The Government couldn't care less about road safety

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637245#Comment_121637245

I know of one road which had a very high death rate. Most fatal accidents were caused by tourists and drunk pedestrians. Tourists were doing crazy things on the road with many bends such as stopping to look at views, u turns and driving at wrong side if road and very often in the middle of the road. The same road was notorious for drunk pedestrians and some were killed by staggering in front of cars and others from sleeping on the road.

In the last few years these fatal accidents seem to have been eliminated but I don't know what has changed to make that happen.

mykrodot

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637456#Comment_121637456

completely agree. I changed my Dacia 2017 to a 2020 recently and am relieved and pleasantly surprised to see it still has the big knob buttons for heat, fans, lights, air con, hazards etc and they're easily accessible. The media/radio centre is touch screen but I set it before I go and that's it.

My sister got a Hyundai recently and absolutely everything is on a touch screen, she couldn't find any controls without going into a huge menu on screen which means if she needs heat/ fan/ air con she has to use the screen while driving or pull off the road. Madness

SharkMX

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637556#Comment_121637556

The voice controls dont work half the time. The other half of the time they do something randomly different to what you asked them to do.

These touchscreens are more of a danger than anything else when it comes to driving imo. I have found myself a few times veering over the other side of the road. Ever try to press a button on your phones screen with one finger when you are moving. Well its like that. You have to stare at the button you want to tap and then concentrate really hard aiming your finger at just the right spot on the screen. All the time not concentrating properly on the road.

I was in the lashing rain on the motorway a few weeks ago. I better turn on the fog light. Pull down on the screen. Press the car tab. Press the lights tab. Find the fog light icon. I just gave up half way through and left the fog light off.

mohawk

There is a huge increase in aggression and bad judgment on the roads since Covid. Lowering speed limits won’t fix this.

Drivers overtaking multiple vehicles at a time on rural roads. How the F do they know when they are that far back whether there is actually a cyclist or pedestrian on the road slowing down the traffic.

Pulling out to wrong side of road to overtake traffic so they can pull out of a junction. Complete disregard for traffic lights.

If you are an aggressive/ bad driver you rely hugely on other drivers to slow down and stop because of your actions. I personally wouldn’t trust other drivers to do this so it’s crazy to me that some people do.

spaceHopper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637034#Comment_121637034

That is totally untrue. We used to have black spot signs they got pulled around the time of the speed detector vans. Lets say you are driving on a road you don't know, there's a black spot sing so you slow down. Up ahead the road is shaded and prone to black ice but you don't have a problem because you slowed down.

There are warning signs for bad bends, uneven road surfaces, kids at play.... so why not warning about black spots.

Packrat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637857#Comment_121637857

Black spots got pulled at the behest of the private speed van company. It would have been just too obvious that they weren't concerned with dangerous places, just with their bottom line.

Yet another criminal transfer of money from the public to cronies of our scum politicians.

bigroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637900#Comment_121637900

FF buddies at it again.

Mr. teddywinkles

Deleted

freebritney

There is anything from 20-40% more cars on the road than 10 years ago. Surely everyone can see the huge increase in road traffic, even post covid it's increased massively. If the amount of vehicles on the road is up 20% or 30% then surely accidents will be up accordingly.

Havenowt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637174#Comment_121637174

Checking for calls, yes.

You can't do data as the phone might have been used for google maps or listing to music or a podcast.

bigroad

Sure Liz o Donnell was on Claire Byrne a few weeks back ,like two girls having a relaxed chat over a coffee.

Liz must of forgot to mention that people walking or cycling on dark roads in dark clothes with no lights may be a contributing factor in the statistics.

No no no the Main thing was Speed,Drink and drug driving ,no wearing a seatbelt.

So more speed cameras more fines should do the Job nicely as far as the RSA are concerned.

Are they fit for purpose or is it just an Organisation with jobs for the Boys or Girls.

sameoldname

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637900#Comment_121637900

There were three accident black spots around here that I can remember from when I was younger. One was a crossroads where people on the minor road didn't seem to know that there actually was a crossroads and ignored all the signs telling them there was one. They fixed it by staggering the crossing.

The second was a sharp s-bend on a mountain road heavily used by tourists. They put in advanced signage and also added chevron signs on the bend which actually lit up in sequence in the direction of the bend when you approached. In the last few years they replaced the entire s-bend with a gentle single curve rather than two sharp ones.

The final one they added advanced warning signs starting 500 meters away and a sign that starts flashing if you are above the speed limit. This bend unlike the other two is actually fine unless you are absolutely hammering it which is probably why they still haven't replaced it.

I've never seen a speed van around any of them and what they've done is far better than a generic warning sign.

hoodie6029

Something ridiculous like 200,000 uninsured drivers on the road. That doesn’t count disqualified drivers. They are regularly pulling lorries being driven by disqualified drivers.

Phone distraction is a huge problem too. Easy to see this time of year with smart phones lighting up the entire interior of cars.

The RSA can only do so much. Drive safely and assume other drivers will do something stupid.

There is no conspiracy to hide data from anyone. If you want the data, OP, lodge and FOI request.

Feisar

IMHO it seems silly to dismiss the OPs point and say "oh it's all on the driver". And at the same time I agree it is all on the river however, again, it's silly to dismiss accident black spots. If there are identifiable stretches of roads that have much higher than average accidents surely there is a factor at play there that shouldn't be glibly ignored?

Furze99

Agree that the old black spot signage was useful, the nearest we have it now are the roadside crosses sometimes put up.

Distraction is/ was always a problem. Long before mobile phones, there were kids arguing in the back, peering at a road map etc But I do think it's worse now - cars come with so many buttons and controls to fiddle with and people will fiddle with them when driving. There was a radio you could turn on or off - now all manner of media options. Add in phones, sat nav and the kids are still arguing in the back.

Reducing speed limits unilaterally is a pointless knee jerk reaction. Better to work on driver training and retraining and just plain enforcement of the existing regulations. Oh and eliminate all unlicenced and uninsured drivers.

blackbox

The government only cares about road safety to the extent it will affect the next election.

If there are a lot of crashes they need to be seen to be doing something...

A crash caused by someone pissed drunk - reduce the alcohol limit from 80mg to 50mg.

A crash caused by dangerously high speed - reduce the speed limit from 80 km/h to 60 km/h.

It doesn't matter that the drunk was 5 times over the old limit or that the speeder was showing off to his passengers doing 120 in an 80 zone - they are seen to be doing something. If you want to logically reduce a speed limit from 80 to 60, you should be able to demonstrate that people driving at 70 in that area are the cause of the problem.

The primary responsibility is on every driver, but the government is responsible for our shocking lack of policing (and not just for road safety).

65535

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637556#Comment_121637556

Speed in an of itself can never kill anyone because it is essentially a mathematical formula - latest signs are 'Tiredness Kills' - it's all just BS - Make proper roads to allow for driving - not for horses and carts.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637372#Comment_121637372

Surely if it would save even one life, all these potential and real technology distractions should be banned from cars? It's not like they're needed as a function of driving the car. Why would people not support that, if it saved even one life?

65535

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637344#Comment_121637344

I will always do the limit because I can - it's not illegal to drive at 120 kph on a motorway - cars are safe, motorways are safe - putting a 100kph sign on a road coming up to a bend on a bridge is not safe.

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637621#Comment_121637621

What road is that?

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637900#Comment_121637900

Any source for that claim?

Paddigol

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638114#Comment_121638114

How would you manage that system? Take the stats for the last 5 years and put signs up wherever there's been accidents? And then next year... do another review? And keep moving the signs around?

I wonder, with all the accidents in these 'black spots', how many of those accidents was inappropriate speed a factor.

As a driver, any seriously dangerous sections of road I've come across have always had plenty of warning signs - whether it's dangerous bends, sharp turn, steep decent, narrow bridge, humps in road etc. In all other cases, just exercise some personal responsibility and drive at an appropriate speed and you won't have an issue.

Baseball72

Motorists (and I am a motorist for much of the week), need to realise, their vehicle is potentially a lethal weapon. The onus is on ALL road users to concentrate whilst traveling.

We need to include cyclists who don't wear hi-viz when cycling and the scooter brigade as well.

Pedestrians stepping out onto the road, obsessed with their smartphones, often dressed in dark clothing also need to kop on.

Drivers not putting their lights on - especially around sunrise/sunset is also quite thoughtless.

We all have a duty of care to respect our fellow road users, and have a greater awareness of our surroundings, speed, and how visible we are (or not) to others.

The government provides funding to local authorities, RSA, Transport for Ireland, etc, but we are all responsible for acting properly when traveling.

One final point, in rural areas (and that can include country roads up past Dublin Airport, local authorities need to manage hedges and trees to enhance visibility (like much of France).

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637456#Comment_121637456

This is what I like about my 2017 Mazda 3. It disables the touchscreen while driving but has the old style modules with nice big physical buttons and dials for the things like windscreen demister, radio controls etc

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638306#Comment_121638306

There is a section of road on the N59 in Galway - 100km/hr limit. It goes from a long straight section to the most obscene bend with a big wall at the apex. It is now blackened from the flames of the car of a 20 something who crashed there before christmas and it's not for the first time that has happened and won't be the last. I've been driving that section for 15 years and it still takes me off-guard sometimes. A nice big sign saying accident black-spot would make sure everyone has their wits about them.

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638236#Comment_121638236

You can never have "proper roads" if you can even define what that is, everywhere.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637169#Comment_121637169

What happened to all those Accident Black Spot signs? I hardly ever seen them now. They were usually put where there was a fatality.

kippy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638346#Comment_121638346

I suppose, from a practical perspective - the question needs to be asked, if so many accidents are happening in the same location - why isn't there something done in relation to improving the safety at that location - putting up signs isn't really fixing the issue and in fairness combined with the distractions that can occur inside a car these days a spot like that isn't finished taking lives.

I am aware of the piece of road you are talking above, I thought there were a few warning signs in that area already but could be wrong.

In fairness I could tell you about at least three areas of road that I am aware of that had multiple serious accidents occur on them over the years that have been redesigned/remodeled over the past decade - these were areas with fatalities and regular accidents.

That said, not every poorly designed piece of road can be made better and it does come down to personal responsibilty on how you manage risk.

howiya

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638384#Comment_121638384

A single fatality doesn't make a location an accident black spot. The ones I remember, due to frequency of journeys taken in the past, were the ones on the N11 which had quite a few signs. I remember remarking in my childhood innocence why don't they fix the road instead of putting up signs. Obviously it is a much better road these days.

lawred2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637074#Comment_121637074

Exactly. Tesla being a prime example.