Laid back or what..

Nissan doctor

I spend the last week in Donegal and while heading along a section of the main N56 I came across the scene below....:eek:




There was no sign of any other cars and I had no phone signal....I spent maybe 15 mins checking the cab and surrounding area for the driver or anyone who may have been hurt....but nothing...it was a bit surreal actually. I turned and drove back down the road until I had signal, got the number for the closest garda station and called....then the best bit...."we know about that, we can't get any equipment to move it until tomorrow"(this was sunday)...when I asked why there was no road closed/diversion signs he just said "sure most people who'd use that road know its been there for a couple of days!" He then proceeded to give me direction of how to get around it!

:eek:

TGi666

irish solution to a irish problem

HeidiHeidi

Where was that, out of interest?

The reaction doesn't surprise me in the least - very hard to get them excited in Donegal!

And was that just a regular artic? Looks incredibly long from that angle!

Nissan doctor

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Where was that, out of interest?

The reaction doesn't surprise me in the least - very hard to get them excited in Donegal!

And was that just a regular artic? Looks incredibly long from that angle!

It was on the N56 between Ardara and Killybegs.

Seemed like a normal one, It took me a few seconds to figure out what it even was as I approached around the previous bend.

unkel

Only in Ireland

How long would it have taken for the Gardai to put up signs on both sides at the nearest junctions that the road was blocked? Come to think of it, it is bloody ignorant and just plain lazy :mad:

Avns1s

unkel wrote: »

Only in Ireland

How long would it have taken for the Gardai to put up signs on both sides at the nearest junctions that the road was blocked? Come to think of it, it is bloody ignorant and just plain lazy :mad:

Negligent even!!

I wouldn't have liked to be coming along that road from that side, at night, while that obstruction was there!!

Minister Boyce

Nissan doctor wrote: »

It was on the N56 between Ardara and Killybegs.

Seemed like a normal one, It took me a few seconds to figure out what it even was as I approached around the previous bend.

Been over that road a few times and its a white knuckle ride even in a saloon car. road is fairly narrow and is quite bumpy. Phone Coverage is woeful also. Would not like to have come across that trailer unit with now road warning signs, especially at night:eek:

You picked great weather for your stay in Tir Chonaill though;)

Atlantic Dawn

Would be an interesting incident at night where you wouldn't see it until you were part of it :rolleyes:

Cedrus

Scary dangerous if you came on that on a dark wet night! :eek:
There's a severe lack of shiny reflective bits on the belly of a wagon.

MickySticks

That's shocking to think the Gardaí would be so lazy and ignorant as to leave an artic lying across a road. As others have said thats very dangerous at night. Disgraceful! :mad:

Fiona

I wonder what the RSA think of that :rolleyes:

Plug

It would make a great picture on a post card.

'Greetings from Donegal'.

alias no.9

Contacted the gardai about a burned out car I encountered one night and they said they already knew about it but it was the councils job to remove it. I was there how about the fact that there's no visibility of of the hazard for oncoming traffic from either side and cars are forced to overtake it on a solid white line with oncoming traffic coming around a fairly sharp bend, had they any responsibility to direct traffic or at least put out warning signs?

Mc Love

Would you not send that on to the Ombudsman/Minister for Justice??

Carson10

This looks like everyone left and abandoned Ireland, and would be on the front page of a paper in another country.

oh and the unfinished bungalow in the back right adds to it too!

Classic!

Nissan doctor

Mc Love wrote: »

Would you not send that on to the Ombudsman/Minister for Justice??

Would you genuinely be expecting anything to come of it? It would be nothing more then a waste of the time I spend writing the email/letter or whatever.

Nissan doctor

Carson10 wrote: »

This looks like everyone left and abandoned Ireland, and would be on the front page of a paper in another country.

oh and the unfinished bungalow in the back right adds to it too!

Classic!

As an aside....I was also amazed by the amount of unfinished and half built houses around Donegal.

cruizer101

Even a bit of yellow garda tape going between the axles or tie on a hazard triangle or something to try and give some warning at night time. I'd say at nigth time you could very easily not see that til the last minute.

Carson10

cruizer101 wrote: »

Even a bit of yellow garda tape going between the axles or tie on a hazard triangle or something to try and give some warning at night time. I'd say at nigth time you could very easily not see that til the last minute.

