Maldron Roundabout

Azatadine

Are there any plans to upgrade the roundabout at the Maldron Hotel at all? It's an absolute nightmare in the evenings these days and not helped one bit by people who jump the queue by driving up the 'right turn' lane and cutting in/going straight at the roundabout.

Same carry on at the Whitford too but not quite as bad.

jpb1974

Not sure how you'd upgrade the roundabout to be honest -

- Traffic lights might better serve peaks hours but would be a pain for the other 22+ hours of the day.

- Expanding to three lanes at the roundabout is the only other alternative... that'd cost a fair bit, claiming land might be an obstacle too. I can also see it
potentially causing more chaos given that a significant portion of drivers don't have a clue how to navigate a simple roundabout.

Personally I think that the roundabout serves the traffic correctly, congestion at peaks hours is just a pain that you associate with many first world countries.

As to those who do it - If you're going to drive up the right lane to bypass traffic, at least do a full cycle of the roundabout... it's somewhat more legal and less dangerous/obnoxious.

Sue Pa Key Pa

When you approach the Maldron Roundabout from the Whitford side, drivers come up the outside of you forcing others to use inside the hard shoulder as a lane, which it is not. I don't give in to those bullies

Azatadine

I don't give way to them either. No way.

jpb1974

I'd move over... no point in holding up a car that might be on its way to Wexford Hospital for example.

Fortunately, I'm rarely there at "rush hour".

Sue Pa Key Pa

jpb1974 wrote: »

I'd move over... no point in holding up a car that might be on its way to Wexford Hospital for example.

Fortunately, I'm rarely there at "rush hour".

A hard shoulder is not for driving in. When the hard shoulder narrows as you approach the roundabout, these feckers, just drift back in to the road without indicating as if it is their right.

jpb1974

OK, so grievances aside - what's the proposed cure?

Azatadine

Make the feeder lanes one lane up to about three car lengths where it opens up at the roundabout? Make the roundabout one entrance lane only? It's the people shooting up the right hand lane and cutting in or going around the roundabout 360 degrees that plays hell with it!

Maybe a one lane feeder off to the left so people going left don't need to go to the roundabout at all? Cost to that option though.

vicwatson

Cortecs wrote: »

Are there any plans to upgrade the roundabout at the Maldron Hotel at all? It's an absolute nightmare in the evenings these days and not helped one bit by people who jump the queue by driving up the 'right turn' lane and cutting in/going straight at the roundabout.

Same carry on at the Whitford too but not quite as bad.

Badly need Gardai at that point for 1 hour Mon-Friday at rush hour for about a month to cut this out, its an accident waiting to happen, the right turning lane is clearly a right turn only but bad bad bad drivers all of a sudden want to go left on the roundabout.

I've seen a couple of cars being pulled by Gardai in my time.

They badly need to push in on to the hard shoulder and create a new lane for the N25, plenty of space there, plenty. But will they?, will they **** !!

longshanks

How long are you stuck there? Is it 5 of 10 minutes? Put on some music and relax.

vicwatson

longshanks wrote: »

How long are you stuck there? Is it 5 of 10 minutes? Put on some music and relax.

Hey poster stop queue skipping at the roundabout ok?

vicwatson

Sue Pa Key Pa wrote: »

A hard shoulder is not for driving in. When the hard shoulder narrows as you approach the roundabout, these feckers, just drift back in to the road without indicating as if it is their right.

It's also a two penalty point offence so I'm not doing it, though everyone else on the road seems to risk it.

RadioRetro

vicwatson wrote: »

Badly need Gardai at that point for 1 hour Mon-Friday at rush hour for about a month to cut this out...

They were there last evening as I came upon them after they had just caught an offender. Unmarked cop car.

vicwatson

Hi Gardai (Gardai reading this thread lol)

wexandproud

RadioRetro wrote: »

They were there last evening as I came upon them after they had just caught an offender. Unmarked cop car.

they are there fairly regularly , there are two problems , first one is as has been stated , people coming up in the right hand lane and going straight on .Second one is , a lot of drivers are afraid of their life to pull out even if the nearest car is a safe distance away or when there is a gap they are yapping to someone in the car and the hand brake is pulled tighter than a guitar string and by the time they realize it is fine to go they have missed the chance
similar problems at the lights at the bridge , when the lights go green and the car in front moves you dont have to leave a 100 mtr gap before you move , drive on be fcuked so maybe more than two or three cars will get too go before the lights change

Missent

Saw a good example this afternoon. Small commercial van with Waterford registration and logo about delivering products safely on the back. Came from Rosslare direction into the Whitford roundabout where it took the right hand lane and then went straight on. Obviously heading to New Ross, it came to the Maldron roundabout where it again used the right hand lane, did the loop-the-loop and headed to New Ross. As a regular legitimate user of the right hand lane at the Maldron heading into Wexford, I've been noting in recent weeks that every non-WX registered car who uses the right hand lane at the Maldron roundabout is not heading into Wexford town. Haven't been wrong yet.

Azatadine

Well, it's now extended to the Whitford roundabout...the last 2 evenings the traffic has been queued right back to the Johnstown Castle turn off from the Whitford roundabout.. it's now a complete disaster!! Think I'll start going back roads over Forth Mountain as bad as those roads are.

ezra_

It isn't that bad. Last few days there has been about 5 minutes delay at each round-about. It is hardly approaching M50 levels of delay yet.

Azatadine

Dunno what time you're travelling at but 5 mins is not my experience.

ezra_

Cortecs wrote: »

Dunno what time you're travelling at but 5 mins is not my experience.

Peak time - about 08.45 and just after 17.00

Decoda

Well yesterday afternoon at 17:15 it had stretched all the way from the Whitford roundabout back across the face of the Johnstown junction.

And prepare yourselves because once the tourist season begins in earnest its only going to get worse. Stenaline changing their timetable next week means the Ferry from Fishguard will now land in Rosslare at 16:25 which is going to add this traffic to peak traffic on the Town by pass. I can see delays across all the junctions increasing even longer.

D.

allthedoyles

These tourists that get off the ferry and head straight to the South-West should be diverted through the scenic route Wexford - Waterford

vicwatson

allthedoyles wrote: »

These tourists that get off the ferry and head straight to the South-West should be diverted through the scenic route Wexford - Waterford

Been a known problem for decades and no one in their ivory towers has done anything about it

Azatadine

Traffic is gone to hell altogether there for the last couple of weeks. Apparently the ferry now arrives at 16.00 so that traffic is now hitting the roundabouts at 16.30 or so. Traffic was back to almost the Rosslare roundabout from Wbitford this evening at 17.15. Off to Murntown and over Forth Mountain for me and a good few others.

jpb1974

Was driving through the Maldron Roundabout only a week ago when an arsehole almost crashed into me as I attempted to exit for Enniscorthy and he decided to try and cut past me on the inside lane. Nothing to do with traffic jams, just pure stupidity... you come to expect it in this country as a significant number of drivers don't seem to have a clue how a roundabout works.

I've personally witnessed two crashes at the top of Bohreen Hill in Enniscorthy in the past 6 months, no surprise given the amount of near misses I witness on a daily basis.

ballystephen

Hi
The other day was coming up to Waldron Hotel roundabout and stuck in a long line of traffic in the lane to turn left or straight on. The lane to turn right was completely empty. On I went to the Whitford roundabout. Exactly the same.
Having lived in the UK for a while I notice over there , the lane to turn right is also the lane to go straight on too. It seems to me that by making these simple changes the traffic would flow much better for a very small cost.
Why are we forced into the left turn lane to go straight on? It seems an obvious solution to me:)

jpb1974

Ha.. here you go, have a read of this thread

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057735950

I almost got ploughed down by a car that seemed to think it was UK rules recently :-)

Most people can't figure out the current roundabout rules, so God helps us if they were to change them. They might be a national crisis as everyone is forced to retake their driving test.

No matter what you do, be careful at roundabouts in Ireland - its like the Wild West out there.

bruschi

ballystephen wrote: »

Hi
The other day was coming up to Waldron Hotel roundabout and stuck in a long line of traffic in the lane to turn left or straight on. The lane to turn right was completely empty. On I went to the Whitford roundabout. Exactly the same.
Having lived in the UK for a while I notice over there , the lane to turn right is also the lane to go straight on too. It seems to me that by making these simple changes the traffic would flow much better for a very small cost.
Why are we forced into the left turn lane to go straight on? It seems an obvious solution to me:)

fairly simply, because the exit road is only one lane. If you have 2 lanes going onto a roundabout and only one lane existing, then it will be even more carnage. You can get away with that sort of set up in slow moving patient urban traffic, but the traffic on that road is neither slow moving nor patient.

jpb1974

bruschi wrote: »

fairly simply, because the exit road is only one lane. If you have 2 lanes going onto a roundabout and only one lane existing, then it will be even more carnage. You can get away with that sort of set up in slow moving patient urban traffic, but the traffic on that road is neither slow moving nor patient.

I initially thought his point was that the left approach lane would allow you to turn left only (?), no straight on. The right approach lane would serve as straight on or right. This would mean that when you're not having to yield to traffic, cars can head left, right and straight on at the same time.

Or is he saying that the left and right approach lanes can be used for straight on? That'd be chaos cos, like Bruschi said, only one exit lane and you end up with cars converging from left and right lanes.

bruschi

jpb1974 wrote: »

I initially thought his point was that the left approach lane would allow you to turn left only (?), no straight on. The right approach lane would serve as straight on or right. This would mean that when you're not having to yield to traffic, cars can head left, right and straight on at the same time.

Or is he saying that the left and right approach lanes can be used for straight on? That'd be chaos cos, like Bruschi said, only one exit lane and you end up with cars converging from left and right lanes.

yeah it could be that way alright, (as it is on the Ardkeen Hospital roundabout coming from Dunmore) if it was left only on the left lane. But all that would do is push the issue to the other lane and have everyone queuing in the right hand/straight on lane.

I just got the impression that it was mentioned the right hand lane was empty, so why not use that one as well as the left. There are plenty of roundabouts in the country where both lanes can be used to go straight on, however most would have 2 lanes on the exit.

jpb1974

bruschi wrote: »

I just got the impression that it was mentioned the right hand lane was empty, so why not use that one as well as the left. There are plenty of roundabouts in the country where both lanes can be used to go straight on, however most would have 2 lanes on the exit.

Yup, I agree. No easy fix here.

marathont

90% of traffic is going straight or left, yet they all have to use the left lane. hardly any traffic turning right here, so right lane is under-used.
they should make right lane, for turning right and straight on, and left lane for left. I think it would help a lot.

ballystephen

Thats the obvious solution alright. Any idiot can see !

St Senan

marathont wrote: »

90% of traffic is going straight or left, yet they all have to use the left lane. hardly any traffic turning right here, so right lane is under-used.
they should make right lane, for turning right and straight on, and left lane for left. I think it would help a lot.

That's the way the Roundabout at Scarawalsh north of Enniscorthy is used. I use the N11 daily for work and i have seen a lot of near misses using the roundabout that way.

Azatadine

ezra_ wrote: »

It isn't that bad. Last few days there has been about 5 minutes delay at each round-about. It is hardly approaching M50 levels of delay yet.

You must acknowledge how bad it is every day at this stage? It's shockingly bad and getting worse!

jd

Extra left turn only lanes before the roundabout might help the flow
eg


I've seen them in Ireland, can't remember where
schematically it is something like this

Azatadine

Yep. They would.

vicwatson

That's the answer but is there the will in the co co offices? Not likely

Azatadine

Completely disastrous.....and will get worse when NR bypass is completed.

vicwatson

jd wrote: »

Extra left turn only lanes before the roundabout might help the flow
eg


I've seen them in Ireland, can't remember where
schematically it is something like this

The main one that should be done is the left one to NR. They should build another “left only” lane straight away. You could then keep the current left lane for straight only and the right lane for third exit traffic

incentsitive

You are entitled to use the right-turning lane if you are going straight on at the roundabout, I don't see a problem there?
Fair enough you can't turn left, but going straight on is fine by me.

Azatadine

No. The right hand lane is for right turn only according to the arrow.

incentsitive

Azatadine wrote: »

No. The right hand lane is for right turn only according to the arrow.

Well then they need to put a straight on arrow too. No point in people sitting in a queue of traffic turning left is there.

bruschi

incentsitive wrote: »

You are entitled to use the right-turning lane if you are going straight on at the roundabout, I don't see a problem there?
Fair enough you can't turn left, but going straight on is fine by me.

so what are you going to do when the person on your left lane is going straight on too? game of chicken?

incentsitive

bruschi wrote: »

so what are you going to do when the person on your left lane is going straight on too? game of chicken?

Game of having a bit of manners, we all want to get there but is it worth having a row over? Also if you look at the rules of the road, there are 2 ways of taking a roundabout.

Azatadine

bruschi wrote: »

so what are you going to do when the person on your left lane is going straight on too? game of chicken?

I've played that game too - anybody who tries to cut in on me from the right hand lane ends up on the island. No way will I let anybody jump me.

vicwatson

incentsitive wrote: »

Game of having a bit of manners, we all want to get there but is it worth having a row over? Also if you look at the rules of the road, there are 2 ways of taking a roundabout.

The rules are different where the road markings are different

vicwatson

Azatadine wrote: »

I've played that game too - anybody who tries to cut in on me from the right hand lane ends up on the island. No way will I let anybody jump me.

I think you are right, cheeky gits doing that. Stay in line like others.

Chiparus

After a while the council will make the left lane left turn only ( with no provision for cyclists).

incentsitive

If you want another trick, then keep in the right turn lane and just go around the roundabout so you end up turning left. I'm giving away all my trade secrets.....

Azatadine

It's no secret....pisses me off tho.