Traffic lights and guards ???

paulgalway

Came out from town just before 8 via Tuam rd.

Can someone please explain why the traffic lights at the new junction on the Tuam rd were turned off and 4 guards were directing the traffic?

Could the guards not find something better to do? What are the guys in the Traffic control centre doing? were they at the races.

Took 3 times longer than normal to turn right to head to the the Ballybrit junction - were the lights were on and no guards in view.

leeroybrown

It is for race week. They were racing until after seven this evening. For the last five years or so the Gardaí have taken over traffic direction on the routes near Ballybritt. It may have taken three times longer but it'd likely have taken ten times longer if they let the main race week traffic flows build up at the junctions instead.

Iwannahurl

paulgalway wrote: »

What are the guys in the Traffic control centre doing?

Was the control centre meant to be fully operational for the Race Week traffic influx?

antoobrien

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Was the control centre meant to be fully operational for the Race Week traffic influx?

It's standard practice across the country to turn off the lights around major events for traffic control purposes, regardless of the presence of a traffic control center. Dublin (the model for our traffic mismanagement center) knock off lights all the time around Croke Park, The RDS, The Aviva, The Point/O2 etc.

The lights will be off for about 1 hour before & after the first race and last races of the day (depending on the levels of traffic).

nuac

paulgalway wrote: »

Came out from town just before 8 via Tuam rd.

Can someone please explain why the traffic lights at the new junction on the Tuam rd were turned off and 4 guards were directing the traffic?

Could the guards not find something better to do? What are the guys in the Traffic control centre doing? were they at the races.

Took 3 times longer than normal to turn right to head to the the Ballybrit junction - were the lights were on and no guards in view.

You are not being very complimentary to Gárdaí who are given this duty. One of the must boring ways of putting in your time

U2sir

Hi, What can the Guards do that a modern Traffic control centre cannot do?

bluecode

U2sir wrote: »

Hi, What can the Guards do that a modern Traffic control centre cannot do?

They can point at someone and say: 'You move there' and at someone else: 'You stop there'.

The human element. They can sort out a jam in a way that no control centre could.

paulgalway

bluecode wrote: »

They can sort out a jam in a way that no control centre could.

Defeats the purpose of a traffic control centre if there are going to be jams.

leeroybrown

I think the point of the traffic control centre is to deal with individual traffic problems and bottlenecks on a day-to-day basis more than massive traffic volumes for big events. The Galway Races and other events like Galway GAA/Hurling matches are always going to put an extraordinary volume of cars on the road and get the Gardaí out.

Iwannahurl

leeroybrown wrote: »

I think the point of the traffic control centre is to deal with individual traffic problems and bottlenecks on a day-to-day basis more than massive traffic volumes for big events. The Galway Races and other events like Galway GAA/Hurling matches are always going to put an extraordinary volume of cars on the road and get the Gardaí out.

Last Autumn, it was reported that councillors were told the UTMC would be operational in time to cope with the Volvo Ocean Race finale, which was expected to draw larger crowds (and heavier traffic, presumably) than the Galway Races typically do:

The [N6 multi-modal corridor] scheme only scraped through at the eleventh hour after councillors were warned that without their approval that night funding of €6m would be lost, which included more than €1m to set up an Urban Traffic Management Control (UTMC) system to centrally control the lights to give priority to public transport and react to various traffic conditions.

They were told that the scheme would be completed within 18 months and would be fully operational well in time to cope with the 600,000 visitors tipped to descend on the city in July for the Volvo Ocean Race.

Incidentally, the Garda Siochana have also been allocated a seat in the UTMC, so presumably they can have a 'real-time' involvement in traffic control for large events by that means also.

With regard to "other events like Galway GAA/Hurling matches", there might be less traffic congestion -- and therefore less 'need' to switch off traffic lights etc -- on those occasions if AGS didn't facilitate large numbers of motorists to drive as close as possible to Pearse Stadium and engage in blatant abandonmentness of their cars on footpaths, pedestrian crossings, roundabouts, bus stops and other 'free' parking spots.

Like feeding pigeons, such de facto free parking simply serves to draw traffic, which then gives rise to interventions like switching off traffic lights and having Gardai directing (motorised) traffic on junctions. Incidentally, switching off lights for cars also means switching off the pedestrian crossing function too. In my experience that means pedestrians, including those with children in tow, are left to fend for themselves.


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leeroybrown

I deliberately didn't mention the Volvo in my post because it was pretty much a continuous event that brought a steady flow of increased traffic all the time. The exceptions within the Volvo where everyone was arriving and leaving in the same time windows appeared to be directly managed by Gardaí on the ground as would happen for the Races, big GAA games, etc.

Once the City permits an event that brings 20,000 people to a one location at a specific time direct Garda traffic management is pretty much essential. You can argue all you want about whether the traffic should be allowed to drive to these locations or not but once they've been sanctioned the management is required.

Iwannahurl

Agreed generally re sanctioning of events, though I would make two additional points:

1. Galway City needs coherent traffic and parking management strategies.

2. There is a crucial difference between bringing 20,000 people and 20,000 cars to one location at the same time.

This is not quibbling: IMO if the focus was on moving people efficiently there would be a greater effort to coordinate and control traffic and transportation in a manner that reduces or even eliminates the use of private cars in door-to-door mode at such events. Currently the opposite tends to be the case, with the expectation being that cars will naturally be used in that way. The VOR stopover in 2009, and matches in Pearse Stadium, are two examples that immediately spring to mind.

Mrs OBumble

It's ironic, really, that this thread was sparked by the races, the only event that has shuttle bus services operating from both the city centre and east Galway (Farrells from Athenry)

As far as I can tell, both these are totally commercial ventures, not organised or funded by the council in either way, and both focussed on reducing private cars on the road (and making a profit for their operators, of course).

Iwannahurl

There was a good article on bus services to the Races in either the City Tribune or Sentinel recently. I can't find a link just now, but IIRC it reported that the services were becoming increasingly popular. That would be my own impression, if the large number of fancy hats on show at the bus stops is anything to go by.

Here are all the details, as supplied by galwaytransport.info:

http://galwaypublictransportnews.blogspot.ie/2012/07/Buses-trains-special-shuttles-galway-races-2012.html