Road issues that irritate me.......

Fr_Dougal

People not sharing the road. If you're the type to get angry at other people's mistakes, you shouldn't be driving.

Bananaleaf

I don't know if it's just that I have become more aware of my mortality as I've gotten older or if the standard of driving on Irish roads has gotten ridiculously bad in the past 3 years or so.

I wasn't sure if I was making a bigger deal of this than was necessary so what I have been doing for the past two weeks is recording any incident that I witnessed which had the potential to be a serious accident.

Literally EVERY day that I was out in the car there was something:

2 young lads came over a bridge into oncoming traffic at such speed that the car came off the road one of the days. It was in the town I live in and it is a tough junction as from where I am stationed I can't see over the bridge so have to take caution. When I couldn't see headlights approaching I knew I would have time to get across (no traffic lights) but didn't (and couldn't as I would be there all day) account for the bats out of hell that came flying up towards me. At that exact same moment I was being blasted from behind by an impatient a$$hole who wanted me to just get on with it.

Not accident causing but one of the days I went to get petrol and drove into the garage. Was a car ahead of me. I got out, filled up car, went in to pay. A car had come in behind me and was waiting to use the pump. Paid, returned to car. Car in front of me still there, but I had been the only person in the petrol station. Went back in to ask about the car - guy inside didn't have a clue who it belonged to. They obvioulsy just parked it up and fcuked off.

Small country town I live in - maybe it's normal in small country towns?? - EVERYONE parks on the road, on double yellow lines, on the paths, in disabled parking spaces. One man stopped ON the main road to go to the chipper. Had a trailer on the back too.

I get so angry about that kind of thing!!!! But seriously, I seem to witness something mental pretty much every day. I'm not looking forward to paying a higher price for my insurance when renewal time comes but, from what I'm seeing on the roads, claims HAVE to be increasing.

Also - some cyclists are dícks, definitely - as are some runners - but as a runner and a cyclist I have had to stop my route because I've nearly been (at best) hospitalised twice. Motorists are the worst of all. The worst. And I say that as a motorist myself, not as a runner or a cyclist.

Bananaleaf

I don't know if it's just that I have become more aware of my mortality as I've gotten older or if the standard of driving on Irish roads has gotten ridiculously bad in the past 3 years or so.

I wasn't sure if I was making a bigger deal of this than was necessary so what I have been doing for the past two weeks is recording any incident that I witnessed which had the potential to be a serious accident.

Literally EVERY day that I was out in the car there was something:

2 young lads came over a bridge into oncoming traffic at such speed that the car came off the road one of the days. It was in the town I live in and it is a tough junction as from where I am stationed I can't see over the bridge so have to take caution. When I couldn't see headlights approaching I knew I would have time to get across (no traffic lights) but didn't (and couldn't as I would be there all day) account for the bats out of hell that came flying up towards me. At that exact same moment I was being blasted from behind by an impatient a$$hole who wanted me to just get on with it.

Not accident causing but one of the days I went to get petrol and drove into the garage. Was a car ahead of me. I got out, filled up car, went in to pay. A car had come in behind me and was waiting to use the pump. Paid, returned to car. Car in front of me still there, but I had been the only person in the petrol station. Went back in to ask about the car - guy inside didn't have a clue who it belonged to. They obvioulsy just parked it up and fcuked off.

Small country town I live in - maybe it's normal in small country towns?? - EVERYONE parks on the road, on double yellow lines, on the paths, in disabled parking spaces. One man stopped ON the main road to go to the chipper. Had a trailer on the back too.

I get so angry about that kind of thing!!!! But seriously, I seem to witness something mental pretty much every day. I'm not looking forward to paying a higher price for my insurance when renewal time comes but, from what I'm seeing on the roads, claims HAVE to be increasing.

Also - some cyclists are dícks, definitely - as are some runners - but as a runner and a cyclist I have had to stop my route because I've nearly been (at best) hospitalised twice. Motorists are the worst of all. The worst. And I say that as a motorist myself, not as a runner or a cyclist.

Commotion Ocean

On the way back from Ballina to Dublin, I was sailing merrily along the M4 at 120-140 km/h, I noticed traffic slowing up ahead so I eased up on the throttle, I moved into the outside lane to anticipate overtaking the slower vehicles ... and lo, I came upon a car travelling in da fasht lane at no more than 50 km/h !! Needless to say I undertook the car, it was a woman in her early twenties ... not like an old person or anything .. no excuse for such dangerous behaviour.

When I was on the M1, the cars on front of me began slowing inexplicably, so, again, I moved into the outside lane to overtake, and saw a car merging at no more than 40 / 50 km/h.

And finally, a car travelling in the pitch black with NO headlights ... not even parking or DLRs.

I would feel infinitely safer if these dangerous drivers were removed from our roads. I would be more comfortable sharing roads with someone doing 160 km/h who was actually aware of his or her surroundings.

Veloce150

dfeo wrote: »

On the way back from Ballina to Dublin, I was sailing merrily along the M4 at 120-140 km/h

Let's add to the list : people who think it's ok to break speed limits because they're better than other drivers & anyway 'its a revenue generating scam'.

Commotion Ocean

Veloce150 wrote: »

Let's add to the list : people who think it's ok to break speed limits because they're better than other drivers & anyway 'its a revenue generating scam'.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Commotion Ocean

Veloce150 wrote: »

Let's add to the list : people who think it's ok to break speed limits because they're better than other drivers & anyway 'its a revenue generating scam'.

The people who merge at a speed significantly below the rest of the motorway are more of a danger IMO

the_pen_turner

people that cut across your lane at junctions.

Latatian

Was thinking about this today- I have a little car, and even with the car in 5th gear and the accelerator pressed firmly against the floor, I cannot get up to speed fast enough that someone behind me who is speeding, even a good distance away, would not have to slow down if I'm merging. With the best will in the world I'm going to have to merge at a speed below the motorway one way or another. It's not 50 but it's not fast either.

Spare a thought for those of us with cars that simply cannot get up to speed as fast.

xabi

Latatian wrote: »

Was thinking about this today- I have a little car, and even with the car in 5th gear and the accelerator pressed firmly against the floor, I cannot get up to speed fast enough that someone behind me who is speeding, even a good distance away, would not have to slow down if I'm merging. With the best will in the world I'm going to have to merge at a speed below the motorway one way or another. It's not 50 but it's not fast either.

Spare a thought for those of us with cars that simply cannot get up to speed as fast.

Stay in 4th a bit longer to get your speed up

sdanseo

Latatian wrote: »

Was thinking about this today- I have a little car, and even with the car in 5th gear and the accelerator pressed firmly against the floor, I cannot get up to speed fast enough that someone behind me who is speeding, even a good distance away, would not have to slow down if I'm merging. With the best will in the world I'm going to have to merge at a speed below the motorway one way or another. It's not 50 but it's not fast either.

Spare a thought for those of us with cars that simply cannot get up to speed as fast.

That's because 5th gear generally doesn't offer much in the way of acceleration. You need to accelerate through the first 4 gears.

Having been forced to drive one for a week last year, I can tell you that even a 12 year old, 998cc Micra can speed up fast enough to merge correctly.

pablo128

Latatian wrote: »

Was thinking about this today- I have a little car, and even with the car in 5th gear and the accelerator pressed firmly against the floor, I cannot get up to speed fast enough that someone behind me who is speeding, even a good distance away, would not have to slow down if I'm merging. With the best will in the world I'm going to have to merge at a speed below the motorway one way or another. It's not 50 but it's not fast either.

Spare a thought for those of us with cars that simply cannot get up to speed as fast.

Well you're doing it wrong then. If you want to accelerate quickly up to speed entering a motorway, you need to use a lower gear than 5th. Let the engine rev out in 2nd and 3rd, and aim to enter the motorway in 4th gear.

My missus has a 10 year old 1 litre Yaris and it has absolutely no problem getting up to speed joining a motorway.

Latatian

Sorry, I misspoke- I am going up through the gears until it is overrevving in each gear. But if someone's doing well over the speed limit there's only a limited amount of time and distance you have to try and match that. It's not so much about merging correctly- if people are doing the speed limit I've no problem- it's about merging when people are speeding.

"Below the motorway"= "Below that of yerman who is already on the motorway, and is speeding." You get clusters of people speeding as well so it can get difficult.

KwackerJack

On the N4 today, van coming up from behind blinding everyone with headlights as he had a load in the back and obviously doesn't know what the headlight adjustment is for! Cars flashed as he passed and trucks flashed on the far side.....completely oblivious

Also on the N4 Dublin bound a woman is a 2010 Bmw M sport doing 80kmph in the right lane, flashed by everyone and again oblivious to what she was doing, forced everyone to pass her on the left lane

AndyBoBandy

When someone replaces a headlight bulb but puts it in upside down, so the beam is shining up at you as opposed to down on the road.

Seth Brundle

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

When someone replaces a headlight bulb but puts it in upside down, so the beam is shining up at you as opposed to down on the road.

Have you ever actually replaced a bulb?
The problem you're referring to is alignment. Bulbs generally only go in one way!

Ursus Horribilis

People who drive around with a blown headlamp and can't be bothered changing it. I do a lot of driving in rural Ireland and this drives me mad. I don't know what the law is on this but they should give penalty points to people who don't get their lights fixed. I don't think they should be given out on the spot because a bulb can blow at any time. But if someone was pulled up, they should be told to report to a Gardai station within x number of days or they will get points. Of course this is all ****e talk because we all know there are feck all Gardai on the roads and even fewer stations.

barneygumble99

kbannon wrote: »

Have you ever actually replaced a bulb?
The problem you're referring to is alignment. Bulbs generally only go in one way!

Bulbs can be put in arseways, a lot of them are, mainly because it's impossible to see what you are doing as regards getting the bulb seated correctly in the headlamp. Majority of dip beam bulbs are H7 and the little locator tab is usually pointing North when sitting correctly in the headlamp. After replacing the bulb you should be able to look in through the lens and see that the bulb is pointing out at 180 degrees to the ground otherwise it's in the wrong way.

AndyBoBandy

kbannon wrote: »

Have you ever actually replaced a bulb?
The problem you're referring to is alignment. Bulbs generally only go in one way!

I have indeed, mainly on Toyotas & BMW's, there is only 1 way for the bulb to go in correctly, but that doesn't mean it can't be put in arseways, and held in place by severely bending the retaining spring, all coupled with a try it out there micko, it's working, yep, grand job attitude.

Junkyard Tom

dfeo wrote: »

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

:eek: The seven rolleyes smiley retort!?

I thought that was outlawed by boards.ie years ago?

Seth Brundle

barneygumble99 wrote: »

Bulbs can be put in arseways, a lot of them are, mainly because it's impossible to see what you are doing as regards getting the bulb seated correctly in the headlamp. Majority of dip beam bulbs are H7 and the little locator tab is usually pointing North when sitting correctly in the headlamp. After replacing the bulb you should be able to look in through the lens and see that the bulb is pointing out at 180 degrees to the ground otherwise it's in the wrong way.

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

I have indeed, mainly on Toyotas & BMW's, there is only 1 way for the bulb to go in correctly, but that doesn't mean it can't be put in arseways, and held in place by severely bending the retaining spring, all coupled with a try it out there micko, it's working, yep, grand job attitude.

Hang on, now you're referring to ramming a bulb in so that it eventually force with damage makes it fit. This is not what was posted previously. We were told of people putting the bulbs in up-side-down.
My point was that generally you can't put a bulb in up-side-down. You can however force something in up-side-down if you wish but that's not "putting" it in!

I stand by my post that lights pointing upwards are caused in the main by misaligned headlamps; not because the owner forced a bulb into it's hold and made a balls of the job.

km991148

Latatian wrote: »

Sorry, I misspoke- I am going up through the gears until it is overrevving in each gear. But if someone's doing well over the speed limit there's only a limited amount of time and distance you have to try and match that. It's not so much about merging correctly- if people are doing the speed limit I've no problem- it's about merging when people are speeding.

"Below the motorway"= "Below that of yerman who is already on the motorway, and is speeding." You get clusters of people speeding as well so it can get difficult.

Anyone doing ~120 or above should not be in the left hand lane if someone is merging. If they cannot move from the driving lane, they should not be at 120 as it is obviously too congested. If you genuinely cannot get your vehicle to 100-120 by the time you need to merge, it would suggest your car and/or your abilities are not suitable for motorways. But I doubt that is the case as it would need to be severely clapped out or a 600cc engine or something! i.e. speeders not slowing for traffic or being courteous to merging traffic.

