Limerick Traffic

yrreg0850

Has anybody noticed the latest messup in pedestrian crossings in Limerick.

Travelling dowin Roches Street towards Catherine street , there are new pedestrian (Zebra) crossings on both sides of the junction.

The crazy setup is, there is a yellow box also at the junction joining the zebra crossing.
If traffic crossing the junction is in the yellow box and, a pedestrian steps out onto the crossing, the driver has to break the law.

1 If you stop for the crossing you are stopped in a yellow box breaking one law .

2 If you do not stop in the box, you are likely to kill a pedestrian who has right off way, breaking another law.

Poxyshamrock

yrreg0850 wrote: »

Has anybody noticed the latest messup in pedestrian crossings in Limerick.

Travelling dowin Roches Street towards Catherine street , there are new pedestrian (Zebra) crossings on both sides of the junction.

The crazy setup is, there is a yellow box also at the junction joining the zebra crossing.
If traffic crossing the junction is in the yellow box and, a pedestrian steps out onto the crossing, the driver has to break the law.

1 If you stop for the crossing you are stopped in a yellow box breaking one law .

2 If you do not stop in the box, you are likely to kill a pedestrian who has right off way, breaking another law.

I see your point but I think you’ll be alright to stop for 20 seconds to let a pedestrian cross. It’s moreso to stop people blocking the intersection when the traffic lights are red by the Chicken Hut.

yrreg0850

Thats ok with one pedestrian but, you can sometimes have a "slow train " across.

It does seem as if Limk Corpo haven't a clue about traffic management .
If this crossing was placed at least two car lenghts further down it would solve the problem.
Another mosplaced crossing is at the shannon bridge.
There is a natural tendency to speed up and get clear leaving a roundabout but, here you have another misplaced crossing.
Choice, be rearended as happened numerous people or again hit a pedestrian.

Berty

Students in UL painted their own up from groody, away from the roundabout. The council didn't like that so placed one on the roundabout instead.

Council's know best I guess. They also placed a speed ramp on the plassey road, is it the plassey road, at the crossing but didn't put any signs so the first day I hit it was a shock.

jacksie66

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Brennans Row

Berty wrote: »

Students in UL painted their own up from groody, away from the roundabout.

The council didn't like that so placed one on the roundabout instead.

Council's know best I guess.

Berty, “the County Council knew best” . . . get a grip of yourself man.:p

It’s hard to imagine that the then County Council first gave planning permission for thousands of student accommodations on the Ballysimon side of the Groody roundabout and around the same time they also constructed a link road that would connect up with the Tipperary road (M7 / M20 traffic) before realising that they needed a pedestrian crossing for the students when on their way to the University.

Council to remove false crossing (Irish Times)

Friday April 13th 2007

Limerick County Council has taken steps to remove an unofficial pedestrian crossing that was painted on to one of the country's busiest roads by a group of college students.

A senior local authority figure yesterday described the action taken by the University of Limerick (UL) students at the Groody roundabout in Limerick as "very immature and potentially quite dangerous". A team of 15 students were involved in painting the "zebra" crossing at the roundabout which is located on the outskirts of the city on the main Limerick to Dublin road, late last Wednesday night.

The roundabout in question has no pedestrian crossing despite several requests to the council, according to UL Student Union president St John Ó Donnabháin.

Thousands of students living beyond the Groody roundabout make the daily journey to and from the college across this road, he added.

yrreg0850

yrreg0850 wrote: »

Thats ok with one pedestrian but, you can sometimes have a "slow train " across.

It does seem as if Limk Corpo haven't a clue about traffic management .
If this crossing was placed at least two car lenghts further down it would solve the problem.
Another mosplaced crossing is at the shannon bridge.
There is a natural tendency to speed up and get clear leaving a roundabout but, here you have another misplaced crossing.
Choice, be rearended as happened numerous people or again hit a pedestrian.

Cars should not be driving those roundabouts at speeds where they can't stop and shouldn't be accelerating off the roundabout at an unsafe speed, and especially where there's a pedestrian crossing. I have zero sympathy for anyone driving towards a pedestrian crossing so fast that they can't safely stop.

