The Government couldn't care less about road safety

Packrat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121642280#Comment_121642280

And when was anyone ever prosecuted for it??? Even that it's a constant hazard.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121641978#Comment_121641978

It doesn't matter what speed you are at in Ireland, you will always find some gobsh**e on the rear of the car thinking he should be allowed go faster.

Blaming people for going "slow" as if they are a danger is hilarious. The person going slow is not the problem, it's the 20 clowns behind him willing to kill themselves and others to get past the car which are the danger.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121642584#Comment_121642584

Ah so essentially the "it's not me who's wrong, it's everyone else around me" driver mindset. Yep that's exactly my point.

Driving isn't done in isolation. You have an obligation and requirement to not just look out for yourself but others using the roads with you - be it pedestrians, cyclists or yes, other motorists!

So while there are definitely times that you should ignore the posted limit and slow down (heavy traffic, beside a school at finishing time, bad weather, poor surface etc) so too should you recognise that if you have lots of cars/vehicles building up in a queue behind you and an increasing amount of them overtaking you at the next opportunity, that it's probably you that's the problem and you should either speed up appropriately or move into the hard shoulder (if available and when safe to do so) to allow them to pass safely.

Before the same argument starts on THAT point as it regularly does in the Motors forum - you are completely legally permitted to move in and out of the hard shoulder (I don't mean weaving erratically) to allow traffic behind you to pass. What you shouldn't do though is travel continuously in the hard shoulder - but again a competent driver will know the difference (the same way as undertaking in the left lane is when traffic is congested or stopped in the right lane, not for passing someone doing 100 km/h).

And again, if someone isn't capable of driving at 100/120 km/h when there's no valid reason not to be, then they shouldn't be on that road as they are a hazard to other drivers (again because they generally travel at a rate significantly slower) and add to traffic congestion and unnecessary braking which itself is another hazard as well.

blackbox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121642584#Comment_121642584

I drive reasonably quickly, but sometimes a faster driver comes up behind me.

Do I speed up? Do I block him/her because he is driving too fast?

No, at a safe section I slow down and invite him/her to pass.

Now everyone can proceed at the speed that feels comfortable for them without any stress.

zell12

RSA's Liz O'Donnell coming up on Newstalk to preach road safety. See, the Government do care 😋

tabby aspreme

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

I know the sections of road where 3 of this year's fatalities have occurred, and no way could you fault the quality of these particular roads

batman_oh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121642721#Comment_121642721

Best get those new big wide open road speed cameras, extra points and bigger fines in sharpish. It's a guaranteed fix!

zell12

"there is just a significant male skew across everything [in collisions & deaths]" "it is everything to do with male [driver] behaviour"

tabby aspreme

I think more unmarked Garda cars would be a way better deterrent than speed camera's, a lot of bad driving doesn't involve speeding and goes unpunished.

As for slow driving/ lane hogging, I see it most mornings on the M7 Naas bypass, why someone who's driving on the left lane of M9 at under 100km moves into the right lane to merge onto the M7, and then proceeds to create a tailback by staying in the center lane is beyond me.

65535

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121642745#Comment_121642745

Of course not, there are incidents of 'human error' - it's not all just the road but a lot of it is - if a road is engineered for 100 then you should be able to drive 100 on it.

ednwireland

my 10 year old kia has bluetooth and voice control on the phone which if you stick to the basics works quite well.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121642643#Comment_121642643

How you jump to that? that all sound great in that post but more or less you are saying everyone should drive fast because I want to drive fast. If they don't drive as fast as I want they should get out of my way :-)

If you move in and out of the hard shoulder you will end up just using it as another lane because every clown will pass even if they want to go faster or not.

Try the Cork to Dublin road, stay at 120km, over a 2 hour period you might pass the same car 5-6 times as they speed up to pass you and then slow down again. This is the mentality, so pulling into a hard shoulder is just a disaster because people will pass and then slow down straight away

Any roads at 120kmph are motorway, two lanes. Still do 120kmph in the outside lane passing someone and you will have someone sitting behind you flashing because they think the speedo is wrong and they can do 140kmph because of the 10% rule

Welcome to the Irish road

animalinside

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121642407#Comment_121642407

I would imagine very slow drivers are timid types who would immediately change their behaviour after being given a warning or sometimes give up driving altogether. You're fortunate to have your competencies, try to think of how it may be different for others.

