Muck on the roads

Kazujo

Has anyone else noticed the amoutn of mud that is on the roads at the moment. With the damp conditions and the amount of building and road works being done there are alot of roads sporting an unhealthy layer of mud.

Not only does this reduce traction but it gets thrown up onto windshields and tail lights. I was behind a Toyota Landcruiser on the way into work tonight and the reg was completely covered in dirt and the back window was onlt clear where the wiper could swipe.

I drive a bike and my boots and the end of my leggings are getting destroyed with this crap, not to mention that my reg and tail light were covered by the time I got to work. These builders and contractors should be held responsible for the crap that their trucks leave on the roads.

skibum

There is a big construction site at the Statoil end of the Southern cross road in Bray, and as the trucks are leaving to come onto the road they have to go through truck wash setup, there is also a guy with a high pressure hose clearing excess mud off the trucks. They also have one of those small street cleaning trucks operating along the road. There must have been a big claim in against them before, for them to be going to such lengths.

mike65

Kazujo wrote:

These builders and contractors should be held responsible for the crap that their trucks leave on the roads.

Indeed while it can be a job keeping roads reasonably clean of mud it should be done. The new roundabout on the Cork road here was finally being "washed" on Friday afternoon but as building work is ongoing on both sides of the road it'll be a slippery mess again by Monday evening.

Mike.

omb0wyn5ehpij9

I drive a bike also and i agree with everything kazujo said. Especially about the loss of traction. One thing he forgot to mention was that if you stuck behind a truck and it sprays up dirt onto your visor it can become very tricky to see and wiping it with your glove only makes it worse! I think its even worse for me seeing as a good portion of my bike is white !

Kazujo

I did forget to mention that one it actually happened to me on the way home form work yesterday morning and it was on a relatively clean road

Krusty_Clown

I was in the Bray Gretstones area over the weekend, and my bike, boots, trousers are absolutely covered in a thick layer of mud..

Was going around the roundabout at the top of Bray towards Greystones, and felt the back wheel sliding out from under me. This was at about 15 miles per hour.. Incredibly dangerous.. I have noticed it on the N11 as well though, over the last couple of days. Seems to be a lot worse recently for some reason..

There was some discussion on motorcycle Ireland during the week about whether the construction companies are liable for accidents due to the mud etc.. Must read up on the threads, just in case..

mike65

I suspect the answer is no, on the grounds its up to the road user to beware of hazards. The local authority "pot-hole" defence if you like.

Mike.

seamus

It's really bad up and down the N81 with the quarries around there. Once there's a bit of rain, the trucks are coming out with 3-4 inches of mud on their wheels, leaving it everywhere. I remember driving that road every day in the car, I eventually decided that it was pointless going to the carwash, it'd be dirty again an hour or two later.

I'm glad I don't have to do it on the bike. One thing I did notice though is that most trucks have some degree of spillage of their load while they're driving (usually dirt and grit, which gets into a vehicle's insides, and if you're a biker it gets inside you helmet even with the visor fully down). When it's raining, this turns into mud, and is poured on the road for the entire truck's journey.

Are there any laws about proper convering and securing of loose loads like dirt and gravel?

is_that_so

yep fecking everywhere. Haven't seen a clean car in weeks,although saw a road cleaner just off M1.

Kazujo

I think they are supposed to have a tarp over any loose load to prevent spillage, but alot of them dont bother. Or else they use the tarp but leave it loose so the wind and rain can get under it.

tk123

hoo-raaay its not just me who's noticed this!! The bike is wrecked and so is my gear!! East Wall has muck and gravel all over the place! Oh and that pothole at the top of Richmond Rd by Drumcondra is getting bigger and bigger

aidan_walsh

And here was me thinking this thread was about a certain boardsie regulard driving abilities

Actually, I can't say I have noticed this problem too much down around these parts. There is a lot of road works going on between my regular route of Killarney to Tralee (by which I mean an entirely new road is being built), but nothing major on the mucky side... Surprising how clean it seems to be, actually...

John R

seamus wrote:

It's really bad up and down the N81 with the quarries around there. Once there's a bit of rain, the trucks are coming out with 3-4 inches of mud on their wheels, leaving it everywhere. I remember driving that road every day in the car, I eventually decided that it was pointless going to the carwash, it'd be dirty again an hour or two later.

That has to be one of the worst roads for it because there is just a constant stream of trucks all the time. It is a dangerous enough road in good conditions but the mud makes it lethal.

Padraig Mor

Have noticed loads of filthy roads round Cork recently alright. One section by Mahon Point is so bad at times it can be difficult to see where the road ends and footpath begins!

irishman_abroad

Iv noticed that a lot myself. I was just sayin to the missus that the roads used to be a lot cleaner, before the house/general building boom of recent years. Really pissing me off having to wash the car so much. :mad:

Chalk

lots of muck and debris around here.
skidding on loose chipping snearly every time i go round a corner.

im on a bike as well and just got my second rear wheel puncture in two weeks

De Hipster

mike65 wrote:

I suspect the answer is no, on the grounds its up to the road user to beware of hazards. The local authority "pot-hole" defence if you like.

Mike.

Not entirely necessarily so...farmers are held accountable for cleaning the road after soiling, I would assume that the same applies to the construction industry, but perhaps not.

