Increase in road deaths - RTE tonight at 9:35pm

redunited

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008898#Comment_122008898

I think the point I am trying to make is more of a case that speeding is just a simple throwaway line that is used to explain road deaths/accidents, its easier for the government to blame speeding as the sole reason and then only take measures to tax more on drivers be it through speeding fines etc.

Some of the road conditions out there are atrocious and yet the speed limit is still 100km, even if they reduce the speed limit to 60km the same drivers will keep speeding, which is why there is so much money in speeding fines being collected.

For instance, we can all go faster on motorways, but where are the accidents happening, motorways or N roads?

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008918#Comment_122008918

The speed limit is just that - a limit. But local conditions can mean that travelling at an excessive speed for the conditions but still under the speed limit can still be dealt with under the RTAs.

ArrBee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008837#Comment_122008837

Nah, I'm not mad. You seem to be getting worked up though?

It was presented as a suggestion. For discussion. I'm not particularly invested in it as an idea and its great that you then went on to give some discussion. Well done.

I do admit, having a system for "on the spot" confiscation would be ripe for abuse and wont work. And maybe there is no way to adust the idea to have it be workable.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008886#Comment_122008886

Sorry I might be misunderstanding what you’re saying. I took you to mean that it’s not “speeding” if you’re good at driving and only such if you’re incompetent. I think what you mean is a competent driver will adapt to the road and not “target” the limit or exceed it indeed.

If someone’s passed their test btw, they are a competent driver and I’d have no problem being in the car with them. Plenty of people (myself included) had a couple of years driving before the test. In my case it was finding the damn time to finish EDT! Haha.

Tenzor07

Anyone else think the Chief Executive of the RSA was made to look like a blathering idiot who had spent far too much time "Working from home" by Miriam?

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008963#Comment_122008963

No I think he made himself look like a blathering idiot!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008941#Comment_122008941

no im not getting worked up i assure you im perfectly calm. I was honestly just completely shocked that someone would suggest the Gardai be given power to seize and destroy someone’s phone if they were found to be using it while driving.

I would counter the idea with a suggestion that the vehicle was seized though? If you’re caught with your phone you can walk home. Seems fair?

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008915#Comment_122008915

Same could be said about different categories of road vehicles. Which is safer a VW Golf or a fully laden artic travelling at the 80kph speed limit? Yet they both are adhering to the law. Im not advocating for reduced speed limits for trucks but I think some people seem to get outraged if a car driver is only a few kph over the speed limit but is perfectly happy with a fully laden artic travelling just a couple of kms slower. Speed limit are arbitrary and dont take account of all the prevailing factors which impact of the ability to drive safely. Again fully accept speed limits are set in law and therefore must be obeyed but the incessant focus on drivers marginally exceeding the speed limit on motorways while chaos reigns in urban areas and narrow rural roads is counter productive

NIMAN

Was the "zero road deaths or serious injuries by 2050" mentioned at all last night?

An absolute nonsense.

erlichbachman

At least now they might cop on, having reduced speed limits to ridiculously low numbers and now having no effect they might realize that speed wasnt the problem, its always been the quality of driving. Some people badly need lessons and shouldnt be in charge of a car, the quality is horrific, people stopping randomly in the road to let someone out of a sideroad, people breaking as they go around corners, people going dangerously slow - all signs that drivers have no road instincts or dont feel comfortable in control of their vehicle, the driving test is a joke, drivers come away with absolutely no clue about positioning on a road, but they have been tested on reversing around a corner which will never actually happen in the real world.

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008978#Comment_122008978

I've heard this mentioned a few times. You'll never get it down to zero, people make mistakes. Seems like such an unrealistic target.

anyone see any increased garda presence so far this morning then?

erlichbachman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008918#Comment_122008918

100%, for example if a speed limit is 70 and a crash occurs where a driver is going 80 the cause will always be put down as speeding, and some idiot may have caused it by randomly stopping in the middle of the road, or may have tried changing lanes and not indicating or even noticing they were changing lanes - this wont be filed under poor driving, it always goes under speeding which wasnt actually the cause of the accident. And as we have seen the only solution for this is to lower speed limits, and here we are wondering why its not working.

Tenzor07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008968#Comment_122008968

Well yea, Miriam just helped him there, a man on a salary with benefits and allowances of about €250,000 presiding over a useless state quango…

Norrie Rugger Head

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008938#Comment_122008938

And therein lies the rub…

No enforcement of driving practices, just speed cameras which only map to the posted speed limit.

