Every morning / evening a crash on the M50

mrcheez

Are people just really crap now at driving? I don't recall a crash EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. when I used to go down the M50 regularly several years ago.

I was supposed to head down the M50 now and thought to myself "there can't surely be another one", and yep delays of 25 mins.

standardg60

Middle lane drivers op, the people who don't know how to use a 3 lane motorway.

Join the motorway, get into the middle lane as quickly as possible cos the left lane is only for lorries, stay there at 80/90km/hr, until veering across to their exit at the last minute cutting across you cos they don't know how to use a left wing mirror.

The road is just too busy, surprised there's not more crashes.

elperello

Nothing much you can do about it except practice defensive driving and try to make sure it's not your story one day.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120121589#Comment_120121589

Indeed.. drove around in Sicily... absolute insanity. Thought middle east or India were bad, but nope it's Italy.

Yeah probably higher population driving on the roads, but are driving tests becoming easier?

circadian

Phone usage is relatively high. Any time I'm a passenger on the M50 in particular the amount of drivers paying little to no attention to the road is shocking.

I once saw someone merging beside us from the port tunnel junction onto the M50, I could see clear as day what they were looking at on their phone. Instagram. 60+km/h, merging onto a motorway looking at bloody Instagram.

Mr. CooL ICE

Southern Italy is bad and deserves the reputation. But against the north, they're chalk and cheese. Have driven between Parma, Milan and Turin a few times and there's a fair amount of cop on that you wouldn't see in Ireland.

TheWonderLlama

Try La périphérique around Paris some time. its like Mad Max on angry setting. Four lanes, no hard shoulder, loony driving.

Mike3549

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058280080/every-morning-evening-a-crash-on-the-m50

25min delay on M50 is not that bad. Sadly when theres a crash, 25min drive on M50 becomes 1h 30min.

Once I spend 30mins to get from rathcoole to M50, its usually 5mins. And there were no crashes on N7 or M50. Just too many cars

dickdasr1234

I loved driving in Italy. They take driving seriously, not like the bozos here who hog the outside lane at 80kph and dab the brakes occasionally for no discernible reason. Phone use on the M50 is insane. Southbound has a few design flaws that doubtless lead to awkward situations. This morning there was a 'breakdown' just past the Finglas slip road- it was a small van which pulled up on the verge, taking two feet of the hard shoulder out of play yet resulting in an abundance of caution.

Monday or yesterday, rubberneckers caused a half-mile tailback Northbound. Is this a peculiarly Irish phenomenon?

I avoid the M50 like the plague. When I was about to undergo surgery my anaesthetist got a phone call from his son telling him he had been rear ended in M50, and suffered a fractured neck, thankfully saved by a brace and not paralysed. A cousin of mine was crashed into by a driver who admitted using his phone, her sturdy SUV destroyed. Thankfully no injuries.

magicbastarder

i am convinced 'rubbernecking' is an inevitable consequence of a minor disruption on a road which is at or near capacity. you drive slowly past a crash not necessarily because you're rubbernecking, but because the driver in front is driving slowly. and why are they driving slowly? because the driver in front of them is also. overloaded roads are sensitive to minor shocks. just takes one person hitting the brakes too hard to set up an accordion effect.

Markcheese

It's at or over capacity - everyone is in a rush ,and everyone does stuff they know is stupid justified by they're in a rush /stressed out / loads of people do it /

And the odds of getting caught are slim .. obviously gardai can only travel in the same traffic that's slowing everyone else down ..

Weaving , wrong lane and cutting in , on the phone , aggresive driving ,fast lane princesses, and middle lane madonas, driving like a selfish Dick , they all increase the risk of a crash and decrease the speeds traveled

Even the 100 kph limit , you'd get more cars through the m50 at 80 kph than at 100 kph ,( the more accelerate/ brake driving 1 car does,the slower everyone else has to travel )

I'd love to see " Dickhead cameras " along the M50 , cameras on gantries and bridges , with a manned control room ,and either soft ware looking for bad driving ( and incidents needing help ) , or just watching , and then either a warning / fine In the post - or if really serious incident ,the gardai meet you on the road ..

mrcheez

I'm working from home at the moment so I don't drive daily to work per se, so it's possible things have gotten worse over past few years, but I notice on the radio each morning, practically like clockwork, there's a "crash / breakdown on the M50" (or M1)

And the one or two times I do need to use the M50 I now have to check in advance "in case" there's a delay .. I don't recall having to do that before, even 3-4 years ago.

4 out of 5 times I've done this, there's been some sort of delay

mrcheez

https://twitter.com/M50Dublin/with_replies

Pretty astonishing.. do a search for "collision" or "breakdown"

Almost one every day

magicbastarder

"There are up to 400,000 trips on the M50 every day, it says, 40 per cent of which are during peak hours."

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/m50-to-become-a-managed-motorway-in-major-changes-in-response-to-traffic-volumes-1.4676155

with that many trips being made on it, maths simply catches up with you. say there's one crash or breakdown a day, out of that 400k trips.

if i made 400,000 trips in my car, let's say two a day, that's the equivalent of me crashing or breaking down once every 500 years.

kravmaga

@ OP,

Its down to the usual suspects, idiots driving too fast, poor lane in-discipline, poor decision making skills when deciding to change lanes.

Not using indicators, not looking in rear or side mirrors.

3 Lanes both sides of the M50 , Lane 1= driving lane, Lane 2 over taking lane, lane 3 =overtaking lane.

The usual suspects driving in the middle lane (2) or lane 3, wont move or keep left.

I drove a lot whilst living in the UK on various motorways such as M1, m5, M6, M40, M25, M40, M62 etc, the Brits don't keep changing lanes as much and are much more focussed and disciplined drivers.

As in they will actually give way and are courteous, here its just a free for all,everyone for themselves.

Not sure what the solution is for the users of the M50. Maybe if your found to be the cause of a crash and its knock on delays and if its not the 1st rodeo maybe some sort of penalty points and fine.

Need more Policing of the M50 and speed cameras to catch the Grand prix types.

mrcheez

and again .. jesus

Markcheese

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120125024#Comment_120125024

Actual gardai in cars are really expensive, especially in rush hour traffic , the Garda in the car is stuck in the same heavy traffic as everyone else .. so gets to observe the same 10 or 15 cars while on the motorway ..

neris

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120124028#Comment_120124028

You musnt have come across the Italian truck drivers trying to over take another truck on the motorway while both of them are at 90km

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128607#Comment_120128607

Stick then on motorbikes and they aren't stuck in traffic and can check way more than 10 or 15 cars.

But they wouldn't need to be there all the time, they just have to be enforcing our laws regularly to stop people ignoring them

magicbastarder

Left the house earlier, but checked Google maps first to confirm the m50 was ok. I'm the ten minutes it took me to get there, there was a bad smash where it crossed the n2...

Tenzor07

Pandemic/lockdowns over so it's an inevitable consequence of people returning to the roads...

Usual reasons apply; too much/little speed, poor road awareness, incompetent drivers, aggressive driving seems to have returned in spades....

Could be driving along at the speed limit on single carriageway/residential/motorway roads and it always seems to be some van driver or a lad in a clapped out 10+ year old Audi A4/BMW 320 diesel or VW Passat/cc driving these cars like they're Ferrari's with blue lights on the roof....

mrcheez

so.. I mean I'm not exaggerating... it's literally a crash (or two) every day

https://twitter.com/M50Dublin/status/1616140735153115139?cxt=HHwWhsC4nfPb1-0sAAAA

Could make some sort of drinking game out of it (though that's probably the cause of the crashes in the first place)

magicbastarder

As mentioned, there are approx 400k journeys made every day, on an overloaded road. It's simply inevitable.

Larbre34

Closer to 500,000 individual daily trips now.

But thats irrelevant. As long as motorway driving protocol remains notably off of the driving test, this will continue.

Lane discipline on the M50 is deplorable. So are speed, distance, vehicle lighting and Christ knows what else.

Someone mentioned Italy. If you're moving slowly or poorly in Lane 2 or 3 on an Italian Autostrada, a Lamborghini will arrive pretty quickly and blast you off the road. There's a lot to be said for it and its a strategy I adopt in Ireland too. Piss poor driving must be told.

Dial Hard

The problem with the M50 is that as soon as it gets congested - as it does -inevitably people take out their phones. They're not paying attention, someone gets rear-ended and then that whole section grinds to a halt while they get out, argue, change insurance details etc. Add the rubber necking effect to the equation and you can see how it seizes up entirely very quickly. There are actually very few accidents on it when it's moving as it should.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120132420#Comment_120132420

Has this always been the case? Don't recall a crash EVERY DAY a few years ago?

Note.. another crash this morning

accensi0n

I'm on the M50 right now and it's packed.

Trigger Happy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120132436#Comment_120132436

Agreed. We need to do something about people's knowledge of driving on 3 lane motorways. So many people think that the left lane is a 'slow lane' and instead they plonk themselves in the middle lane. On a quiet sunday morning with no traffic you will find lots of drivers plodding along in the middle lane while the left lane is empty.