Seth Brundle

km991148 wrote: »

Anyone doing ~120 or above should not be in the left hand lane if someone is merging. If they cannot move from the driving lane, they should not be at 120 as it is obviously too congested. If you genuinely cannot get your vehicle to 100-120 by the time you need to merge, it would suggest your car and/or your abilities are not suitable for motorways. But I doubt that is the case as it would need to be severely clapped out or a 600cc engine or something! i.e. speeders not slowing for traffic or being courteous to merging traffic.

Nonsense.
What in your view is the max speed someone should be driving at along the motorway before they should be obliged (in your view) to move to a different lane in order to allow someone to merge?
What law is your imaginary rule based on?

The onus is on the merger to ensure that they merge at a speed appropriate to traffic already on the motorway. If they cannot do merge safely then the rule is that they don't try to!

Courtesy suggests that traffic already on the motorway moves to accommodate drivers but this is not a legal requirement!

km991148

kbannon wrote: »

Nonsense.
What in your view is the max speed someone should be driving at along the motorway before they should be obliged (in your view) to move to a different lane in order to allow someone to merge?
What law is your imaginary rule based on?

The onus is on the merger to ensure that they merge at a speed appropriate to traffic already on the motorway. If they cannot do merge safely then the rule is that they don't try to!

Courtesy suggests that traffic already on the motorway moves to accommodate drivers but this is not a legal requirement!

heh - I was only saying it would be courteous. If the driving lane is packed and someone is at the matched speed and trying to merge I would move over and let them in if I could. I was generalising and typed that a bit quickly.
Generally tho' if it was that busy that it was difficult to move into it would indicate that there is a lot of traffic on the motorway and the speed wouldn't be at 120 anyway - but yes onus is on merging vehicle to match whatever speed.

AndyBoBandy

kbannon wrote: »

Hang on, now you're referring to ramming a bulb in so that it eventually force with damage makes it fit. This is not what was posted previously. We were told of people putting the bulbs in up-side-down.
My point was that generally you can't put a bulb in up-side-down. You can however force something in up-side-down if you wish but that's not "putting" it in!

I stand by my post that lights pointing upwards are caused in the main by misaligned headlamps; not because the owner forced a bulb into it's hold and made a balls of the job.

ramming it in wrong, putting it in incorrectly, whatever,

lights that shine up due to bad alignment, thats what irritates me.


and there was me thinking this was After Hours..

arybvtcw0eolkf

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

When someone replaces a headlight bulb but puts it in upside down, so the beam is shining up at you as opposed to down on the road.

That's one of the funniest posts in this thread.

You'd have to make a massive effort & go breaking things before sitting a bulb in upside down.

You made that one up.

AndyBoBandy

I just assumed they were incorrectly installed, but as another poster pointed out, it's the alignment.

Alun

Malachi Scarce Yodeler wrote: »

That's one of the funniest posts in this thread.

You'd have to make a massive effort & go breaking things before sitting a bulb in upside down.

You made that one up.

On many cars, it is entirely possible to put bulbs in such that they're misaligned in the bulb socket without breaking anything. Not necessarily "upside down", but it is possible to have a situation in which the tab on the bulb isn't in the notch in the bulb holder, and for the clip to fasten to hold the bulb in place. I've done it myself once on a car where access was extremely difficult, but it's immediately noticeable when you test the lights after fitting, and you'd have to be a real idiot not to notice something was wrong when using such a light in real life in the dark.

railer201

The one-eyed Reillys on unlit roads, with a duff headlight or dip on the drivers side, giving the impression of a motorcycle well tucked in to the left hand side.

Only when your on top of it you realise it's a car that has just missed you by a hair

RainyDay

railer201 wrote: »

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29878233





Now perhaps you might understand the 'fetish' as you put it. Distance or time has to be taken into account along with the number of journeys by each mode.

Cycling is less safe than driving - simple.

The gives the game away a bit - this is some kind of game for you, some point-scoring issue. So you choose the 'per hour' or 'per mile' stats that suit your twisted arguement, even though they ignore the basic reality that;

- Vast majority of people killed on the road are motorists
- Next in overall numbers are walkists
- Finally, a very small number of cyclists

And of those cyclists that are killed, there is absolutely no evidence that their own behaviour is a significant factor in these collisions. Where formal research has been done, it shows that most of the time, the root cause is dangerous driving.

So if you really have any significant interest in safety or saving lives on the road, you need to change driver behaviours. But I'm not sure that you really are interested in that.