Irish drivers are the pits - New Ad Campaign Merged Thread

Squirrel

I heard on the radio few minutes ago that there should be TV Ads coming out to educate drivers, the two being mentioned were overtaking and motorway driving. Should stop people going the whole way from Portlaoise to the Tallaght exit of the M50 in the outside lane :mad:

mike65

One of the papers has an article on it. They are ditching the blood and guts ads for educayshun, how to use a roundabout etc.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2765-1688050,00.html

IT IS back to basics for Irish motorists. An advertising campaign will be launched later this year to teach “dismal” Irish drivers fundamental tasks such as how to use roundabouts, overtake safely and drive properly on motorways.

The National Safety Council (NSC) is spending €300,000 on the new road safety campaign aimed at correcting common mistakes such as hogging the fast lane on motorways and circling roundabouts in the outside lane.



According to Alan Richardson, the NSC’s acting chief executive, Irish people are “fairly brutal” when it comes to essential driving skills and the problem is causing chaos on our roads.

“Irish drivers are the pits,” he said. “We hog the road on motorways, we haven’t a clue when it comes to roundabouts and we can’t overtake safely. The campaign will be similar to ones used years ago, but will be more modern in style.”

The council will focus on improving aspects of driving that are not included in the country’s test for learners. “It doesn’t help that some of the most important parts of driving are not part of the test for provisional drivers,” said Richardson, who described this as “a disgrace”.

Mike.

drdre

yeah its mostly women drivers that are bad:D

unkel

Article in todays Sunday Times

Quotes from Alan Richardson, the Irish National Safety Council (NSC) chief executive

Irish people are fairly brutal when it comes to essential driving skills and the problem is causing chaos on our roads

Irish drivers are the pits. We hog the road on motorways, we haven't a clue when it comes to roundabouts and we can't overtake safely

He goes on giving out that motorway driving and overtaking are not part of the driving test calling this a disgrace and that people hog the overtaking lane

Overtaking in Ireland is often executed sloppily, creating a risk of fatal accidents

Sometimes people overtake when there is no point in doing so and then execute the manoeuvre badly

They go out onto the wrong side of the road and then barely move to get past the car they want to overtake. In this case they should ask themselves why they are overtaking in the first place. If they still want ot do it, they should do it quickly and at speed. Get out, get past and get back in with adequate space

If it's necessary and safer they need to go a little over the speed limit, but if this is the safest way to do it then it makes sense

dahamsta

Can't argue with the man.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Yeah there really are some brutal drivers out there.
I can't count the number of times I've seen someone tailgaiting right up someone elses arse... only to eventually overtake them and drive at the same speed they were going anyway.
Not to mention the rally-wanna-be retards who take a corner so fast that they cross the white line into oncoming traffic... I spotted one last year, and if we'd been 5 seconds further down the road he would have hit us... Grade-A plonker.
It makes you think how a lot of accidents are completely avoidable.
How about some sort of psychological review as part of the test?
I mean you can be a good little boy for the test, then piss about on the roads like a wánker once you've passed.

eth0_

It's really irritating how people use the overtaking lane as a 'fast lane' and don't get the f*ck out of it. I wonder how many drivers know that the lane on the far right is just for overtaking?

528i

Overtaking in Ireland is often executed sloppily, creating a risk of fatal accidents

Sometimes people overtake when there is no point in doing so and then execute the manoeuvre badly

They go out onto the wrong side of the road and then barely move to get past the car they want to overtake. In this case they should ask themselves why they are overtaking in the first place. If they still want ot do it, they should do it quickly and at speed. Get out, get past and get back in with adequate space

If it's necessary and safer they need to go a little over the speed limit, but if this is the safest way to do it then it makes sense

Advocating 100mph drive-bys tut tut unfortunately its either black or white with the Gardai, zero tolerance, unless you're in Donegal where you could be framed for something entirely unrelated for breaking the speed limit, or sneezing in the wrong direction even..

I digress, minimum speed limits for major routes should be called for, ie. everyone drive at least 50mph on said road- or use public transport instead if they are incapable of this. Disgruntled drivers in underpowered sh|theaps trying to overtake these roadhogs are obviously a huge cause of accidents.

Its not unknown for high flying execs. in uberpanzers to be forced into tackling say 12-16 disgruntled idiots in a row thesedays.

Boggle

I digress, minimum speed limits for major routes should be called for, ie. everyone drive at least 50mph on said road- or use public transport instead if they are incapable of this.

I'd rather see a law that would force you to pull in if you have a tailback of x cars behind you. The problem with a minimum speed is what do you do in fog/ice/bucketing rain/etc.? Too many variables in many instances to set a blanket limit.

slumped

:mad: Maybe this is a little off topic, if it is I apologise.

I am fed up with ignorant speed freaks who think that they have the right to run me off the road!