I think the owner of the vehicle needs to be held to account. Jesus christ he must have no cop on at all. To leave that truck lying there for days and not one bit of a warning to motorists. Probably careless, the reason why he crashed in the first place.

Nissan doctor

Carson10 wrote: »

I think the owner of the vehicle needs to be held to account. Jesus christ he must have no cop on at all. To leave that truck lying there for days and not one bit of a warning to motorists. Probably careless, the reason why he crashed in the first place.

Having seen the cab....I'd be guessing the owner/driver isn't sitting at home in front of the TV laughing about it.:(

johnos1984

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Having seen the cab....I'd be guessing the owner/driver isn't sitting at home in front of the TV laughing about it.:(

While not looking great the road doesn't look bad either.

Any idea what lead it to be on it's side ND?

Auguste Comte

Avns1s wrote: »

Negligent even!!

I wouldn't have liked to be coming along that road from that side, at night, while that obstruction was there!!

While driving another artic

Nissan doctor

johnos1984 wrote: »

While not looking great the road doesn't look bad either.

Any idea what lead it to be on it's side ND?

Looking at the marks it had dropped its wheels off the left side of the road a fair bit back....no guess as to why though as its is probably the straightest and smoothest bit of the whole road.

a5y

Plug wrote: »

It would make a great picture on a post card.

'Greetings from Donegal'.

If anyone from the Irish Road Safety Authority is reading this, I'm available for all your promotional needs! Or the Gardaí. Maybe some Operation Freeflow Christmas 2012 cards, eh?

http://picpaste.com/ireland_postcard_parody.png

(can't insert image for some reason, sorry to inconvenience anyone)

unkel

That's class alright

a5y wrote: »

(can't insert image for some reason, sorry to inconvenience anyone)

No worries, not your fault. The site did not like linking pictures. I saved the picture to my computer and then attached it to my post

Jimbob 83

Thats insane, abit of tape and some cheap signs there could be the saving of many lives that could be lost, insane when you have people like myself who have gone through the Garda recruitment mill 2-3 times paid to stay up in dublin for the interview after aceing the apptitude test only to have some jackass pulled by the lugs past you who is probably sitting the the station not giving a ****

a5y

unkel wrote: »

No worries, not your fault. The site did not like linking pictures. I saved the picture to my computer and then attached it to my post

Mystery solved. Cheers, I was wondering what I was doing wrong!

Eric Cartman

Id you Open it to see if there was anything good inside ?

carbon nanotube

This is funny but also quite shocking

how an artic truck can be left lopsided on a rural road with no signs up at all its just mind boggling

any vehicle at night would just plough straight into that and lives gone for sure.

I am in the uk but not a hope would that happen here, even on A roads.

making up excuses for sparse population, lack of guarda and scumbags stealing things is lame. Its the year 2012, not 1976.

should not happen. If this is they way things are in Ireland now cant see my self going home any time soon

Nforce

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Id you Open it to see if there was anything good inside ?

Can't believe it took 32 posts before someone posted that!:P

It's full of top of the range big screen LED tv's...have at it!:D

Big Nasty

I think this should be sent to newsdesk@rte for the craic! :pac:

listermint

MCMLXXV wrote: »

I think this should be sent to newsdesk@rte for the craic! :pac:

This.

Vikings

I find it mildly funny that a lot of posters are concerned about people ploughing into this truck on a "dark, wet, windy night."

It was probably driving like that which put the artic there in the first place. I don't think the OP came close to smashing into it, any other driver paying half an ounce of attention won't either no matter what time of the day or night.

We can only speculate as to why the truck has been left like that with no diversions etc. Is it safe? Not half. Is it ideal? Definitely not. Is there one person to blame? Absolutely not.

My own opinion is that it has been left like that not out of choice, but necessity. Resources don't stretch to minding a road or equipment for days on end in a remote part of the country. Its a harsh reality.

listermint

Vikings wrote: »

I find it mildly funny that a lot of posters are concerned about people ploughing into this truck on a "dark, wet, windy night."

It was probably driving like that which put the artic there in the first place. I don't think the OP came close to smashing into it, any other driver paying half an ounce of attention won't either no matter what time of the day or night.

We can only speculate as to why the truck has been left like that with no diversions etc. Is it safe? Not half. Is it ideal? Definitely not. Is there one person to blame? Absolutely not.

My own opinion is that it has been left like that not out of choice, but necessity. Resources don't stretch to minding a road or equipment for days on end in a remote part of the country. Its a harsh reality.

Harsh reality that cones cant be spared to place on either side ahead of the incident with some garda tape?

That idiotic, that is not 'harsh reality' This is a huge blackened out wreck. anyone could wallop straight into it in the dark. so i disagree with you. Peopel dont expect something like this blackened out across the entire stretch of road.

carbon nanotube

Vikings wrote: »

I find it mildly funny that a lot of posters are concerned about people ploughing into this truck on a "dark, wet, windy night."

It was probably driving like that which put the artic there in the first place. I don't think the OP came close to smashing into it, any other driver paying half an ounce of attention won't either no matter what time of the day or night.

We can only speculate as to why the truck has been left like that with no diversions etc. Is it safe? Not half. Is it ideal? Definitely not. Is there one person to blame? Absolutely not.

My own opinion is that it has been left like that not out of choice, but necessity. Resources don't stretch to minding a road or equipment for days on end in a remote part of the country. Its a harsh reality.

blocking both ends of the road with high vis tape costs about 100euro.

anyone driving that road at night could easily plough into that doing 70mph, not rocket science

Vikings

Do you have lights on your car? Would you travel with your full beams on a road like that at night time? What speed would you be travelling on that road, at night time, in bad conditions?

Just because it's not your opinion, does not make it idiotic. Where would you place the cones out of interest?

_Kaiser_

In a similar vein..

Few weeks ago I was heading down the motorway and came round a gentle bend in the road at 120 km/h to be greeted by the sight of a squad car across both lanes and 2 gardai standing at it waving traffic onto the adjacent off-ramp.

As this was less than 500m from said bend, cue much standing on brakes of all cars concerned and last-minute lane-changing to get to the exit. Naturally of course there was no further garda presence or signs to direct motorists unfamiliar to the area as to where to go from there, so I duly rang the local station to find out what was going on.

Turned out there had been an accident further down the motorway hence the diversion (fair enough), but when I asked why there was no advance warning of this I got told they "didn't have the resources" ... she didn't have an answer though when I asked why the 2 boys couldn't move a bit further up the road at least rather than risk another accident, or put out a warning sign.. or even requisition one of those motorway maintenance trucks with the flashing signs on the back etc..

Typically Irish "ah sure it'll be grand" attitude :rolleyes:

Cedrus

Vikings wrote: »

Do you have lights on your car? Would you travel with your full beams on a road like that at night time? What speed would you be travelling on that road, at night time, in bad conditions?

Just because it's not your opinion, does not make it idiotic. Where would you place the cones out of interest?

I have been in a similar situation as this, I came on a flipped car on a wet night, I had full beam headlights on, but the underside of a car (or truck) is spectacularly un-reflective, I could see absolutely nothing until the last few seconds. Fortunately as the car did not block the entire carriageway, I was able to swerve past with only cosmetic damage despite the theatrical noises of debris being thrown up.

I would have been a lot happier to have seen cones 20 metres back, even if I'd hit them!

Seans_Username

i agree with vikings point. this would be clearly noticable at night, and it would be unlikely that anyone would be driving on that road at night anyway.
nothing happened, op was grand, no-one was hurt. yet people are whining about the gardai and the safety of the whole thing...

its a funny situation, why take the laughter out of it?

SeanW

mrs crilly wrote: »

I wonder what the RSA think of that :rolleyes:

It wouldn't give them an excuse to regulate motorists more or bash young men drivers. Hence, I doubt they care.

creedp

Vikings wrote: »

Do you have lights on your car? Would you travel with your full beams on a road like that at night time? What speed would you be travelling on that road, at night time, in bad conditions?

Just because it's not your opinion, does not make it idiotic. Where would you place the cones out of interest?

We're not talking about someone pulled into the hard shoulder here .. we're talking about an overturned artic completely blocking a public road. Is it not the case that if you breakdown on a roadside (not blocking the bloody thing) you are supposed to have those traffic triangle a certain distance from the vehicle to warn oncoming traffic? How is it that is taken as acceptable that you can simply block a road and leave it there for days on end and no warning/information signs need to be put in place?

dodzy

Vikings wrote: »

It was probably driving like that which put the artic there in the first place

Possible

Vikings wrote: »

I don't think the OP came close to smashing into it...

most likely, judging by the time of day.

