Pulled over for...

Mint Sauce

Driving to slow.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/officers-pull-motorist-over-irish-9561852

Shame it doesn't happen more often. All to often you get someone driving 20-40km/h under the limit, in clear conditions on straight stretches of road.

Excusable if the conditions are poor, or if on a twisty, hilly road. But on wide national roads, in good conditions, then no.

Now if they could go after the constant 60-70km/h drivers, that would great.

_Kaiser_

Our Gardai could certainly learn a thing or two alright from the above.. I particularly like:

“This concerned officers because a competent driver should have the ability to drive positively when safe and appropriate to do so. By driving too slowly, you can turn yourself into a hazard for vehicles approaching at the speed limit.

and...

They added: “Whilst it is a speed limit and not a target, if you really aren’t comfortable driving on faster roads, either avoid them, or pull in when safe to do so and allow other vehicles past.”

Spot on lads! Fair play!

Isambard

opens left over xmas selection box, popcorn all gone

Fiskar

About time they took action on slow drivers, I have to say, on regular occasions it seems like national slow car day and is extremely frustrating.

TheQuietFella

Fiskar wrote: »

About time they took action on slow drivers, I have to say, on regular occasions it seems like national slow car day and is extremely frustrating.

Usually people on phones!

Avatar MIA

Gay Byrne advocating people drive at 50mph instead of 60mph - when he was the head of Road Safety. :rolleyes:

TheQuietFella

Avatar MIA wrote: »

Gay Byrne advocating people drive at 50mph instead of 60mph - when he was the head of Road Safety. :rolleyes:

He belonged to a different era!

Kivaro

There should be public service announcements to advocate for this:
pull in when safe to do so and allow other vehicles past

While warning that

By driving too slowly, you can turn yourself into a hazard for vehicles.

Supergurrier

Drove home tonight stuck behind ten cars doing 65kmph on a clear stretch of road all because of one bollix.

Xcellor

Supergurrier wrote: »

Drove home tonight stuck behind ten cars doing 65kmph on a clear stretch of road all because of one bollix.

Same issue. Knob driving 70 on 100 slowing down to 60. I ended up having to overtake 3 cars because they were driving bumper to bumper...

Jimmy Garlic

Supergurrier wrote: »

Drove home tonight stuck behind ten cars doing 65kmph on a clear stretch of road all because of one bollix.

Characters like that are a pure nuisance. The worst ones of all are the ones who crawl along and still feel the need to step on the brakes every time there is oncoming traffic.

Supergurrier

Problem is these "Safe drivers" will then sail through a 50 zone totally oblivious to the speed limits at the 60-70 they were doing up till now.

Fiskar

Next car I'm going get will be a lot faster so I can overtake these slow drivers and safely drive on,

The car in front is not a flamming Toyota, its my car on a clear stretch of road.

bigroad

Most of these slow drivers cant see because they have not had a sight test in 30 to 40 years.
What does the RSA do about that ,nothing.

Cheensbo

TheQuietFella wrote: »

He belonged to a different era!

The cretaceous era.

bigroad

Cheensbo wrote: »

The cretaceous era.

Also the drink drive era as he said himself .A few drinks in the green room after the Late Late show and drive home.
He did also say young drivers are the cause most crashes.;)

ShadowHearth

****ing, delighted!!!

Now it is north, but I wish garda would enforce it here too.

Ads on tv would be useless. As those people will just do as they always do. Our receptionist talk to one fella who proudly said he does 70 max all the time. She said that it is dangerous and does he at least let traffic pass? He even prouder said NO! It's their problem not mine.

/facepalm

Reventon93

Was on my way home for work stuck behind a 161 astra going 40kph (I made sure to take note of it) on a main road :eek: The plate said Limerick, but even so, if you don't know where you're going, either; pull in, stop and ask for directions, check your sat nat... but it was ridiculous because this was at 6pm when the traffic is really heavy on that road. There's no excuse for 60 under the speed limit!

I've even said to my dad who drives at most 60kph, that so much under the speed limit is just as dangerous, but yet will say my mom is speeding if she's going the limit :mad: It's also why he'll never get in my car.

Supergurrier

Fiskar wrote: »

Next car I'm going get will be a lot faster so I can overtake these slow drivers and safely drive on,

The car in front is not a flamming Toyota, its my car on a clear stretch of road.

My record is 14 in the S4

Last 2 cars got so confused they started flashing and beeping as a V8 estate whizzed by :O

Later sheeple beep beep

Jimmy Garlic

Reventon93 wrote: »

Was on my way home for work stuck behind a 161 astra going 40kph (I made sure to take note of it) on a main road :eek:

They are probably still ''breaking it in''.

CalamariFritti

Supergurrier wrote: »

My record is 14 in the S4

Last 2 cars got so confused they started flashing and beeping as a V8 estate whizzed by :O

Later sheeple beep beep

While that may sound cool to some and slow drivers are really annoying you keep doing that and you will find trouble eventually, S4 or not. There is no way you could even look as far as 14 unless its the longest straight stretch of road in the country and even then...

Supergurrier

CalamariFritti wrote: »

While that may sound cool to some and slow drivers are really annoying you keep doing that and you will find trouble eventually, S4 or not. There is no way you could even look as far as 14 unless its the longest straight stretch of road in the country and even then...

Who gives a Feck about cool. I was able to extract myself from sitting for another 20 minutes behind a nervous driver. Once I passed was no car in opposite direction for miles so no risk. But do carry on.

frozenfrozen

no no.. overtaking is aggressive and is only done by boy racers who think they're cool

Supergurrier

frozenfrozen wrote: »

no no.. overtaking is aggressive and is only done by boy racers who think they're cool

That's what the other 13 thought I guess.

Special Circumstances

I'm just used to the coffin dodgers with the death grip on the steering wheel, veins standing out on the necks as they stare fixedly dead ahead with no regard for anyone else on the road.

It's when you pass somebody under 50 and they freewheeling along... you just get confused.
Phone? No.
Having some sort of fit or medical event? Not obviously no.
Drooling down themselves under the influence of sedatives. No they seem alert. Just really really really slow.

Why? If you didn't want to get where you were going at all or in any sort of hurry, iarnrod eireann plus bus eireann is a much better combination than a car propelled by a 12v fan? Surely these people would qualify for a free pass one way or another?

CalamariFritti

I don't care how much you think you know what you're doing. It only takes one of the 13 to get itchy at the wrong time and you're toast and somebody else is too.

wil

Supergurrier wrote: »

That's what the other 13 thought I guess.

Sadly that is the sort of driving our statistics are made up of.
Carry on:(

Special Circumstances

CalamariFritti wrote: »

I don't care how much you think you know what you're doing. It only takes one of the 13 to get itchy at the wrong time and you're toast and somebody else is too.

Unsurprisingly* they usually have the reactions of somebody half out of it on prescription sedative drugs. So twitchy might be the wrong word.

One is usually halfway home before they realise they've been passed and commence the impotent "dawdle rage" - flashing lights and foaming at the mouth.


*It's unsurprising as there are large amounts of drivers half zoned on prescription drugs. IMO. Where the **** they get money for newish cars if they can't handle the task of driving over 60kph in dry clear conditions I just don't know!

Irish Steve

Jimmy Garlic wrote: »

Characters like that are a pure nuisance. The worst ones of all are the ones who crawl along and still feel the need to step on the brakes every time there is oncoming traffic.

They are the ones that should be being looked at to check if they can actually see the road in front of them. I suspect that most of the reported issues are happening at night, and all too often, the reason they are playing Beethoven's fifth on the brake pedal is because their eyesight is significantly below the standard that is required for safe driving, and when a car is coming towards them, they can't actually see where they are going.

There's a discussion thread running in the Commuting and Transport forum about Elderly drivers, and this subject has come up there as well, the harsh reality is that the eyesight test system for drivers is woefully inadequate, the initial test is very basic and may not then be repeated for many years, and unfortunately, the fact that a driver can read a number of lines off an eye test chart in a doctors surgery in normal lighting conditions is no test of that drivers middle distance vision, their night vision, and how much peripheral vision they have, all of which are significantly important to being able to safely drive a vehicle in all situations.

Then again, having said that, if those same drivers were to actually clean their headlights, and the inside and outside of their windscreens, in a lot of cases, it would make a significant difference to their ability to see where they are going, especially in vehicles that carry smokers.

wil

Special Circumstances wrote: »

I'm just used to the coffin dodgers with the death grip on the steering wheel, veins standing out on the necks as they stare fixedly dead ahead with no regard for anyone else on the road.

It's when you pass somebody under 50 and they freewheeling along... you just get confused.
Phone? No.
Having some sort of fit or medical event? Not obviously no.
Drooling down themselves under the influence of sedatives. No they seem alert. Just really really really slow.

Why? If you didn't want to get where you were going at all or in any sort of hurry, iarnrod eireann plus bus eireann is a much better combination than a car propelled by a 12v fan? Surely these people would qualify for a free pass one way or another?

I'm becoming more convinced that speed vans are now becoming the cause of bad driving and dangerous overtaking.
The old law of unintended consequences.

Thus - poor drivers spot vans in their area, overreact by driving way below the limit, cause daily tailbacks to other drivers not so cursed with an inability to drive, many are then faced with far more situations of getting late to work, airport etc, cameras are generally placed at long straights to catch those who dare to accelerate on these roads as you need to do to overtake safely, leading to more drivers risking overtaking in far more dangerous situations.

I've seen it many times in recent months, and while I secretly wish for an 8mm cannon mounted on my bonnet to blow these selfish slow drivers off the road, I am equally as alarmed at the number of horrendous chances some, mostly inexperienced drivers are taking when faced with these slow coaches.

I totally agree with the police, if you are not comfortable driving at a reasonable speed, then pull over, drive less or at times when others aren't using the road.

CalamariFritti

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Unsurprisingly* they usually have the reactions of somebody half out of it on prescription sedative drugs. So twitchy might be the wrong word.

One is usually halfway home before they realise they've been passed and commence the impotent "dawdle rage" - flashing lights and foaming at the mouth.


*It's unsurprising as there are large amounts of drivers half zoned on prescription drugs. IMO. Where the **** they get money for newish cars if they can't handle the task of driving over 60kph in dry clear conditions I just don't know!

Look I know exactly what you mean and I hear your frustration but overtaking 14 cars in one go is really really dangerous.

14 cars thats like something between 200m and 250m, even when bunched up. They're moving at say 60 or 70 so you gonna need 350 - 400m of stretch just to pass them and of course there could be an oncoming car which may be travelling at 100.
Lets be generous and also keep the numbers simple. You gonna have to overlook 500m of road with confidence to even be thinking about that manoeuvre.

If you don't have that you're relying on your ability to nip back into the line when that oncoming car appears. That may not be a problem but your half sedated drivers may be just that or they may see all this and may be panicking. There may be a silly bunch up at the wrong place and time. You're not getting back in. What now?

And even if none of that is going bad. Of the 14 there will be 10 sedated ones, but there will be also one or two like yourself. Stuck in the middle of this, can't believe how they managed to be in the middle of this tailback and itching to break out and floor it.

Such a manoeuvre may work out fine once or three or ten times. But you're tempting karma. Its high risk and it's dangerous driving, no ifs and buts. For what? To gain 10 or 15 minutes at the end of your journey? Crazy decision making.

You're saying those half sedated coffin dodgers are such a nuisance. I'm saying someone who makes decisions like passing 14 in one go shouldn't be on the road, there's still a lot of growing up to do.

It sounds very harsh which I don't want to be cause I hear your pain, but these are the facts.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Supergurrier

Actually I think it might have been 15. I was taking a call at the time so not 100% on the count.

Armchair Andy

Supergurrier wrote:

Actually I think it might have been 15. I was taking a call at the time so not 100% on the count.

How did you eat the breakfast roll?

heroics

Armchair Andy wrote: »

How did you eat the breakfast roll?

Obviously he was steering with his knees :P

Special Circumstances

Armchair Andy wrote: »

How did you eat the breakfast roll?

I heard he had a young one hold it in her baps and feed it to him during the manoeuvre.

mfceiling

Armchair Andy wrote: »

How did you eat the breakfast roll?

Probably between the drinks of red bull and the cigarette in his other hand!!

storker

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I find it's often people on phones. Among other things I've seen are putting on makeup and brushing hair using the rear-view mirror.

Supergurrier

Biggest cause of tailbacks generally is the first two cars behind the slow coach driving too close to be able to see anything/being unwilling to overtake.

That being said some of the most terrifying overtakes I have seen are women going for impossible overtakes in 1.5d crossovers desperately willing their thimble turbo to spool up.

Special Circumstances

Supergurrier wrote: »

Biggest cause of tailbacks generally is the first two cars behind the slow coach driving too close to be able to see anything/being unwilling to overtake.

That being said some of the most terrifying overtakes I have seen are women going for impossible overtakes in 1.5d crossovers desperately willing their thimble turbo to spool up.

"Right, 6, I'm in the fashtesht gear (chugga chugga grrrrr durrr chugga chugga chugga chug), let's do this!"

"C'mon betsy, c'mon betsy, COME ON!"

Mc Love

Supergurrier wrote: »

My record is 14 in the S4

Last 2 cars got so confused they started flashing and beeping as a V8 estate whizzed by :O

Later sheeple beep beep

I'm surprised you were able to count them, I was going so fast when I overtook a load of dawdlers on the N86 out of tralee, I was concentrating on the road. It's a grand straight road but plenty of bumps, and I was following another car, but he pulled in and I overtook him and two others. That road is seriously bad for slow drivers

Mint Sauce

Supergurrier wrote: »

Biggest cause of tailbacks generally is the first two cars behind the slow coach driving too close to be able to see anything/being unwilling to overtake.

That being said some of the most terrifying overtakes I have seen are women going for impossible overtakes in 1.5d crossovers desperately willing their thimble turbo to spool up.

And if you do leave a gap, so you can see what's ahead, you'll more than likely, have some fella trying to overtake you and the 12 cars behind ya, nip into your braking/vision space, due to the artic coming around the corner.

Special Circumstances

Mint Sauce wrote: »

And if you do leave a gap, so you can see what's ahead, you'll more than likely, have some fella trying to overtake you and the 12 cars behind ya, nip into your braking/vision space, due to the artic coming around the corner.

Only a fool breaks the 127* second rule.

*(2 secs + 5seconds x "number of people behind you")

Blazer

Supergurrier wrote: »

Drove home tonight stuck behind ten cars doing 65kmph on a clear stretch of road all because of one bollix.

The thing is I don't blame the guy in front. What the 2nd guy should have done was overtaken. But there's a lot of people out there who're afraid to do it as it's not part of driving lessons etc. Those people piss me off even more than the guy driving slow.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

CalamariFritti wrote: »

While that may sound cool to some and slow drivers are really annoying you keep doing that and you will find trouble eventually, S4 or not. There is no way you could even look as far as 14 unless its the longest straight stretch of road in the country and even then...

This would be correct if your only experience of driving was on Bere Island in west Cork.

There are plenty of roads in Ireland where you could overtake 14 **** cars.

And a very important part of the posters post is the fact that he/she has an S8.

If you were to do the same manoeuvre in a fiat 500, you might have a point.

bazz26

blackwhite

Mint Sauce wrote: »

And if you do leave a gap, so you can see what's ahead, you'll more than likely, have some fella trying to overtake you and the 12 cars behind ya, nip into your braking/vision space, due to the artic coming around the corner.

I've never understood this whinging about someone overtaking and then pulling into the "braking/vision space" that you (not you sepcifically!) were leaving.

If they've had time to overtake you, then you should have had time to overtake the car in front of you.

If you don't want to overtake the car in front, then you have to accept (and allow for) other cars who may wish to pass both you and the car in front of you.

Riva10

bigroad wrote: »

Also the drink drive era as he said himself .A few drinks in the green room after the Late Late show and drive home.
He did also say young drivers are the cause most crashes.;)

Nearly everyone who drives is younger than Gay Byrne. So in theory, he is right.

Riva10

CalamariFritti wrote: »

I don't care how much you think you know what you're doing. It only takes one of the 13 to get itchy at the wrong time and you're toast and somebody else is too.

With this mentality you will not get up from the bed in the morning.

hmmm

The eyesight requirements for driving are ridiculously lax - I wouldn't be surprised if half these people could barely see.

Special Circumstances

hmmm wrote: »

The eyesight requirements for driving are ridiculously lax - I wouldn't be surprised if half these people could barely see.

Oh I don't like those glasses, they make me look like a frustrated old bag.



who's doing all the beeping????