I have also heard of locals calling the fire brigade to clean the road & the farmer being billed for the service.

magpie

All the roads in Ireland are filthy. You really notice it when you go to the UK where they have clean cars. And it's not just because they wash them every day. You come back over here and it's like the Beverley Hillbillies.

LFCFan

When we were in Florida for 2 weeks we had 2 cars rented, drove over 2,500 miles in both including a trip from Florida to Baltimore and when we handed the cars back they were as clean as when we picked them up. Now, if anyone know Florida in June, you know there can be some substantial downpours and where were were staying there was a lot of roadworks etc and yet there wasn't a bit of mud on the cars. A 1 mile journey from the car wash one day to my house resulted in my car being dirtier than before I got it washed. It's just 1 of the many things that are wrong with Irish roads.

The Clown Man

I've been driving up and down from Dundalk to Cork quite a bit recently and I've noticed that after about 30 mins driving either way my car is filthy. Even the motorways are throwing up all sorts of crap. I usually keep it sparkling clean but I've given into the fact thats it's going to be a mucky mess until the weather dries up a bit. Can't even guess as to why every road in Ireland seems to be sheeted in filth.

But I have never seen such muck in my 7 years of driving. Incredible.

Kazujo

My bike used to be blue but I have accepted the desert grey appearance that is taking now

mike65

I just e-mailed the Waterford City Council environment dept about this matter. I'll let you know if they reply.

Mike.

mike65

They hav'nt replied, quelle surprise....

Mike.

Kazujo

I'm amazed!! I washed my bike two days ago and it is still clean but then again it hasn't rained over the last couple of days

Borderfox

If you get in touch with your local litter warden and complain to them the will get it sorted out for you. I lived just off Glandore road off Griffith Ave and they were building at the top of the road and there was loads of muck thick on the road. I rang the litter warden and told them that there was a school at the top of the hill with kids on bikes coming down said mucky hill and it was cleaned up everyday...... give it a try

De Hipster

Borderfox wrote:

If you get in touch with your local litter warden and complain to them the will get it sorted out for you. I lived just off Glandore road off Griffith Ave and they were building at the top of the road and there was loads of muck thick on the road. I rang the litter warden and told them that there was a school at the top of the hill with kids on bikes coming down said mucky hill and it was cleaned up everyday...... give it a try

I hope the construction company is payin!

LegacyUser

Was just thinking the very thing myself this morning. Driving down the N3 .. and it was so bad that I began to worry that there would not be enough water in the windscreen water yokey to get to Dublin.

magpie

I began to worry that there would not be enough water in the windscreen water yokey to get to Dublin.

I know that feeling. They should fit an extra 15 gallon 'drop-tank' of water on new Irish-issue cars to cover this contingency.

Kazujo

Try it on a bike the is only so much you can clean off with the side of your glove before it becomes counter productive and you just smearing it around. Plus I wear glasses so if I leave the visor up I get the same result just harder to clean

loyatemu

maybe you can get formula 1 style tear-off visor strips?

seamus

loyatemu wrote:

maybe you can get formula 1 style tear-off visor strips?

They're expensive, and you'd have used them all up in space of one trip.

Silvera

I agree, magpie, Irish roads have ALWAYS been mucky (although they are even worse than usual with all the building works about the country).


My question is -

WHY ARE IRELAND'S ROADS ALWAYS MUCKY ?

Especially when you compare them to NI or UK roads which ALWAYS seem to be relatively clean

I drove over 50 miles today along the M1, M50, and M7 and I would safely say that I couldn't read the rear number plates of 60% of the vehicles I saw because of muck !

Victor

Silvera wrote:

WHY ARE IRELAND'S ROADS ALWAYS MUCKY ?

(a) people don't clean their wheels
(b) off road vehicles
(c) people in ribbon housing not having proper driveways

magpie

(a) people don't clean their wheels
(b) off road vehicles
(c) people in ribbon housing not having proper driveways

Surely these factors on their own couldn't account for every road in the state being absolutely filthy?

Anything to do with the fact that other countries actually clean their roads? (they also mend potholes, don't leave steel plates in them etc, but that's another discussion for another day).

mike65

I think alot of it is the nature of the roads, most dont have hard shoulders so wide vehicles tend to churn up the edges and scater lumps of earth along
the edge of the tarmac which is then broken up and squashed into a slippy layer.

Loads on the back of vehicles are often not covered so crap falls of the back, plant and argicultural vehicles are driven along public roads, none of them are very cleaned first. All building sites should have a couple of powered washers which can blast off the worst of the mud before a vehicle
goes on the road.

Mike.

Saruman

I have not washed my car... its black though now its sort of brown.. its crazy.. every day i drive my car and some truck sprays muck everywhere... there are no clean cars in dublin at the moment...

mike65

I took mine for the full power wash today (6 euro) and I only did it cos I dont want a build up of damp earth low down!

Mike.

CharangoHolly

mike65 wrote:

I took mine for the full power wash today (6 euro) and I only did it cos I dont want a build up of damp earth low down!

Mike.

Yeah good plan, having said that the queues for the car washes in a few garages I passed this evening was unreal!! :eek: