Can't walk on country roads anymore

GandhiwasfromBallyfermot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118560902#Comment_118560902

Cars getting bigger and bigger is definitely a problem on roads that have remained largely unchanged since the 50's. Massive SUVs and american style ford ranger trucks should be heavily taxed to discourage use with the usual exemptions for commercial vehicles or where they are registered to a business with a need for them.

magicbastarder

it happens maybe once a month when i'm out on the bike and some idiot decides to overtake me on a blind bend, but i can see an oncoming car they can't see (or possibly don't care about); so i shoot my hand out, palm backwards, fingers splayed; a clear warning signal.

about five times in the last year the reaction to this signal has been for them to floor the car. and i think two or three times has resulted in the oncoming motorist having had to stand on the brakes and come to a complete standstill.

Ave Sodalis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561157#Comment_118561157

I wouldn't even mind them getting bigger (okay, tell a lie, having those lights exactly at eye level is very difficult to share a road with) if they'd realise they are in something designed to go off road, so they can use a perfectly solid pull in area and not force the cars that are only supposed to stay on the road up onto the ditch.

roosterman71

Most of those SUV yokes aren't designed for off road. Glorified car on stilts a lot of them. France are starting to tax vehicles over 1800kg upon registration in an effort to curb size and the associated environmental impacts of having to power a bigger piece of metal around than is necessary

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561157#Comment_118561157

Most of them are commercial.

Tax is already high for big private SUVs.

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118559695#Comment_118559695

"When I meet these pr1cks I go to the middle to slow them down, it's the only way"

Assuming you are a cyclist, I think we have met, briefly.

Do you mean the middle of the lane or the middle of an R road?

cnocbui

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118560327#Comment_118560327

I wasn't talking about lanes with grass growing down the middle, I meant R roads with bi-directional traffic.

A while back, a road I travelled daily started to get a lot of those insane log trucks on it; the ones that drive out from the hedge because of those tall side spikes they don't want to clip on a big tree branch, so are 25% into the oncoming lane. I very nearly got cleaned up by one of these and thought to myself someone is going to be killed by those idiots.

Sure enough, about a week later, someone local was killed in a collision with a logging truck - it could easily have been the one that near clipped me. There are trucks that are too wide and too tall using R roads that are just not wide enough for them.

Anto_Meath

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118555079#Comment_118555079

I was on today, from Meath to Limerick, seen some of worst driving / overtaking / ignorance I have seen in a long time & I do about 1,000 mile a week. It's unique when it comes to drivers not having patients.

jimmythesulk

Not enough guards in rural areas anymore.

charlesanto

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561216#Comment_118561216

so you're blocking the road and its someones fault

GandhiwasfromBallyfermot

He's not blocking the road he's using the road and other road users need to wait until oncoming traffic is clear and safe before overtaking

malinheader

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118562998#Comment_118562998

Just listening to my local radio station yesterday, a gardai representative was on saying a certain busy gardai station in Donegal has no gardai vehicle since before Christmas and alot of the vehicles in Donegal are classed end of life and no replacement vehicles are available. You would be very unlucky to be caught for dangerous driving up here.

Still stihl waters 3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118563140#Comment_118563140

Obviously not what was said

_Brian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118556338#Comment_118556338

I’ll put my hand up to that in fairness. Fitting larger engines with huge carbs, wide wheels, no furry dice though

different times on the roads though, since then traffic volumes have exploded. Society has changed to walk and cycle more too.

K.G.

Slightly off topic but related to pedestrian safety,the number of cars we re meeting with 1 dip beam blown. It's seems to be very common this year

thefallingman

Everyone has an oversized suv now, there’s just no room left on the road

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118563140#Comment_118563140

Try reading this before you think of driving: https://www.rsa.ie/docs/default-source/services/s1.8-learner-driver-resources/rules-of-the-road-2020.pdf

i cycle regularly in west county Sligo and though try to stay on local roads, through the Ox mountains etc, there are inevitably sections on regional roads. The speed and impatience of drivers now is just astonishing. Motorway speed is common, and drivers will drive right up onto your wheel in an attempt to get around, then overtake into oncoming traffic or on corners and have to cut you off. There’s often no shoulder and even as a very experienced cyclist I feel intimidated as hell.

I don’t know what is wrong with people that they have become so impatient

magicbastarder

they've been sold the dream of open roads, fording streams, and driving up mountains in their SUVs. instead they're doing a run to the local lidl for cheap nappies.

Beechwoodspark

I do a lot of driving on rural roads around Mid/east Leinster and things are gone from bad to worse.

Lot of the big SUVs out hogging the middle of the road afraid to drive near the verge in case the alloys get scraped.

when I am clearing a corner I would take a very defensive approach as I’ve had too many close encounters over the last few years.

Danno

There are alot of problems to be addressed to make our rural roads safer. Up to now a lot of investment in N roads has made many of these safer, but the high number N routes still need further investment.

Without a hard shoulder it is lethal for a pedestrian or cyclist to use roads in the majority of cases. R roads are the worst, one-off housing, hedgerows spilling over the edge of roads, narrow roads, etc... it's a nightmare.

There needs to be a law passed that requires all roadworks to include a separated cycle and walking lane on at least one side of the road. Rip out the hedgerows and replant one back in towards the field. They will regrow and wildlife will resettle in a few years. It needs to be done and it will pi$$ off a few folk, but it would be worth it.

magicbastarder

if you widen the roads, people drive faster.

plus, the cost of CPOing land to widen roads on that scale would be ruinous.

and it's not lethal in the majority of cases to cycle country roads, but it's more than understandable why people would come away thinking this having attempted it.

Gary kk

The Freshford Road into kilkenny is full of bends and busy but there are always cyclist on it. Its to narrow for cars and bikes I just think some poor person is going to swiped one of these days

whisky_galore

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118559490#Comment_118559490

Use both why not? They're both cheap to buy these days, ffs they even give hi vis vests away for free, no excuse.

A car hitting you at only 30mph while you're gowling around in the dark with dark clothes will still do a fair bit of damage.

Hurrache

I think the whole "SUV" thing is a scape goat for reasons that aren't always true (I don't own one). "Big SUVS" aren't necessarily bigger, other than in height, than many saloons and estates that are on the road, they footprint isn't much, if at all, bigger. It's all down to what you define as an SUV, a Range Rover, big Volvo yokes, certainly, but your standard Qashqai segment probably don't take up any more space than many other cars that are deemed acceptable.

It's the standard of driving that's the problem, not always what they're driving.

magicbastarder

i do think SUVs are a safety concern, but more so in urban/suburban contexts (precisely because of the height); but people feel safer driving SUVs, and i'd bet my bottom dollar that leads to higher speeds. how much higher, i don't know.

Hurrache

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118563825#Comment_118563825

Ask the RSA, the biggest pimps of a bit of material, for their evidence and research as to why I should wear one to increase my safety. You won't get any.

All it does is feed attitudes like yours, these magic vests will stop me getting hit by a car, as it'll be my fault if I ever do.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118563782#Comment_118563782

If there are always cyclists on it then other traffic should factor that in to their driving. A cyclist is part of traffic and has as much right to use the road as drivers.

The problem as this thread is showing is that many people who drive believe that they don't want to share the road with other users, particularly vulnerable users. They are the issue that needs to be dealt with, not someone on a bike. Unfortunately, the main reason that this entitled behaviour has increased is mainly because of a lack of any kind of meaningful enforcement of our existing road traffic laws.

Next time you are out in a town or village. Watch the number of drivers speeding, even up to a set of lights. Watch their behaviour towards pedestrians. What happens when the lights change from green to orange and then red - how many cars went through? What about bus lanes and turning left? How many drivers were holding their phone? We have tolerated this behaviour so long that it is pretty much normalised now.

gooseman12

Speeding is the issue we can't walk on country roads anymore.

Everything else, ditches, cyclists, SUVs, tractors, walkers, torches, high-vis don't really matter.

If everyone slowed down, we could walk on the roads again and it would be perfectly safe.

Probably the biggest mistake in the switch over from miles to km was the blanket setting of all country roads at 80kph. The default should really have been 60kph, especially on L roads, with exceptions made to 80kph where the conditions suited that speed.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118563947#Comment_118563947

As someone who used to be a compulsive speeder whilst driving, the posted limit meant pretty much nothing if there was no enforcement.