway or any public road without knowing the rules of the road is stupidity imo.

antodeco

Most Irish drivers are clueless on how to drive. "keep left" for them is the middle lane. The amount of morons who sit in the middle lane until their exit, and then halfway down decide to move across two lanes, rather than merge left, and then merge left again. I've had so many close calls. I'm just glad I put a camera on my car!

kincsem

"I lik.e to drive in the middle lane" is what I hear from many motorists. Ads on TV don't affect them.

maxer68

In the UK you get fined for driving in the middle lane when the inner lane is free. - As I found out back in 1990. It was £30 back then and it was best lesson I ever got.

If they introduced such a fine here, the country's financial problems would be solved in weeks! - And that would be based on the N7 alone!

cormie

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Didn't seem to mention undertaking.

See I don't think this would be an issue if everybody DID keep left. We can hope

Guy:Incognito

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Didn't seem to mention undertaking.

If everyone obeys the sign that takes care of itself

EDIT: bloody Cormie

kincsem wrote: »

"I lik.e to drive in the middle lane" is what I hear from many motorists. Ads on TV don't affect them.

Driving home this morning at around half two I saw somethign I see regularly on the M50. A car in the inside lane trundling along at around 80 (I was doing an indicated 105 ish and closed on him fairly quickly) indicates and pulls out in to the middle lane and continues his journey. The motorway was fairly quiet as you can imagine at that time, save for the other eejit about 30 yards in front of him in the middle lane. So now its both of these gob****es on a fairly empty motorway doing 10-20 kmph under the limit in the middle lane. :rolleyes:

corktina

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Didn't seem to mention undertaking.

what you are calling UNDERTAKING is overtaking as well. UNDERTAKING is something completely different, in this instance UNDER is not the opposite of OVER

-Corkie-

corktina wrote: »

what you are calling UNDERTAKING is overtaking as well. UNDERTAKING is something completely different, in this instance UNDER is not the opposite of OVER

Joe Grace is a hoor for it..

GreeBo

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Didn't seem to mention undertaking.

Fanagans and Masseys have that market cornered.


Saw the signs myself yesterday...problem is that people who read/notice/obey these signs are probably not the ones who need to see them...

rebel.ranter

maxer68 wrote: »

If they introduced such a fine here, the country's financial problems would be solved in weeks! - And that would be based on the N7 alone!

The problem is that they can introduce any amount of offences they want it will not matter. There are not enough resources to enforce the ones we have now let alone new ones.

The real solution is education. Introduce driving & the rules of the road as a subject in transition year. Make it mandatory, with weekly classes both theory & practical. Beef it up a bit more than the current theory test & driving test. Maybe add in the following:
- defensive driving course
- include motorway as part of the physical test
- statistics on road use/fatalities
- basic mechanical know how (check lights, pump tyres, check fluids, learn about the basics)

There's probably more that could be included for consideration but the above would be a start.

Guy:Incognito

rebel.ranter wrote: »

The problem is that they can introduce any amount of offences they want it will not matter. There are not enough resources to enforce the ones we have now let alone new ones..

2 shifts covering 16 hours a day of a traffic car that just drives up and down the M50 the whole time stopping and fineing people for all the stupidity that goes on could be easily done on a cost neutral basis purely paid for by what they collect and without any reaserch I'd go so far as to say it would be profit making.

rebel.ranter wrote: »

The real solution is education. Introduce driving & the rules of the road as a subject in transition year. Make it mandatory, with weekly classes both theory & practical. Beef it up a bit more than the current theory test & driving test. Maybe add in the following:
- defensive driving course
- include motorway as part of the physical test
- statistics on road use/fatalities
- basic mechanical know how (check lights, pump tyres, check fluids, learn about the basics)

There's probably more that could be included for consideration but the above would be a start.

Education is great and is needed but it will still take at least 40 years before all the idiots currently on roads are gone. We need education AND enforcement.

Atlantic Dawn

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Didn't seem to mention undertaking.

You can only undertake when your are prevented from overtaking

I suppose it makes a change from the Garda sign that featured the term "fast lane" that I spotted last Christmas.

Nissan doctor

I'd wonder if most people will even notice these. All you have to do is look at the amount of people changing lanes at the last minute to know that they obviously don't look at the enormous blue overhead signs:rolleyes:

Sure wasn't there someone who posted here a few months back wondering why they got a fine for a toll on the M50 as they hadn't gone through a toll booth!!!

There is about 15 large signs for the toll payment/cost/when to pay etc:rolleyes:

johnos1984

When people can't be bothered to look in their mirrors when changing lanes there is little hope they will look at or notice these signs

Mycroft H

Overtaking? Sure I'm overtaking this fellow half a mile down the road. I'll stay in the fast lane.

alias no.9

The problem is that you have other signs displaying messages that destroy the credibility of all of these signs, such as the Danger Icy Conditions just south of Monasterevin on the M7 yesterday when the outside temperature gauge in the car was reading a balmy 12 degrees.

TheBazman

alias no.9 wrote: »

The problem is that you have other signs displaying messages that destroy the credibility of all of these signs, such as the Danger Icy Conditions just south of Monasterevin on the M7 yesterday when the outside temperature gauge in the car was reading a balmy 12 degrees.

Noticed a few of those aswell - few weeks too late. The of course you had the ones down near kill warning of excess surface water when it hadnt rained in a few days.

Re the new signs about keeping left - most people wont even see them. I have travelled up and down the M7/N7 a lot over the past week or so when the roads were quiet and an awful lot of people are glued to the middle lane, even as they pass under these signs - its so frustrating. I reckon a couple of weeks of proper enforcement would do a lot to tidy up the situation

dudara

It's a great idea to have signs with messages like that. However, I'm willing to bet that most middle-lane drivers already consider that they are keeping left. This is because they probably think that the left-most lane is a entry/exit lane.

Again, it all comes back to education. This needs to be fixed from the ground up with proper education delivered through the secondary school system (as it's the only way of delivering a consistent message to all potential future drivers).

Del2005

cormie wrote: »

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday driving along the M50 when I saw in the overhead LED displays in large font "Keep Left Unless Overtaking". This I believe is a much better message than "Garda Message, slow down" or "Airport 18 min".

There was also "Only stop in an emergency" and another one too, the three of them rotating.

Let's hope people actually read it and don't think staying in the middle lane is "keeping left"

Spotted then too. Not too sure how linked the signs are but they've the same messages on the N7 just before the N82/Citywest exit that has the "Only stop in an emergency". There's nothing illegal about stopping on an N road.

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Driving home this morning at around half two I saw somethign I see regularly on the M50. A car in the inside lane trundling along at around 80 (I was doing an indicated 105 ish and closed on him fairly quickly) indicates and pulls out in to the middle lane and continues his journey. The motorway was fairly quiet as you can imagine at that time, save for the other eejit about 30 yards in front of him in the middle lane. So now its both of these gob****es on a fairly empty motorway doing 10-20 kmph under the limit in the middle lane. :rolleyes:

I was motoring down the M11 just after Christmas and again the road was quite. Spotted a MINI coming down a slip road so mover over to the fast lane to let them out. After I'd cleared the junction I pulled back into the slow lane and watched them disappear in my mirror as they pulled into the empty fast lane.:eek:

slimjimmc

Del2005 wrote: »

Spotted then too. Not too sure how linked the signs are but they've the same messages on the N7 just before the N82/Citywest exit that has the "Only stop in an emergency". There's nothing illegal about stopping on an N road.



I was motoring down the M11 just after Christmas and again the road was quite. Spotted a MINI coming down a slip road so mover over to the fast lane to let them out. After I'd cleared the junction I pulled back into the slow lane and watched them disappear in my mirror as they pulled into the empty fast lane.:eek:

So, as is often the case, the 'fast' lane was actually the 'slow' lane. But that mis-terminology is a large part of the problem I suspect, overtaking lane hoggers see the driving lane as being for slow drivers and the overtaking lane as for fast drivers, and very few drivers want to be tagged as a slow driver.

ballooba

With regard to the "Do not stop unless there is an Emergency" signs. I don't think the message is clear enough. Unless it specifically mentions the hard shoulder, then the numpties won't get the message. This also needs enforcement or at least a stern lecture on the risks involved.

cormie

I'd never voluntarily stop in the hard shoulder of a Motorway, had to more than once due to break downs and it's far from safe!

2 stroke

It's a bit rediculous having the "Keep Left Unless Overtaking" sign on when all lanes are full, and theres no opportunity to overtake. If everyone moved to the left lane at busy times, the left lane would be bumper to bumper.

robbie_998

http://www.nratraffic.ie/vms/default.asp

they dont say anything good at the moment.

like to check these before going home.

i do enjoy those signs though.

the keep left thing really is hitting the tv hard too with RSA motorway driving ads, which im glad to see.

i just hate those ignornant ****s that are going 1KM/H faster than the other person their overtaking,

I will admit and say sorry but i have undertaking a few times on the M50 and i know its wrong but these people are being planks sitting in the overtaking lane for no reason.


then just for fun these too.

who can spot me at 3 in the morning :P

http://www.nratraffic.ie/cams/default.asp

cormie

2 stroke wrote: »

It's a bit rediculous having the "Keep Left Unless Overtaking" sign on when all lanes are full, and theres no opportunity to overtake. If everyone moved to the left lane at busy times, the left lane would be bumper to bumper.

See the thing is, if everyone DID keep to the rule, then bumper to bumper situations would develop a lot less as the traffic would be flowing much better. The M50 is brilliant now, far greater than it was before the upgrade, but the driving is still the same and isn't utilising the road as best as it can be.

Interesting sign link there robbie, might come in handy! Have just seen high wind warnings the last few days myself but looks like they've replaced them now. Port Tunnel closure one is important too and keeping left won't be such a problem at this time.

Del2005

2 stroke wrote: »

It's a bit rediculous having the "Keep Left Unless Overtaking" sign on when all lanes are full, and theres no opportunity to overtake. If everyone moved to the left lane at busy times, the left lane would be bumper to bumper.

The left lane would be bumper to bumper, then the next lane of overtaking traffic will be bumper to bumper etc Unlike the current situation where the left lane is empty and I need to do 4 lane changes to legally pass a car when 2 is all that's required. BTW you should never be bumper to bumper on any road and that's another problem for a different day.

It would be better than the current situation where we spent loads of money to build a 3 lane road(s) which are still used as a 2 lane road as people are ignorant of the law, but they can't use that excuse with the big signs so it's pure ignorance now.


The best example was with the snow last year ar. The driving lane was frozen and the overtaking lanes where relatively clear. It was lethal trying to drive correctly and exit safely. Any other country in the world the driving lane would be clear with the 1st overtaking lane next and only the crazy people in the outside lane.