Vikings wrote: »

any other driver paying half an ounce of attention won't either no matter what time of the day or night...

So, so wrong.

SEPT 23 1989

Do the insurance company know that its there i wonder?

Vikings

Well all I can say is from my own experience when I am not used to an area I will drive a lot slower than I usually would. Even more so at night time. I would be confident I would not come close to smashing into that at night time, OP said it was not far from a corner so I would be going even slower again.

Like I say, its only my opinion and we all have one. And I think we all agree that there should be something in place to warn motorists.

carbon nanotube

Seans_Username wrote: »

i agree with vikings point. this would be clearly noticable at night, and it would be unlikely that anyone would be driving on that road at night anyway.
nothing happened, op was grand, no-one was hurt. yet people are whining about the gardai and the safety of the whole thing...

its a funny situation, why take the laughter out of it?

under body of the truck is as black as the night sky...

cant believe how stupid some people are on here, yes you would see the truck driving along the road with full beams but its going to give you an almighty shock if you are going fast.. 70mph or so

most likely you will skid arseways or drive right into it

Big Nasty

Vikings wrote: »

Well all I can say is from my own experience when I am not used to an area I will drive a lot slower than I usually would. Even more so at night time.

So if you were familiar with the road you wouldn't be as cautious then?

Cedrus

That truck is a Hazard.
It is unecessary and that it could be left for several days without any risk reduction measures is negligent.

Good driving and local knowledge will of course mitigate the risks, bad weather and darkness will aggravate them.

Reminds me of a comment I heard when the NCT was introduced "Old cars don't need to be tested, they're safer because you can't drive them as fast". :rolleyes:

Seans_Username

carbon nanotube wrote: »

under body of the truck is as black as the night sky...

cant believe how stupid some people are on here, yes you would see the truck driving along the road with full beams but its going to give you an almighty shock if you are going fast.. 70mph or so

most likely you will skid arseways or drive right into it

okay very good point, and what i said was ignorantly stupid, but my main point was why are people getting so concerned about this?

it wasnt at night-time when the OP seen it. maybe someone did come across it at night and had no trouble with it but didnt put it up on boards. maybe.

that picture and the laid back attitude is funny to me. nothing serious happened or we'd have heard about it, so why take the humour out of the situation?

listermint

Seans_Username wrote: »

okay very good point, and what i said was ignorantly stupid, but my main point was why are people getting so concerned about this?

it wasnt at night-time when the OP seen it. maybe someone did come across it at night and had no trouble with it but didnt put it up on boards. maybe.

that picture and the laid back attitude is funny to me. nothing serious happened or we'd have heard about it, so why take the humour out of the situation?

did you even read the first post??

The vehicle wont be moved until the next day which means its sitting all day and over night across the road on its side. its probably been there a day before we dont know, so it could be 2 nights???

Whats hilarious about that, would it be hilarious if you came around the bend and into the unlit dark underside of an over turned 40ft across the road?

laugh my arse off type of stuff that....:rolleyes:

Seans_Username

listermint wrote: »

did you even read the first post??

The vehicle wont be moved until the next day which means its sitting all day and over night across the road on its side. its probably been there a day before we dont know, so it could be 2 nights???

Whats hilarious about that, would it be hilarious if you came around the bend and into the unlit dark underside of an over turned 40ft across the road?

laugh my arse off type of stuff that....:rolleyes:

did i say that i laugh at people crashing into trucks like that? no. talk about taking something out of context! why would anyone want that to happen?! why would they laugh at it either?!! maybe i was just expecting nothing serious to happen so i looked at the funnier side of things...

the fact that in some backroad of my home county theres a massive overturned truck just lying there and the local authorities think of it as nothing with such a laid-back attitude is what i find funny.

i dont want to sound harsh but dont be such a buzzkill. btw i did read the first post. nothings happened and if anything, the OP has made people more aware of the incident, so it will probably be less likely for someone to come across it unaware of it...

challengemaster

MCMLXXV wrote: »

I think this should be sent to newsdesk@rte for the craic! :pac:

Fook that, send it to sky news - then you might have something done about it :P

Can't say I'm surprised about it though