Funnily enough I exceptionally had a reason to go very slowly the other day, I had a very deflated tyre the due to the cold weather and possibly not noticing it going down before, so I found myself in a position where I had to drive very slowly to the nearest station for air so as not to damage the tyre or even have a blowout on the way - I'm buying a car pump today, especially since those jokers are now charging €1 for pumping air. No problem as this was a quiet rural area with plenty of places to pass out - and almost nobody wanted to pass me, this was late afternoon so well after any frost had thawed. I slowed to a crawl and put on the indicator and this car still didn't pass me, I literally had to stop to force one of them to pass me and get on their way. This is extremely different to a two-way main road where passing out can be very dangerous. Anyway, the point is, why are you so quick to think it's the person in the car's fault. Noone is intentionally driving slow for laughs.

newmember2

love these threads

astrofool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121644355#Comment_121644355

You would usually put the hazard lights on in those cases.

lbunnae

theres an exact opposite post to this in Reddit detailing how well Ireland has done with reduced road deaths.

batman75

Any data regarding the increase or decrease in the road deaths needs to be put as a percentage against the total number of drivers on the road on any given year otherwise the figure is meaningless. The reasons for deaths are manifold. Speed, Tiredness, Alcohol, Drugs, health emergency whilst driving, weather, actions of another driver, suicide, reckless overtaking, distraction and I'm sure others I haven't thought of.

I would imagine most road deaths, outside of suicide, could be attributed to a definite cause. Then log where they happen, age, gender, driving experience and time as other factors. Do this for three years. This should allow for analysis of patterns. At that stage then you could implement a plan of action. Zero road deaths is impossible.

kowloonkev

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0122/1427857-louth-crash/

strange report I thought that three people died on roads in the storm. One was in NI in Derry. Is that added to our statistics or are they just combining road fatalities in different jurisdictions now?

BoardsBottler

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

i absolutely love that map thing you posted, was thinking of it myself as i was reading the initial OP.

Safest route from north to south via that map is by boat, as flying over the black spot could cause the plane to crash or enter the Bermuda triangle somehow (or some irish equivalent). Could also be the dreaded black spot that pirates fear

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058332100/the-government-couldnt-care-less-about-road-safety

Looks like RTE are about 4 months behind boards.ie couch journalists:

https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2024/0411/1442869-how-a-lack-of-crash-data-is-hampering-irelands-road-safety-aims/

JP Liz V1

I've noticed a lot of careless lorry drivers of late, not all motorists are at fault, cyclists in roads not safe or enough road room for them also is bad, there is many issues that RSA need to change, pedestrians walking or running when lights for them are red also a problem

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008290#Comment_122008290

cyclists in roads not safe or enough road room for them

How are some roads not safe for people to cycle on?

Anyhow, I thought we, as drivers, share the roads with cyclists?

prunudo

There was a time that there was a lull in the middle of the day, but not any more. As the population increases so does the volume of people on the roads. Busier roads and more people means a greater probability of having an accident.

I wonder are the busier roads, causing people to become impatient and taking more frequent risks, ie waiting to pull out from a junction, no gap and then taking a risky maneuver.

The rsa have for far too long equated accidents with speeding, and resting on their laurels thinking go safe vans were the answer. Driver behaviour is bigger problem but that is a hard thin to regulate.

BoardsBottler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008551#Comment_122008551

honestly i think it's the whole traffic lights system thats causing it and needs to be reworked entirely. Regardless of how busy the roads are i find its a nightmare. The lights make you wait 5-8 minutes, and then when its your turn to cross over and the little green man with the sound is shown, it's almost like most people have to rush over or walk very very fast to get across. People are barely being given any time to cross despite cars getting way more time. There's clearly an imbalance, the whole thing is leading to more accidents and needs to be reworked, period. Imagine needing to get somewhere in a rush and being stuck waiting at traffic lights for it to go green (on foot i mean) it takes time for it to turn green and i'm all for safety and waiting, but i can see why some people may be impatient. Alot of times i see red light, yet no cars nearby. Some people don't bother waiting and just simply cross. it's almost as if one is being provoked into being impatient.

Maybe the flow of traffic should be relevant and used for how frequent the lights turn, rather than have it automated like it already is. Nobody on foot wants to be waiting at traffic lights when there's no cars. and drivers do not wanting to be held up at a red light when there's no people crossing. The button system currently in use seems like a placebo.

Conclusion: too much priority being given to drivers and cyclists, not enough being given to pedestrians. Whole thing needs to be reworked, or else emphasis given on preventing timewaste that this automated system currently gives. These lights create traffic when its not needed.

zell12

righto

Cluedo Monopoly

I have never been breathalysed in Ireland over 30 years of driving. I lived in Dublin for 7 of those years.

I was in Australia for 1 year and got breathalysed twice.

Markus Antonius

Whatever about alcohol (which I believe has low impact on the total number of accidents) All cars should be fitted with phone signal blockers or other method such as face detection ensuring the driver is paying attention

prunudo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122010027#Comment_122010027

yes, some sort of technology that tracks eye movement and sounds an alarm if they stop looking forward for more than a certain period, ie, longer than it takes to look at the wing mirrors or adjust heating/radio controls.

It would also solve the issue, where we are essentially just passengers in cars now, the art of driving is almost gone, cars are super comfortable, have all sorts of gizmos to stop us being as aware as we once had to be and while the journey might more pleasant, there are distractions a plenty and we have to think less and less with each new model of car that is . I don't think people appreciate the risk anymore, we're going through the motions of getting from a to b.