Yet another 'wrong way' motorway accident

mb1725

Was in Cork yesterday and the M8 was closed due to an accident all afternoon. One man killed in what looks like another driving wrong way incident:
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/man-dies-in-crash-with-wrong-way-driver-on-motorway-279359.html

Kenny Logins

I assume this was the point of entry at junction 13?

https://www.google.ie/maps/@52.238743,-8.280025,3a,75y,303.64h,77.51t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sb1CK9paHlbAV7yfWBYL71g!2e0

Cuddlesworth

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I assume this was the point of entry at junction 13?

https://www.google.ie/maps/@52.238743,-8.280025,3a,75y,303.64h,77.51t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sb1CK9paHlbAV7yfWBYL71g!2e0

WTF is with that blue sign?

agent graves

that sign is a glitch.. if you look from a diff angle it is pointing in the right direction..

mb1725

Kenny Logins wrote: »

I assume this was the point of entry at junction 13?

https://www.google.ie/maps/@52.238743,-8.280025,3a,75y,303.64h,77.51t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sb1CK9paHlbAV7yfWBYL71g!2e0

Happened further south, closer to Fermoy turn off. Driver had to pass these though.

Kenny Logins

mb1725 wrote: »

Happened further south, closer to Fermoy turn off. Driver had to pass these though.

Yes, I know...

I was driving from Dublin to Limerick and taking the off ramp in Limerick when a car was coming towards me the wrong way. It wasn't travelling too fast, so I blocked the way and falshed headlights and blew horn. She - yes a female of about 70 - looked annoyed at me until she saw a huge truck behind me also blocking her way. She did a u turn and headed back the way she had come. There are traffic lights at the end of that slip road and they were green. However, the ones the other way were red, so she started to go, then stopped when she saw the red! I stayed behind her as she went out the Tipperary road. She pulled over after a mile or so and seemed confused. I decided not to confront her, but rang Gardai and gave her details. I've heard nothing since.

Zubeneschamali

Install alligator teeth after every Wrong Way - Turn Back.

Total 4 wheel tyre destruction beyond this sign.

cml387

It's about time the RDS was properly enabled and a 24 hour traffic service was introduced.
It's an amazing fact that it is assumed that accidents or holdups only occur in Ireland between the hours of 7am and 9am and 5pm and 7pm.
A "ghost driver" alert could just maybe have saved that guys life yesterday.

Truckermal

Imagine only 2 penalty points for this offence but travelling at 140kph gets you 3..:rolleyes:

RIP to the young man.

Woman in her 70s, 4 wheel drive, wrong way down a motorway :mad: .You can gather all you want from that, probably encouraged by her family to get a big SUV for her safety, ah sure mammys safe to drive, we got her the big yoke.

Meanwhile a young lad in his 20s loaded with insurance gets wiped out.

quadrifoglio verde

Truckermal wrote: »

Imagine only 2 penalty points for this offence but travelling at 140kph gets you 3..:rolleyes:

RIP to the young man.

Forget the penalty points it should be a lifetime ban for driving down the wrong way.
Rip to the person who died and I hope his family and friends can get through dealing with the sudden loss

Caddyvanman

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Install alligator teeth after every Wrong Way - Turn Back.

Total 4 wheel tyre destruction beyond this sign.

+1

Also stops joyriders and robbery getaway drivers going the wrong way and putting other lives in danger!

Bigcheeze

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Install alligator teeth after every Wrong Way - Turn Back.

Total 4 wheel tyre destruction beyond this sign.

Unless you have run flats :pac:

Good idea. Emergency vehicles would need to access the motorway the wrong way down a ramp in certain circumstances but they could probably come up with a way to disable them temporarily.

corktina

Shocking. More evidence that a proper system of state medicals is called for. I know of several people signed fit by their doctor who imo should not be driving.

jimgoose

A young man blown away. Christ, what a horrible stupid thing to happen. :eek:

Drummerboy08

Anyone who is caught driving the wrong way down a motorway should be instantly banned for life.

Being old is simply not an excuse - if you are not fit to drive you shouldn't be driving. IMO the doctor that declares these people fit should also be held accountable.

Please for the love of god bring in mandatory retests every 20/30/40 years or whatever interval, and bring in a mandatory medical once you turn 65.

cerastes

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Install alligator teeth after every Wrong Way - Turn Back.

Total 4 wheel tyre destruction beyond this sign.

Your then going to have the problem of removing the car and that would be a hazard, the immobilised vehicle and removing it. Would the teeth maybe be considered to create a hazard if they were being driven over at speed routinely? Arent these designed to prevent access where vehicles would usually be driving slowly? or is there a precedent of them being used elsewhere (abroad) where they are successful.

cml387 wrote: »

It's about time the RDS was properly enabled and a 24 hour traffic service was introduced.
It's an amazing fact that it is assumed that accidents or holdups only occur in Ireland between the hours of 7am and 9am and 5pm and 7pm.
A "ghost driver" alert could just maybe have saved that guys life yesterday.

Both over the radio and GPS, It would be good over the GPS if you could be offered alternative routes when it creates an alert or some kind of alert to warn of this kind of thing, but over the radio means it has to be set up and switched on, either or would be good I think.

seamus

I've never been able to understand the 2 penalty points thing for this. Someone had to actually look and that and sign off on it and thought it was a reasonable idea.

It's possibly one of the most dangerous things an individual can do on our roads. Gardai should have the power to instantly seize the vehicle and licence, and the driver doesn't get them back unless a court says they can.

Unfortunately it seems to be almost exclusively elderly drivers who do this by accident, there needs to be a greater effort made to assess the abilities of all drivers on the road more regularly.

heartofwhite

The victim used to work with me up until the start of the year. We found out this morning. A really really nice lad and such a waste of life.

Jesus.

Deleted User wrote: »

I decided not to confront her, but rang Gardai and gave her details..

Was that really necessary? Up until that point I thought you'd handled it perfectly.

Should have been case closed once you got her on her way.

Chimaera

Jesus. wrote: »

Was that really necessary? Up until that point I thought you'd handled it perfectly.

Should have been case closed once you got her on her way.

Why? She very nearly did something extremely dangerous, and as we've seen potentially lethal. Calling the Gardaí to advise them of the incident seems quite sensible to me.

Sheldons Brain

Jesus. wrote: »

Was that really necessary? Up until that point I thought you'd handled it perfectly.

Should have been case closed once you got her on her way.

Of course it was necessary! This is a thread about someone dying and still we get the old attitude that people should be allowed drive as they like.

robclay26

I think that after x number of years after your driving test, a driver renewing his licence should do a skill test to check profeciency. And over 65's or 70's do it .every 5 years, over 8 0's every 2 years.
Pilots get checked every 6 months , and this is a simple solution to have drivers maintain standards.

Also, why is there not a minimum number of lessons on dual carriageways?? You can learn to drive, pass a test and never have any practical training on dual carriage ways and this is what can happen.
Gardai and RSA go safe vans are not worth a **** most of the time, the don't really catch hazardous driving out there like this example in Cork. They rather park a van on a dual carriageway of 60kmph and catch drivers doing 65 !

JC01

If this was the other way around, the 28yr old lad killed the 70yr old woman, you can bet hed be sent to prison for it, dangerous driving, vehicular manslaughter or whatever else they could charge him with. As it happened I won't be holding my breath to see her get more than a slap on the wrist. It might sound harsh but she should in a just world serve time for this. Her utter stupidity and incompetence has robbed a young man of the rest of his life.

It reminds me of watching a woman ~80 in her brand new micra get utterly lost in the car park in work the other day trying to leave. There's a big long driveway with two lanes that you enter and leave by. Properly marked and all. Yet she managed to do 4, yes 4!!, laps of the building before she pulled up quite annoyed and asked me for directions. At this point she was sitting at the top of the driveway a few foot away from 3ft tall letters spelling out EXIT and an arrow painted in the Tarmac with proper road marking paint. I pointed down the driveway and said "just follow the arrows that say EXIT" she gave me a dirty look and toddled off. It genuinely scared me that I havta share the road with people like this yet I'm the one crucified on insurance etc because I'm a "young man" in a "performance" car.

corkthai

Same thing happened bout 1 month ago at the exit for Curraheen off the Ballincolling road.
Old lady in a silver yaris driving down the off ramp. Blocked her- but she continued to get around me and keep driving - getting aggravated that people were in her way. Looked to only have one seat in the car and she was accompanied by about 5 dogs.
She avoided about 3 or 4 cars before realizing on the motorway that she was wrong...turned around and continued on her way as of nothing had happened.

Jesus.

Jesus. wrote: »

Was that really necessary? Up until that point I thought you'd handled it perfectly.

Should have been case closed once you got her on her way.

Do you think that myself or the truck driver behind me should have just moved over and let her drive the wrong way up a busy Motorway! I could see when she stopped that she realised what she'd done. I thought it better to let the law deal with it. I hope that by our actions, that truck driver and myself saved a life, most likely the driver herself.

My thoughts and prayers are with the dead and injured.

Padraig Mor

seamus wrote: »

I've never been able to understand the 2 penalty points thing for this. Someone had to actually look and that and sign off on it and thought it was a reasonable idea.

It's possibly one of the most dangerous things an individual can do on our roads. Gardai should have the power to instantly seize the vehicle and licence, and the driver doesn't get them back unless a court says they can.

Unfortunately it seems to be almost exclusively elderly drivers who do this by accident, there needs to be a greater effort made to assess the abilities of all drivers on the road more regularly.

The points descriptions are written poorly. In practice, points for going the wrong way on a motorway are given to people who reverse on the hard shoulder having missed their exit. 'Full on' wrong way driving would be given a dangerous driving charge.

Zubeneschamali

Padraig Mor wrote: »

'Full on' wrong way driving would be given a dangerous driving charge.

Dangerous driving.

53.— (1) A person shall not drive a vehicle in a public place in a manner (including speed) which having regard to all the circumstances of the case (including the condition of the vehicle, the nature, condition and use of the place and the amount of traffic which then actually is or might reasonably be expected then to be in it) is or is likely to be dangerous to the public.

(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and—

(a) in case the contravention causes death or serious bodily harm to another person, he or she is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to a fine not exceeding €20,000 or to both, and

Jesus.

Deleted User wrote: »

Do you think that myself or the truck driver behind me should have just moved over and let her drive the wrong way up a busy Motorway! I could see when she stopped that she realised what she'd done. I thought it better to let the law deal with it.

Of course not, you didn't read what I said! I think you did everything perfectly and sorted the situation out yourself. I wouldn't have then rang the Cops after it was sorted though. I don't know where the mentality of ringing the authorities the whole time comes from. I've never rang them in my life and wouldn't do unless absolutely necessary.

Its just a difference of opinion though. Maybe what you did was perfectly correct

Mycroft H

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Install alligator teeth after every Wrong Way - Turn Back.

Total 4 wheel tyre destruction beyond this sign.

And then stop Ambulances, AGS and the Fire Service from getting to the scene of an accident?

Zubeneschamali

Mycroft H wrote: »

And then stop Ambulances, AGS and the Fire Service from getting to the scene of an accident?

Put the stinger across the straight-ahead, and allow emergency vehicles access over a solid white painted section to one side. Dopey people who pass "Wrong Way Turn Back" signs are going to drive straight, not cross a hatched area.

Mr McBoatface

I was exiting the M9 at Kilcullen 3 weeks ago, perfect weather and conditions. As I was driving up the exit slip road I meet an on coming car, it was surreal seeing a car coming down the wrong way. Flashed my lights and beep the horn, the auld lad knew straight away he F****d up and reversed back up the exit. I can only imagine what would have happened if he continued on had I not been in the way.

I've said it before and i'll say it again, there is a generation of older drivers that need retesting.....in many cases it would be the first driving test lots would have to face after they where handed a full licence in the 1970 amnesty fiasco. The driving habits of lots of older people on motor way is pure dangerous.

RIP to the young man

Sebastian Dangerfield

Saw something like this at Christmas - I was driving Dublin to Limerick and just before Nenagh I saw headlights coming towards me through the fog. Thought I was going mad but sure enough, an old man in a banger of a Bluebird drives up towards me, crosses lane and up the the "on" ramp of the M7. I thought it can only be a one off, but clearly it happens a bit...

dudara

I read a description of the accident this morning - apparently the smaller car was thrown in the air by the impact. Sounds absolutely horrific.

Truly scary that the elderly driver was in that position. Pretty much every incident of wrong motorway driving I've heard has involved an eldery person (purely anecdotal) but it seems to suggest that modern motorway signage just isn't getting through to them.

I've only had one accident ever - my car broke down on the N7 and I pulled it onto the hard shoulder. It was rear-ended by an elderly man in a Nissan Micra who was driving on the hard shoulder becuase he felt uncomfortable on the 3 lanes. He was so distraught and shook up by the accident. His (less) elderly brother came to collect him and confirmed that he drove on the hard shoulder pretty much all the time.

Kenny Logins

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0812/636702-two-people-taken-to-hospital-after-cork-crash/

guil

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Unless you have run flats :pac:

Good idea. Emergency vehicles would need to access the motorway the wrong way down a ramp in certain circumstances but they could probably come up with a way to disable them temporarily.

Are emergency vehicles allowed go down the wrong way on the motorway? An uncle of mine is a sub officer in a large fire station and he told me a few weeks ago that all the drivers there were warned that they would get instant dismissal if they reversed down an off ramp over H&S grounds.

rozeboosje

I remember living in the Netherlands, where they call people who drive the wrong way on a motorway "spookrijders" (literal translation "ghost drivers"). With depressing regularity the traffic reports on the radio would report that a "spookrider" had been reported on some stretch of road or another. Accidents were thankfully fairly rare, though. I even once met one on the A67 between Venlo and Eindhoven. Surreal experience to see someone coming up from the opposite direction on a motorway.

Can't say I ever remember hearing such a report on Irish traffic broadcasts, and I've been here since 1995. Are these occurrences much rarer here or do we just not hear about them?

blackwhite

Jesus. wrote: »

Was that really necessary? Up until that point I thought you'd handled it perfectly.

Should have been case closed once you got her on her way.

Are you for real?

It's obvious from this and other threads that you want zero enforcement of any laws on the road, but reporting something as incredibly dangerous as this is a no-brainer.

If someone is so incapable of reading road signs that they'll drive the wrong direction down a motorway then the guards need to be involved before they go and do it again.

coolemon

agent graves wrote: »

that sign is a glitch.. if you look from a diff angle it is pointing in the right direction..

I don't think its a glitch at all.

If you travel the roundabout you will see that most of it was photographed on a sunny day, and where the sign is in the correct place. But in the link the OP posted, it is taken on an overcast day, and the sign is clearly twisted to face the traffic.

This quite possibly could have been a contributing factor to the accident. The arrow is pointing traffic down the wrong way. The council should be partly responsible for this accident if it is the case.

Someone could have also intentionally twisted the sign to mislead drivers. A stupid thing to do if true.

Moneymaker

Jesus. wrote: »

Was that really necessary? Up until that point I thought you'd handled it perfectly.

Should have been case closed once you got her on her way.

Your devils advocate act is getting very tiresome.

RIP to the young man. Awful tragedy.

enfant terrible

Chimaera wrote: »

Why? She very nearly did something extremely dangerous, and as we've seen potentially lethal. Calling the Gardaí to advise them of the incident seems quite sensible to me.

I monitor motorway traffic and report these ghost drivers.

The problem is usually when the guards see they are elderly drivers, they usually let them off on there way with a warning.

R.O.R

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I was driving from Dublin to Limerick and taking the off ramp in Limerick when a car was coming towards me the wrong way. It wasn't travelling too fast, so I blocked the way and falshed headlights and blew horn. She - yes a female of about 70 - looked annoyed at me until she saw a huge truck behind me also blocking her way. She did a u turn and headed back the way she had come. There are traffic lights at the end of that slip road and they were green. However, the ones the other way were red, so she started to go, then stopped when she saw the red! I stayed behind her as she went out the Tipperary road. She pulled over after a mile or so and seemed confused. I decided not to confront her, but rang Gardai and gave her details. I've heard nothing since.