I drive on the M1 quite a lot from Dublin down as far as Dunleer and drive mainly in the inside lane. When I am overtaking, I remain within the speed limit of 120kph so when overtaking another vehicle travelling at 115kph, it can take a little time to get around it.

My gripe is with the drivers who see the M1 as a race track and drive up behind me flashing and blowing their horns. Inevitably most of these drivers are in northern reg cars.

Is there anyone out there that understands the menality of these lunatics?

alleepally

Gas thing is, we're all reading this and thinking it's everyone else that is the problem, when in reality the greatest affliction affecting the brain of every motorist (including me), is that I'm a better driver than everyone else and that I'm always in the right.

Therefore, this campaign is a waste of money as no amount of advertising can change the ego of the driver.

ds20prefecture

Boggle wrote:

The problem with a minimum speed is what do you do in fog/ice/bucketing rain/etc.? Too many variables in many instances to set a blanket limit.

Some US freeways have a minimum speed of 45mph, and a maximum of 65. This makes for low relative speeds, as long as everyone is going in the one direction, which makes for a lower number of accidents.

I have a problem with people towing car trailers on the motorway at the limit for cars. I believe the maximum legal speed with a trailer is 45mph, but you often see people belting along blissfully unaware of the trailer in a speed-wobble behind them. Car trailers should not be allowed on the motorway, IMHO.

Seth Brundle

ds20prefecture wrote:

Some US freeways have a minimum speed of 45mph, and a maximum of 65. This makes for low relative speeds, as long as everyone is going in the one direction, which makes for a lower number of accidents.

Don't our motorways state that vehicles travelling under 30mph (presumably now changed to kmph) are not allowed (despite our busiest motorway encouraging low speeds)!

ds20prefecture wrote:

I have a problem with people towing car trailers on the motorway at the limit for cars. I believe the maximum legal speed with a trailer is 45mph, but you often see people belting along blissfully unaware of the trailer in a speed-wobble behind them. Car trailers should not be allowed on the motorway, IMHO.

I suspect the majority of cars pulling trailers are being driven by people who are not licenced to do so!

Macy

kbannon wrote:

Don't our motorways state that vehicles travelling under 30mph (presumably now changed to kmph) are not allowed (despite our busiest motorway encouraging low speeds)!

It's another traffic law that isn't enforced though. I've seen the gards pass a pedal cyclist on the M11 and not bother stopping him. Actually it's pretty regular to see pedal cyclists on the M11 - but sure those people speeding back in Kilmac far more important to stop... :rolleyes:

css

So speed isn't the cause of all the crashes.. wow wait til the spindoctors get a hold of this one.. :mad:

MrPudding

css wrote:

So speed isn't the cause of all the crashes..

Your right it's not. But it is the easiest of the causes of crashes to "address." People whine about road deaths so they set up a few speed checks and say look at us!

One of the points all the ant-speed check people make is that the speed checks are inapporpriate. Non rush hour on a dual carriageway for example. Maybe they are trying to run the checks at a more appropriate time. Is it not the case that a lot of accidents happen after 2300Hrs?

The thinking behind it is quite simple:

Problem- A percentage of accidents are cause by speeding (I prefer the term inappropriate speed myself.)

Solution- Carry out speed checks. If you fine speeders they may change their behaviour. If they do not change their behaviour they will get banned and removed from the road and will, therefore, not speed anymore. Thsi should reduce the amount of accidents / incidents / deaths.

If you believe speeding is the root of all evil then this makes perfect sense.

MrP

Keyzer

alleepally wrote:

Gas thing is, we're all reading this and thinking it's everyone else that is the problem, when in reality the greatest affliction affecting the brain of every motorist (including me), is that I'm a better driver than everyone else and that I'm always in the right.

Therefore, this campaign is a waste of money as no amount of advertising can change the ego of the driver.

Funny one that... Very true...
BTW your a crap driver...

seamus

alleepally wrote:

Gas thing is, we're all reading this and thinking it's everyone else that is the problem, when in reality the greatest affliction affecting the brain of every motorist (including me), is that I'm a better driver than everyone else and that I'm always in the right.

Therefore, this campaign is a waste of money as no amount of advertising can change the ego of the driver.

It is true, but I do believe education works. An ad campaign just saying "Irish drivers are crap! Get better!" wouldn't work, because people would say "Ah, sure that doesn't apply to me, I'm great." But an ad campaign with simple facts - "Did you know it's an offence to drive in the outside lane when you'e not overtaking? You are obliged to pull in to allow faster vehicles to overtake you.", with some simple and obvious demonstrations of such. Lord knows, I come in here and complain about people, but I have learned a surprising amount about proper road etiquette and technique on boards.ie from people stating the plain truth, and from investigating the little questions.

If you can educate people without actually telling them they're crap or accusing them of needing the education, they will learn.

mike65

slumped wrote:

:mad: Maybe this is a little off topic, if it is I apologise.

I am fed up with ignorant speed freaks who think that they have the right to run me off the road!