I live on a winding "2" lane road (1.5 at best with grass verges). Posted speed limit is 80 and at no point in the 3.5km stretch is it ever safe to do that, even in the best weather. Every 2nd car is accelerating like mad out of each bend to get back to 80

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008979#Comment_122008979

the speed limits have no effect because they're not policed; so i wouldn't draw an inference that lower speed limits have no effect on crashes.

anyway, it's simple physics; all other things being equal, if people drive more slowly, there are fewer crashes and the ones that happen will be less severe.

beachhead

I was thinking more about quangos and drum banging(the RTE post)when I hear about the RSA head statement.All government appointment and no road safety experience apart from driving themselves.But something does need to be done about conduct on the roads by drivers and pedestrians.RSA approach is haphazard with occasional outbursts to keep the organisation relevant

Furze99

Claire Byrne covering this on radio - Neassa from the Greens and various callers want us all to become snitches and use online reporting to the Gardaí. So instead of going down to the station and putting a face to your claim, she wants citizens to report others from behind their keyboards. When Neassa was asked why Minister Ryan was absent on the issue, she just blithely ignored the pointed and relevant question.

whisky_galore

"Speed isn't the problem" say people who speed.

erlichbachman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009053#Comment_122009053

So you are basically suggesting we ignore the fact that some people have no basic driving skills and keep lowering the speed limits because incompetency cannot be overcome?

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008098#Comment_122008098

Speeding fines don't generate revenue. The speeding vans cost us about €10 million a year more than they bring in though fines. So that's two schools not getting built each year, because we need to restrict the enthusiasm of drivers for killing themselves and others.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008128#Comment_122008128

The move away from knobs and buttons, which can be controlled without taking your eyes off the road, to touchscreens, which absolutely require you to take your eyes of the road for every operation is truly bizarre.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008762#Comment_122008762

Speed is a contributory factor in about a third of road deaths. It is recognised all over the world as one of the Fatal4 or Fatal5 traffic offences that contribute most to road deaths.

Most drivers are convinced that they're great drivers and that other drivers are the problem. Most of them are wrong.

This pooh-pooohing of speed as an issue is really just an excuse for the lads who want to play vroom vroom on public roads. No one needs to speed.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008804#Comment_122008804

We should ALL report it to the Gardai if we know this is happening.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122008818#Comment_122008818

It would be a start if they banned the ones who don't even bother to turn up for their test, and still get to extend their provisional licence period just by booking a test.

Sunny Dayz

I haven't watched the program yet.

Drivers don't care about anyone else on the roads and have become less careful of their driving.

We've had a child learning to drive in recent years, passed his test last year to get his full licence. In supervising his driving, I've become aware just how bad driving in this country has come - dangerous overtaking, impatience, tail gating, lack of attention, no indicating, incorrect lanes, drifting out of lanes. Even stupid things like driving with big earphones on or with a hood up!

I walk in and out of work. I see someone almost every day using a mobile phone while driving. Only yesterday a black audi 201 jeep passed me, the driver with the phone held up to his right ear, elbow resting on the door. I don't understand why anyone with a newish car need to hold the phone to their ear. My car is a standard small car, 8 years old and my phone must be about 4/5 years old. My phone connects automatically to my car when I start the engine via bluetooth.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009164#Comment_122009164

i did not suggest that. i just posted two statements i regard as fact; that you can't say 'lowering speed limits has not worked' as we effectively have not lowered speed limits. and that slower speeds mean fewer and less severe crashes.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009030#Comment_122009030

He should have been better prepared and able to provide a better response to Miriam's question. Given recent expressions of no confidence in the RSA by almost thirty road safety groups, he surely should have been expecting that question. This guy is CEO of a body which clearly is not fit for purpose. He clearly does not seem capable of leading the organisation into a position where road safety groups think they are fit for purpose

https://twitter.com/Peteer/status/1778570477927108872

magicbastarder

i saw reference on the thread earlier to all gardai doing 30 minutes of road policing per shift, and assumed it was a throwaway suggestion someone here had made; little did i know…

GPoint

so what’s the take away form this program? Are they cutting speed limits everywhere by 20 or not?

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009399#Comment_122009399

I don't think it was discussed last night but the relevant Bill has passed through the Dáil and Seanad and is now being handed to the President to sign into law.

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/national-news/1473841/road-traffic-bill-will-see-speed-limits-across-most-irish-roads-reduced.html

Tenzor07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122009297#Comment_122009297

I'm sure the PT team would have sent his handlers the questions before he came out, however this didn't look like he was prepared at all, definitely looks like he's been WFH for too long..!

Gets some mileage out of that suit/waistcoat and red tie!

erlichbachman

Quite remarkable, a thread on boards which shows that reducing speed limits has no impact on road safety, and what do we have here - well "lets reduce them some more", "the speed limits are not being enforced", "we should be policing ourselves and reporting".

At what point does common sense appear?