Was that yesterday, round lunch time? If so, the same dozy old bint almost left our 2 little fellas without grandparents. They were on their way to join us on hols in Killarney and the father in law saw a car pull a u turn up ahead, near the Shannon exit. Only just got back in to the inside lane, past the 40 foot truck on the inside, to avoid her.

Ignore the posts of a certain individual who seems to think everyone should just be allowed to drive as they want. That particular poster always pops up in threads like these, like the apologist they are.....

curiosity

The southbound side of the M8 from exit 13 to exit 14 has a pretty decent downhill section. A heavy vehicle like a Land Cruiser on a downhill 120km/hr stretch, hitting a smaller car face-on, it's amazing that the female passenger only sustained minor injuries.

ardmacha

coolemon wrote: »

I don't think its a glitch at all.

If you travel the roundabout you will see that most of it was photographed on a sunny day, and where the sign is in the correct place. But in the link the OP posted, it is taken on an overcast day, and the sign is clearly twisted to face the traffic.

This quite possibly could have been a contributing factor to the accident. The arrow is pointing traffic down the wrong way. The council should be partly responsible for this accident if it is the case.

The one with the misleading sign is Nov 2010 and the sunny one August 2011. Either way it does not tell us what the situation is now.

Someone could have also intentionally twisted the sign to mislead drivers. A stupid thing to do if true.

Another of these old people, no doubt.

alias no.9

coolemon wrote: »

I don't think its a glitch at all.

If you travel the roundabout you will see that most of it was photographed on a sunny day, and where the sign is in the correct place. But in the link the OP posted, it is taken on an overcast day, and the sign is clearly twisted to face the traffic.

This quite possibly could have been a contributing factor to the accident. The arrow is pointing traffic down the wrong way. The council should be partly responsible for this accident if it is the case.

Someone could have also intentionally twisted the sign to mislead drivers. A stupid thing to do if true.

Remember that Google will be using odd lenses and software to create a 360 degree view from images captured by multiple cameras, what you see on streetview is always a bit distorted.

Jesus.

jobyrne30 wrote: »

I was exiting the M9 at Kilcullen 3 weeks ago, perfect weather and conditions. As I was driving up the exit slip road I meet an on coming car, it was surreal seeing a car coming down the wrong way. Flashed my lights and beep the horn, the auld lad knew straight away he F****d up and reversed back up the exit.

And that was the end of it. Lesson learned.

You sorted it out yourself and that's the way it should be done.

Stheno

I was driving up the N7 just past the Naas exit last Saturday.

A driver who had missed the next exit, pulled into the hard shoulder, did a Uturn INTO the traffic in front of me, narrowly avoided hitting me, and being creamed by a truck.

They merrily drove the wrong way down to the exit, and took the exit.

They appeared completely clueless that what they were doing was way ott

R.O.R

R.O.R wrote: »

Was that yesterday, round lunch time? If so, the same dozy old bint almost left our 2 little fellas without grandparents. They were on their way to join us on hols in Killarney and the father in law saw a car pull a u turn up ahead, near the Shannon exit. Only just got back in to the inside lane, past the 40 foot truck on the inside, to avoid her.

Ignore the posts of a certain individual who seems to think everyone should just be allowed to drive as they want. That particular poster always pops up in threads like these, like the apologist they are.....

Thanks. No it was 2 months ago. On a Thursday about 2pm on a lovely bright sunny day.

coolbeans

Jesus. wrote: »

And that was the end of it. Lesson learned.

You sorted it out yourself and that's the way it should be done.

Are you dense? That's obviously not the way it should be done in any civilised, civic minded society. You honestly don't see the benefit of reporting a potential killer on the roads?? How do you know they don't habitually do this kind of stuff?

Jesus.

coolbeans wrote: »

You honestly don't see the benefit of reporting a potential killer on the roads??

Well that's one way of looking at it. Another would be someone who made a one-off mistake and had it corrected by another vigilant motorist.

Of course you could say we're all potential killers in one form or another but it sensationalises things out of all proportion.

coolbeans wrote: »

How do you know they don't habitually do this kind of stuff?

How do you know they do?