Can't walk on country roads anymore

ParkRunner

Moved down the country two years ago with a bendy road out the front. The locals seem to put the foot down but beep every few seconds as they go. Watch out I’m coming at speed!

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118557042#Comment_118557042

more dead people, it seems.

Say my name

Fellow on the Joe Duffy show there last year or before knocked down an elderly man. I think in galway?

The man was wearing black at dusk. He was thrown into a field about 30 feet away. What they found on the road was his Wellington boots.

Definitely not the usual chat on the show.

Ginger83

We are lucky here on a narrow country road. Quiet enough with the odd tractor and only an occasional gobshite. We love the peace. Wouldn't have the time for busy towns with people rushing nowhere. Passed through Virginia today and it reminded me of Moate years ago, just gridlock. I don't know where everyone is going nowadays but we are all rich again seemingly.

Havenowt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118554948#Comment_118554948

so everyone who drives aggressively must be on drugs???

id say there are more people driving who have a drink taken than than on drugs

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118557575#Comment_118557575

The Garda say otherwise. I was bit surprised myself.

rte.ie/news/ireland/2021/0602/1225636-road-safety-appeal/

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118556329#Comment_118556329

Strange then that you devote so much of your life to the active travel threads calling people who try to improve the situation in this country communists or fascists or Pol-Pot and all your other hysterical shrieking...

[Deleted User]

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118557774#Comment_118557774

Dear oh dear. My ire is only directed toward those who seek to ban cars because they dislike them. They're insincere and your criticism is misplaced. There is a world of a difference between people who want to make a change for the better and those who are looking for pretext to blame cars. Cars are certainly needed in rural locations as public transport, feet and bikes do not do the job.

Since I already mentioned trying to engage with the local engineers on improving the situation I myself would be among the group you would claim have been abused by me. Now, have you anything on topic to contribute?

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118557379#Comment_118557379

i would be curious how fast you'd have to be driving to throw someone 30 feet. and whether the lights were working correctly in the car, whether the driver was driving to the conditions, etc. etc.

i.e. even if the pedestrian was wearing black, what were the conditions that the lights of the car did not pick him out?

[Deleted User]

If it was Galway safe to assume it was raining and a wet dark night will soak up any light thrown from the best of headlights and reflect nothing back. D4 and the wild west are completely different environments.

Quitelife

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118557575#Comment_118557575

Definitely twenty/thirty years ago it was mostly drink driving and i could name plenty that used drink and drive but many of the pubs are closed and their clientele are dead or just stay at home now theres so few others in the remaining pub.

Meanwhile cocaine is everywhere these days and a huge amount of young people are hooked on it and driving round as normal ( but their driving isnt normal!). Throw in the dealers themselves flying round delivering drugs and youve a lot of drivers making the roads dangerous.

[Deleted User]

Our area has a number of sand and gravel pits. The operators would be quite happy to sell gravel to the County Council to resurface the roads but don't contribute to the cost of repair of damage to the road surface caused by their lorries rolling from morning until evening. It is probably part of the reason why the Co.Co. hasn't resurfaced during my lifetime since the lorries will just undo the resurfacing works.

Cars have next to no impact on road surface. It is the lorries that do the damage and is visible as the side of the road to the Works from the Sand and Gravel pits are in poorer state than the side leading to the gravel pits. The extra weight does all the damage.

Interesting fact: roads coming out of dublin wear faster than roads leading to dublin as the goods vehicles are heavier.

mayota

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118558201#Comment_118558201

It was Frenchpark,Co Roscommon. Driver was blameless. Deceased was thrown over a wall into a garden. No speed involved. Forget exact details but probably oncoming traffic and rain combined.

magicbastarder

i remember a case which was a pedestrian fatality on an N road, where the driver told the gardai he'd been doing about 90km/h and the gardai said no, based on the forensics, you were doing 45-50kmh. i wonder if this is that case.

It has since emerged he was doing around half the speed limit when he hit the elderly farmer who was dressed in dark clothing.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-30803678.html

magicbastarder

it might not be the same case, of course, but in the case i do remember, it's kinda laughable for gardai to claim a motorist was driving on an N road at less than half the speed limit, especially when that is contradicted by the driver's own testimony.

wrangler

A neighbour lost his two legs after being hit with a car on a narrow road at night, dressed n dark clothing. Anyone that passed him that night said he was looking to get himself killed. He could've walked on a new wide road the same night that was paralell to the road he walked on. Terrible for the person that eventually hit him

[Deleted User]

I walk the rural roads in my area every day without any problems. I walk in the middle of the road, wear a hi vis vest and never have headphones on. I can hear any vehicle coming and will move to the safest side of the road. Most people using this road know that it’s popular with walkers. If anyone has any problems with dangerous driving, take note of car reg and report it. If possible take a photo. #walkersoftheworldunite

Manach

A parallel development is the increased amount of rubbish being deposited both by and on the roads. The latter devopment, domestic waste liberally spread across rural roads, reflects a mindset I really cannot fathom.

Dinzee Conlee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118558201#Comment_118558201

I don't know Magic, it can be near impossible to see someone in black at times. I passed a lad over Christmas, and he was all in black/grey - and I was on top of him before I saw him.

Now, I wasn't going that fast cos it wasn't a main road, but if he wasn't standing in, I could easily have hit him to be honest...

Ubbquittious

To be honest country roads were never great for walking on in this country. Lots of places the roads are simply too narrow & windy with nowhere to keep in if there's traffic coming. I dont believe the drivers have got significantly worse since covid. Nearly all the regional roads are just where the ass & trap used to go before cars were invented

[Deleted User]

Yes, pedestrians are stupid but none of these roads have been improved over many, many decades. It is reasonable to expect that they would have been resurfaced and pavements provided.

Hurrache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118556578#Comment_118556578

Not in my experience. If anything, it's the opposite, my local school discourages it.

The reason they say is the roads around the school are too dangerous. Gets my goat that they don't stop and think as to what may make them dangerous as school time, it's the bloody parents going back and forth from the school. No mention of that in their weekly newsletters.

Hurrache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118558517#Comment_118558517

So lots of people did in fact see him, as you say, so couldn't have been that hard to spot based on all those people who saw him.

And whatever about doing so in darkness, the cries for people to wear high vis in daylight is ridiculous, there's no evidence it makes you stand out any better. In certain lighting conditions you're going to blend into the hedges and fields and ironically stand out better in dark clothing.

Easten

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118558666#Comment_118558666

Hard to blame the parents when it's another thing the Government doesn't provide anymore is proper School Bus runs. Bus Eireann are not providing new bus routes and barely service the old routes. Its a disgrace how they've gotten away with this.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118558698#Comment_118558698

A dark Silhouette easier to see in direct Sunlight in the evening time. A Hi-viz vest become invisible against the Sun

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118558517#Comment_118558517

Spare a thought for the guy who lost his legs too!

[Deleted User]

That is not my experience of the boreens around my way. A Hi-vis vest or sash always helps to stand out especially now that cars have DRLs. At night a torch is advisable to prevent you from stumbling in the many potholes or over a sod of turf or sugarbeet falling off the back of a trailer.

John_Rambo

Sugarbeet in Ireland post 2006?

magicbastarder

funny enough, i reckon i saw one sitting at the side of the road at the weekend...

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118557197#Comment_118557197

Yep, absolute carnage, dead bodies everywhere. Stepping over them has become a chore.

"2021 Records Lowest Number of Road Fatalities Since Recording Began in 1959

Research 01.01.2022

   7% drop in road deaths in 2021 compared to 2020

   19 pedestrian deaths in 2021 the lowest figure since records began"

I haven't noticed any speed increase on the roads near where I live. Personally I find enormous trucks navigating roads that are 1.8 trucks in width, more of a safety problem than cars speeding. The size and instability of logging trucks on rural roads is insane. I suppose they do save councils and landowners from trimming overhanging trees, though.

magicbastarder

you may have missed the context. the context was that road deaths went up in 2020 during lockdown, despite the volume of traffic falling significantly; what happened in 2021 is separate to that.