Increase in road deaths - questions need to be asked

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121942722#Comment_121942722

While I don't disagree with you about the root cause, I will point out that phone use at the wheel is not limited to young drivers or male drivers. It's not unusual to see older drivers, male and female, with a phone in their hand or at their ear while driving.

mullinr2

Another awful day on the roads today with a woman and two girls killed, presumably mother and daughters. Has anyone seen the pictures that are up on the Independent. Looks like the truck was on the wrong side of the road. Reminds me of a few years ago, I was just coming out of Ennistymon in Clare, and a truck that was in front of me just swerved onto the wrong side of the road. He crashed into a wall and his load started to wobble, he somehow managed to get control of his truck. If someone was coming at that exact moment he would have been straight into them. Given his speed I firmly believe it would have been a fatal crash.

I kept beeping him until he pulled over in order to jar him. I asked him was he on his phone. He said no. There is no other explanation, you don't just lose control of a vehicle like that.

Charles Babbage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121943436#Comment_121943436

He could just have fallen asleep. The technology now exists to detect whether your eyes are on the road and it is especially important to fit this in HGVs. Two modern cars crashing might not lead to fatalities owing to crumple zones, airbags etc, but a HGV hitting a car is almost always fatal.

kippy

Not much point speculating on the cause of the accident - it's not fair on any of the parties involved when the facts aren't known. There's plenty of reasons why the truck would be in the position that it is that wouldnt necessarily be the direct fault of the truck driver.

Absolute tragic stuff - that streatch of 5-10 k of road has seen at least 5 people killed in the past few months.

It's never the roads fault but a lot for generally the same local emergency services to deal with in a relatively short space of time.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121943436#Comment_121943436

there's one thing i know and it's not to judge the inputs to an RTC based on where the vehicles are after it. the placement of the truck could be a result of evasive action by the driver.

AyeGer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121942509#Comment_121942509

I had a situation yesterday, walking from Costa Coffee over to Dunnes Stores in a large car park and was beeped at as I crossed the road. A lady in a big SUV was exiting the car park at speed and I had the cheek to cross over without running.

Btw car parks can be quite large in some places with everyone from children to elderly people and those with disabilities using them. It should certainly not be considered a car is king area.

Drive cautiously in car parks would be my advice and pedestrians need to be mindful that there are drivers with the same belief as yourself using them.

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121944551#Comment_121944551

Drive cautiously in car parks would be my advice and pedestrians need to be mindful that it is a car park and by default cars will be moving about.

Slight amendment to your last paragraph as you know a car park is not a playground. Pedestrians have responsibilities also not something the anti car brigade care to accept

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121944551#Comment_121944551

Getting beeped in a car park might shock me into dropping my keys and taking a while to pick them back up, maybe noticing an open shoelace while I'm down there. They'll think twice about beeping in future.

On the broader issue, we're now up to 54 deaths, 12 up on same period last year.

https://www.garda.ie/en/roads-policing/statistics/roads-policing-fatalities-to-date-for-2024/

One of those deaths is a cyclist, so the RSA focus today's appeal on telling cyclists to be good.

https://twitter.com/rsaireland/status/1772993941333279184?s=46&t=3l1OhjvjsuAh4w9RMjlH8g

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121946139#Comment_121946139

Ye 2 guy/gals should get together for a tomatoe juice or two and hatch some more really devious plans. Take as long as you like as at least ye'll be off the public thoroughfare for a while and not pestering people

zell12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121943257#Comment_121943257

Agree, it is all ages. You can actually see that they are not looking at the road at all

AyeGer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121946000#Comment_121946000

You must have missed the part on my last paragraph where I said pedestrians need to be mindful too as there are drivers like yourself about.

downtheroad

Driving standards in this country are appallingly bad.

Our driving test is pathetic...reversing around a corner is on the test but motorway driving isn't.

Once you get your licence there is no further checks on your driving ability or standards, ever.

Why are we surprised at the volume of road deaths in this country, when we accept such a low standard of driving skills?

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121946606#Comment_121946606

Motorway driving is clearly not on the driving test because learner drivers are not allowed to drive on motorways. It's probably the lesser of two evils:

• allow learner drivers onto motorways, so as long as they had a fully-licenced driver with them, they could actually legally drive on a motorway within five minutes of getting a learners permit?
• or prohibit them from driving on it until they've passed the test, so that while they may be driving unaccompanied the first time they venture onto a motorway, they've at least shown enough road sense and theoretical knowledge to demonstrate that they're capable of driving by themselves?

On your other point - does any country in the world actually require people to do regular repeat driving tests or checks once they first qualify for a full licence? I don't think myself, but I'll happily stand corrected if proven wrong.

TheRiverman

Learner drivers should be allowed on Motorways with a driving instructor as part of their pre-test lessons, but not otherwise until they pass their test which should have Motorway driving as part of it. It might be a bit difficult logistically, but it should be part of learning and getting tested. The driving test at present is a farce.

Charles Babbage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121947344#Comment_121947344

People should absolutely be required to do a rules of the road test each time they renew a licence. A road test might be harder to organise, as we cannot seem to give timely tests now, but experienced drivers usually can control the car but choose not to drive well.In this day and age surely it is possible to have driving simulators and people could be asked to do something on one, then given a real test if they were in any way dodgy.

downtheroad

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121947344#Comment_121947344

Just because others don't do it doesn't mean we shouldn't. What is the actual point of a drivers licence renewal? Why do they expire after 10 years. I got my licence at age 18, and will never again be tested on my driving skills or knowledge in my life.

CPD exists in the workplace to keep professionals up to date with new skills and developments, similar should exist for motorists.

JohnC.

How do you manage putting motorways on a driving test in the vast parts of the country nowhere near a motorway?

mulbot

The amount of people I see on phones scrolling through FB etc is shocking, we've watched it from a vantage point (large van) on the Naas road for years now.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948294#Comment_121948294

A massive issue for sure..

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121948226#Comment_121948226

Another very valid point. Somebody from Carndonagh in Co. Donegal would have a round trip of between six and seven hours, and largely through a different jurisdiction, to reach their "closest" motorway either around Kells or Dundalk for each driving lesson and their test.

Somebody in Belmullet in Co. Mayo would have a round trip of about four hours to reach the "closest" of the M17 south of Tuam.

Also, I note nobody has given a straight answer to my question about whether any other country mandates regular repeat driving tests. Closest there's been to it is somebody saying "just because nobody else does it ......."

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949177#Comment_121949177

No other country had a workplace smoking ban before Ireland.

teediddlyeye

Noticed an illuminated sign this morning on the N80 between Stradbally and Athy "Dangerous Junction Ahead".

Just thought it was very poor wording, like the responsibility for any incident is shifted away from the driver to the "Dangerous Junction".

Small thing I know but I just think it encourages complacency with bad driving and increasing fatalities.

"Slow, Junction Ahead" would be more appropriate.

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949253#Comment_121949253

Still not a straight answer....

Princess Calla

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949254#Comment_121949254

Is that not similar to "accident blackspot " signs that have been around for donkeys....gives warning to pay the attention you should have been paying in the first place

Stark

Looks like the government is doing a public consultation on the Road Safety Authority. Good opportunity to get those rants off your chest https://www.gov.ie/en/consultation/bd619-call-for-submissions-review-of-road-safety-authority/

kirving

The lack of motorway driving is a bit of a red herring, the glaring failure of the test is that it doesn't cover really any road above 50km/h really.

60% of road deaths occur on Regional (R) roads, where the speed limit it often 80km/h, and people are just flat out not taught how to handle a car or assess hazards properly.

AyeGer

I notice the section between Emyvale in Monaghan and Monaghan Town is max speed of 80Km. There must have been a few accidents on that stretch of road.

FishOnABike

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949410#Comment_121949410

Or that should have the road layout redesigned to reduce the hazard.

Yeah Right

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121946139#Comment_121946139

....so the RSA focus today's appeal on telling cyclists to be good.

Where do they do that? They're telling everyone who's a road user to be aware of cyclists and to share the road safely. Nowhere do they tell cyclists to be good, from what I can see?

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949457#Comment_121949457

This seems to be the opposite problem to how people in Carndonagh or Belmullet would have to drive for hours to have a lesson or take a test involving a motorway.

The driving test routes in Gorey (Co. Wexford), for example, includes a stretch of the 100 km/h "old N11" that leads out of the town towards Arklow. You're expected to show that you can maintain speed and drive safely at between 95 and 100 km/h. I'd expect that similar applies in most or all other test centres that are not in cities, where you've only to drive a few minutes out of town before coming to such a road.

However, finding a similar stretch of road for people taking their test at a Dublin test centre to drive on would probably involve them driving for an hour or more through city traffic just to get there in the first place. And so yes, they probably spend their entire test on 50 km/h roads, maybe soon becoming 30 km/h, and are thus never tested on their ability to drive at higher speeds on open roads at all.