I ride the M50 frequently on a motorbike and you really do need your wits on super alert. People switching lanes without indicating. People switching lanes without gauging the speed of drivers in that lane and causing an accordion effect as vehicles need to break to accommodate them. People nearly missing their exit lanes and swerving across 2 lanes to get to their exit. And people entering a 120 kph motorway at 50kph and slowly getting up to speed causing havoc to those behind them.

Saw a lad on a wee moped on the M50 this wednesday night. He could have been doing no more than 50kph on a cold icy night. Those smaller bikes are not allowed on motorways but no one stopping him.

Enforcement of motorway rules and education of the masses is needed!

mrcheez

And another... ok I'm beginning to see a pattern here. Feckin Blanch drivers...

markpb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120136020#Comment_120136020

N3 to N7 is the busiest part of the motorway and where the exits are close together so there’s a lot of merging and exiting going on.

chooseusername

It's hardly surprising, every motorway bar one converges on the M50.

I know someone who regularly travel from Mitchelstown to Enniskillen via the M50, I would probably do the same.

For Forks Sake

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120132436#Comment_120132436

I'll volunteer for that gig 😁 where do I collect the Lambo?

It’s mostly caused by a small minority of drivers who engage in ludicrously frequent, often very snappy and unpredictable lane changes, or the drivers who can’t merge into traffic without practically causing a pile up.

Mirrors and indicators seem to be a decorative feature to some drivers.

There isn’t that much speeding compared to what I’ve experienced in other cities.

mrcheez

Seems to have been some sort of crash/breakdown every day on the M50 the past week .. actually M1 sounds just as bad from what I hear

DellyBelly

Probably the safest place to travel on the M50 is in the middle lane. I find drivers in the outside lane very aggressive and fast and the inside lane has to many input roads coming onto the M50 and so it slows you down if you stay in that lane....

twin_beacon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120123699#Comment_120123699

Pre covid, on two different mornings going to work I seen people having a video call with someone while driving. The phone jammed into the steering wheel.

KLF

And that’s what most of your let’s call them everyday driver will do, people who aren’t so interested in the act of driving but getting from A to B. And as you say an element if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Unfortunately it means that the M50 will never perform as intended and the upgrade to 3 lanes didn’t gain as much as was expected. It’s basically treated as a two lane motorway with a dedicated slip road

kravmaga

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128607#Comment_120128607

M25 can be a car park also, that said it is Policed. Drove the entire length of the M50 today , not one cop car.

Markcheese

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120171065#Comment_120171065

Cameras on gantries and bridges , 3 or 4 people in a control room could probably hand out hundreds of fines a day ..

elperello

They also use unmarked cars.

They are good for catching people but don't have the same deterrent effect as the stripey ones.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120171238#Comment_120171238

The gardai don't seem keen on using cameras for enforcement in general in Ireland though.

The Nal

The fast lane is the fast lane. If you're not driving fast, don't drive in the fast lane. Try listing lazily into a fastlane in Italy or Spain and you'll be flashed and beeped and flipped off from the car half a mile behind because you may slow them down.

Irish people on the whole don't know how to merge and don't know how to change lanes. Our last minute road signs don't help though. People panic and have a few seconds to get across 3 or 5 lanes sometimes to get off at their exit.

We dont drive on motorways in the test do we?

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172415#Comment_120172415

The fast lane is the fast lane.

There is no fast lane. You are referring to an overtaking lane!

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172460#Comment_120172460

Same thing. Im overtaking all the cars in the lane to my left!

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172474#Comment_120172474

It's not the same thing because many that believe there is a "fast lane" also believe there is a "slow lane" which is a big problem on the likes of the M50!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120123680#Comment_120123680

The amount of cars in India which drive on the opposite side of the road is insane. (I've been a passenger in them)

But its OK, they beep their horns. 😱

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172493#Comment_120172493

Indeed. But you see the middle lane moving faster than the overtaking lane a lot

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172555#Comment_120172555

That's because of piss poor driving on the M50 with many drivers not knowing what lane they should really be in. It comes down to a lack of education coupled with a lack of enforcement of the rules on our roads.

Thankfully, I've not really had a need to use the M50 (having done it daily for about 15 years). Any time I now use it, I'm surprised at how apalling the standard actually is.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120172624#Comment_120172624

Rarely use it myself but have done a few times recently in rush hour.Most of the delays are caused by bad driving as opposed to volume.

My favourite M50 moment was one morning at 8.55am when some women was stopped, completely stationary, in the middle lane, indicating to get into the Dundrum exit.

No joke, completely stopped here.