Also, if you moved the pedestrian crossing away from the roundabout you'd actually make it more dangerous for drivers and pedestrians as the cars would be going much faster. It's actually anti-driver to suggest putting them further down the road, causing a second place for the driver to have to stop.

yrreg0850

Deleted User wrote: »

Cars should not be driving those roundabouts at speeds where they can't stop and shouldn't be accelerating off the roundabout at an unsafe speed, and especially where there's a pedestrian crossing. I have zero sympathy for anyone driving towards a pedestrian crossing so fast that they can't safely stop.

Also, if you moved the pedestrian crossing away from the roundabout you'd actually make it more dangerous for drivers and pedestrians as the cars would be going much faster. It's actually anti-driver to suggest putting them further down the road, causing a second place for the driver to have to stop.

I am not saying they travel at speed for speedings sake but, there is a natural tendency to get off a roundabout as quick as possible.

Cookiemunster

yrreg0850 wrote: »

I am not saying they travel at speed for speedings sake but, there is a natural tendency to get off a roundabout as quick as possible.

I use the bridge every day. I'm aware of the pedestrian crossings, therefore I watch the footpaths as I approach the crossing rather than speed up. It's not that difficult.

zulutango

jacksie66 wrote: »

And they need to do something about William Street. Pretty much only 1 lane now..

It should only be one lane, with a segregated cycle lanes and a bus lane according to the regulations. Unfortunately, the work was done before the regs were issued in 2013.

Stab*City

Oh and the traffic lights dont even get me started.

zulutango

Stab*City wrote: »

Oh and the traffic lights dont even get me started.

There's not enough of them, and the ones that we have give far too much priority to vehicles over pedestrians.

Berty

zulutango wrote: »

There's not enough of them, and the ones that we have give far too much priority to vehicles over pedestrians.

The ones on Upper William Street by all the closed down banks(can't think of what business are there now). If you're on Lower Gerald Griffin street waiting on a green in traffic you will notice that the pedestrian lights go red crossing between the PTSB and AIB(of previous) and the Gerald Griffin go Green for Traffic.

That pedestrian light should stay green and not go red as nobody can turn right and go down william street anyway.

Yet another Quirk in the traffic lights around town.

John_Mc

zulutango wrote: »

There's not enough of them, and the ones that we have give far too much priority to vehicles over pedestrians.

I'd completely disagree with that and I drive through the city 3 times a day.

thesimpsons

zulutango wrote: »

There's not enough of them, and the ones that we have give far too much priority to vehicles over pedestrians.

I can't even think where else you would fit in another set of traffic lights they all over town and not co-ordinated.

zulutango

thesimpsons wrote: »

I can't even think where else you would fit in another set of traffic lights they all over town and not co-ordinated.

You should look more closely. Most of the junctions in the city centre don't have traffic lights.

seachto7

Would it not make sense at the Groody to build some kind of walkover, like the ones you see in the UK a lot, and in parts of Dublin, so pedestrians could walk over the traffic. It would be a lot safer no?

zulutango

A flyover would greatly inconvenience pedestrians, cyclists and people with disabilities. It would also cost a lot of money. The better solution would be to remove the roundabout and put in a controlled junction. This is actually planned I think but hasn't happened yet.

thesimpsons

zulutango wrote: »

You should look more closely. Most of the junctions in the city centre don't have traffic lights.

but which junctions actually require a set of lights ? Possibly add one or maybe a pedestrian crossing at O'Connell St/Cecil street but as a motorist/cyclist and pedestrian in the city centre many times a week, I don't really see the need for any more

Mc Love

thesimpsons wrote: »

but which junctions actually require a set of lights ? Possibly add one or maybe a pedestrian crossing at O'Connell St/Cecil street but as a motorist/cyclist and pedestrian in the city centre many times a week, I don't really see the need for any more

Glentworth and Catherine St, Cecil St and Catherine St

A lot of people dont know the rules of the road on those two junctions

zulutango

Because O'Connell Street and Mallow Street are currently key traffic routes that are also pedestrian heavy, then the following junctions merit traffic lights or pedestrian crossings.

Barrington Street and O'Connell Street
Hartstonge Street and O'Connell Street
Glentworth Street and O'Connell Street
Cecil Street and O'Connell Street

Mallow Street and Pery Square
Mallow Street and Catherine Street
Mallow Street and Dock Road (remove roundabout)

John_Mc

Your anti-car agenda is getting fairly tiresome zulutango

zulutango

Can we discuss the issues instead of resorting to ad hominem comments. I have no anti-car agenda. I am a motorist myself and regularly drive in the city.

John_Mc

I'm discussing the issues at hand. You're suggesting that we put 4 more sets of traffic lights on the main road through the city, which some people have no choice but to use to get to and from work.

The traffic lights in Limerick aren't coordinated so you're essentially adding 15 minutes extra to get up the road and through town.

And for what? Pedestrians in Limerick don't even pay attention to traffic lights. They cross the road when they see a gap, and sometimes when they don't.

You absolutely do have an anti-car agenda as can be seen in most of your posts on here. That's absolutely relevant when considering your suggestion above.

zulutango

Sorry, John, I don't have an anti-car agenda. I could say you have an anti-pedestrian agenda, but it's a stupid thing to say, so I won't.

The traffic lights in Limerick are co-ordinated by the way.

John_Mc

zulutango wrote: »

Sorry, John, I don't have an anti-car agenda. I could say you have an anti-pedestrian agenda, but it's a stupid thing to say, so I won't.

The traffic lights in Limerick are co-ordinated by the way.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that.

Limerick traffic lights are not coordinated as far as I know. If they are, they are deliberately coordinated to impede traffic and ensure it takes as long as possible to get through town.

thesimpsons

Mc Love wrote: »

Glentworth and Catherine St, Cecil St and Catherine St

A lot of people dont know the rules of the road on those two junctions

leaving those juctions aside, alot of people don't know the rules of the road. If they did, traffic flow in Limerick would be much more efficient - no double parking, no flashers parking, no running red lights, no intimidating other traffic users.

there is absolutely no need to put traffic lights at every single junction in the city centre. There is never so much traffic that you cannot easily negotiate any of the Mallow Street/O'Connell Street junctions.

djsim101

I had the poor misfortune of nearly getting knocked down while crossing these pedestrian crossings on Roches Street on Saturday. The car on the first lane stopped but car on the right lane literally drove on, don't think she even seen me as she was looking down , I perume at her phone. The tyre of the car touched the the front of my runners it was that close.
Be careful crossing guys.

Mc Love

John_Mc wrote: »

We'll have to agree to disagree on that.

Limerick traffic lights are not coordinated as far as I know. If they are, they are deliberately coordinated to impede traffic and ensure it takes as long as possible to get through town.

Thats to get people to use the tunnel and not use town as a rat run.

Cordell

zulutango wrote: »

The traffic lights in Limerick are co-ordinated by the way.

Which ones?
Most of them are indeed traffic sensitive, but that does not mean coordinated.

keane2097

thesimpsons wrote: »

leaving those juctions aside, alot of people don't know the rules of the road. If they did, traffic flow in Limerick would be much more efficient - no double parking, no flashers parking, no running red lights, no intimidating other traffic users.

there is absolutely no need to put traffic lights at every single junction in the city centre. There is never so much traffic that you cannot easily negotiate any of the Mallow Street/O'Connell Street junctions.

On this, I always thought drivers were bad when I lived in Dublin and Cork but Limerick is on another level.

As d'Unbelievables would say the abandonment of cars around the place is mind-boggling. I feel I have yet to drive past a junction where someone without right of way hasn't driven 20 feet over the line without stopping. U-turns everywhere. People turning right into oncoming traffic wantonly pulling into and blocking the other lane while trying to force their way in. On O'Connell street on Saturday some prick in a black half-jeep thing (the mortification of it) came absolutely flying through the lights at the junction with Sarsfield Street long after not only the lights had gone red, but the green man had been up several seconds.

There's a lack of care on the roads here in Limerick you won't find anywhere else this side of Delhi. I don't think pedestrians here are any worse than they are anywhere else in Ireland.

Cookiemunster

Mc Love wrote: »

Thats to get people to use the tunnel and not use town as a rat run.

If you're trying to travel from Corbally to Roxboro (as an example) you have to travel through town. Not everyone is using the city centre as a rat run to avoid the tunnel. A lot of people have no choice.

testicles

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OfTheMarsWongs

Cookiemunster wrote: »

If you're trying to travel from Corbally to Roxboro (as an example) you have to travel through town. Not everyone is using the city centre as a rat run to avoid the tunnel. A lot of people have no choice.

Yep. Had to go Corbally to Raheen today. Fastest route was straight through town. Think I was only stopped at two lights from Hunt Musuem to Punches.

zulutango

The easy solution is to turn Henry Street into a two way. You'll still have a route through town then and can work on improving the other streets.

phog

zulutango wrote: »

The easy solution is to turn Henry Street into a two way. You'll still have a route through town then and can work on improving the other streets.

Easy? Probably

Will it help traffic? Absolutely not.

yrreg0850

djsim101 wrote: »

I had the poor misfortune of nearly getting knocked down while crossing these pedestrian crossings on Roches Street on Saturday. The car on the first lane stopped but car on the right lane literally drove on, don't think she even seen me as she was looking down , I perume at her phone. The tyre of the car touched the the front of my runners it was that close.
Be careful crossing guys.

That was my original point.

The first car had to break the law by stopping in the yellow box, while the second broke the law by driving through a pedestrian crossing while people were crossing.
Because of the location of the crossing , it was impossible for either to avoid breaking the law !

zulutango

You're not breaking the law if you stop in a yellow box to give way to pedestrians on a pedestrian crossing.

Cordell

You do actually, the only exception is for turning right, and only if there is no obstruction once you clear the junction. Strictly speaking.

yrreg0850

zulutango wrote: »

You're not breaking the law if you stop in a yellow box to give way to pedestrians on a pedestrian crossing.

There would be no need to stop in the box in the first place if the road planners knew what they were doing, and, placed the crossing at least two car lenghts beyond the box and, not adjacent to it.

On two occasions recently I had to stop in the box and the result, I was blasted out of it by irate motorists travelling down catherine street.
Who maintained I was just blocking for selfish reasons.

osarusan

If the pedestrian crossings were in a less convenient place, most pedestrians would cross where they want to anyway. And the less convenient you make it, the less likely they are to be used.

zulutango

Surely you should be able to see pedestrians approaching the crossing long before you enter the yellow box?

yrreg0850

zulutango wrote: »

Surely you should be able to see pedestrians approaching the crossing long before you enter the yellow box?

You have obviously never driven down Roaches Street.
Pedestrians just seem to cross without taking any notice as to the position of oncoming cars.
It is quite possible for the car to be moving in the box when the pedestrian decides to cross.

Again there would be no problem if the crossing and the box were a distance apart.

zulutango

I've driven down it thousands of times. Your solution doesn't seem like a great one, to be honest. How about just slowing down and being ready to stop in case pedestrians step onto the crossing?

John_Mc

You're so self-righteous zulutango. A know it all for everything it seems

zulutango

Calm down, John.

John_Mc

zulutango wrote: »

Calm down, John.

I'm perfectly calm, zulutango.

Comhrá

yrreg0850 wrote: »

You have obviously never driven down Roaches Street.
Pedestrians just seem to cross without taking any notice as to the position of oncoming cars.
It is quite possible for the car to be moving in the box when the pedestrian decides to cross.

Again there would be no problem if the crossing and the box were a distance apart.

I also have experienced issues with pedestrians at that Roches St. crossing. When driving down Roches St in heavy traffic, if I'm stopped short of the yellow box, waiting for the traffic ahead to start moving, just when there's enough space to allow me to drive on, someone comes rushing up to the crossing just as I enter the yellow box, forcing me to brake as I begin to enter the yellow box.

Then, when the pedestrian is clear, before I can move, regularly a car coming down Catherine St. will assume I'm allowing them to enter the junction, leaving me sitting stationary in the yellow box.

When I'm walking in that area, I've watched it happen to other motorists regularly, no just to myself. It's a poor choice of location for a ped. crossing alright.

phog

zulutango wrote: »

You're not breaking the law if you stop in a yellow box to give way to pedestrians on a pedestrian crossing.

I would think you are.

zulutango wrote: »

Surely you should be able to see pedestrians approaching the crossing long before you enter the yellow box?

Not all the time and it's a busy junction with traffic/pedestrians and a crossing closer to you so the driver has a lot going on in their peripheral vision.

zulutango wrote: »

I've driven down it thousands of times. Your solution doesn't seem like a great one, to be honest. How about just slowing down and being ready to stop in case pedestrians step onto the crossing?

How many times have you driven down there since they installed the new pedestrian crossings?

zulutango

Maybe traffic lights would be a better solution then?

geotrig

I think the solution would be best to take away one of them ,preferably the one after the junction maybe move it so you have to cross catherine street which isnt any extra effort really (from onestop to fitos or whatever is there these days ) ,having 2 zebra /pelican crossing one after the other is a bit mad really.