I drive on the M1 quite a lot from Dublin down as far as Dunleer and drive mainly in the inside lane. When I am overtaking, I remain within the speed limit of 120kph so when overtaking another vehicle travelling at 115kph, it can take a little time to get around it.

My gripe is with the drivers who see the M1 as a race track and drive up behind me flashing and blowing their horns. Inevitably most of these drivers are in northern reg cars.

Is there anyone out there that understands the menality of these lunatics?

Aghhhhhhhhhhhhh! When overtaking you get past as fast as you can in safety.

There is NO excuse for dawling past another car be it on a single carriage or multiple carriage road.

Mike.

luckat

There's only one problem with Irish drivers: rudeness.

* sitting up your arse on a country road, and then when you signal and pull in and stop to let them pass going by wailing their horn at you;
* screeching at cyclists who don't GET OUT OF MY WAY fast enough;
* using the horn because someone up front isn't going to move away - and this is when the horn-user can't see the reason that the guy up front isn't moving, like a blind person crossing the road or kids on bicycles or someone making a complicated turn;
* carving up other drivers;
* instructing other drivers on how they should drive: "What do you think you're doing, you stupid ****?" - often having paused in their mobile phone conversation to do so;
* smoking while driving...

and so on. At the root of every one of the common driving errors in Ireland is sheer ignorant rudeness.

Flankerb

I think is the best idea I have heard in years. There are so many people over the age of 50 who never sat a driving test or even looked at the rules of the road.

Sparky

i thought that on the motorways you cant go below 50kmh unless your stopping or in traffic.

I always thought it was the case with the huge blue sign with all the cannots when you get on to the motorway.

I think big signs on the motorways would be a additive to the ads

DubTony

luckat wrote:

There's only one problem with Irish drivers: rudeness.

* sitting up your arse on a (snipped). ........ (snipped) paused in their mobile phone conversation to do so;
* smoking while driving...

smoking while driving

That's hardly rude. Unless I lean into your window and blow smoke in your face.

Sparky

was on my motorbike going down the quays and had a smoke flicked out the window of a taxi in front of me, i disregarded it at them not knowing, untill the idiot stuck his head out the window and laughed.

Isnt there meant to be no smoking in a taxi, obhiously not enforced like other things in this country.

Seth Brundle

Sparky_S wrote:

was on my motorbike going down the quays and had a smoke flicked out the window of a taxi in front of me, i disregarded it at them not knowing, untill the idiot stuck his head out the window and laughed.

Isnt there meant to be no smoking in a taxi, obhiously not enforced like other things in this country.

on the contrary, read this
By the way did you complain to the gardai about this taxi drivers actions?
Also are you sure it was in use as a taxi at the time in question?

a_ominous

Sparky_S wrote:

i thought that on the motorways you cant go below 50kmh unless your stopping or in traffic.

I always thought it was the case with the huge blue sign with all the cannots when you get on to the motorway.

I wrote something similar on another thread. I think it was Victor who pulled me up on it. The ROTR state the fehicle has to be capable of a speed of 30mph (not 50kmph!). Not that the minimum speed is 30mph.

But you got to ask yourself why that should be the law: is it to get traffic moving or not? To keep cyclists off the road? I used to be able to cycle for short bursts at over 30mph.

GAFF

mike65 wrote:

Aghhhhhhhhhhhhh! When overtaking you get past as fast as you can in safety.

There is NO excuse for dawling past another car be it on a single carriage or multiple carriage road.

Mike.

One problem in this country, especially due to some bad roads eg short stretches is that we get so badly crippled for big and powerfull cars that someone in a eg 1L car has to ring its neck to try and get past quickly. I'm not saying you have to be a speed demon but it does make overtaking so much less of a death wish by having the power when you need it.

A Punto and a Mercedes crash, who do you think has the better chance.

Nuttzz

the big problem with this campaign is that its an NSC one and will be totally unrealistic just like their previous ones where fellas tumble their cars through garden fences into little kids on a daily basis :rolleyes:

Macy

a_ominous wrote:

I wrote something similar on another thread. I think it was Victor who pulled me up on it. The ROTR state the fehicle has to be capable of a speed of 30mph (not 50kmph!). Not that the minimum speed is 30mph.

But you got to ask yourself why that should be the law: is it to get traffic moving or not? To keep cyclists off the road? I used to be able to cycle for short bursts at over 30mph.

Think the road act specifically says no pedal cycles on motorways, regardless whether they're capable of doing 30mph...

ds20prefecture

GAFF wrote:

A Punto and a Mercedes crash, who do you think has the better chance.

I cannot stand this line of thinking. A Mercedes and a super tanker crash - who has the better chance? Or should we all buy Ford Explorers? Oh no, they flip like a pancake and explode at the merest sight of another car. I know, let's all buy Hummers. But then what if a truck hits you? We'd better not settle for anything less than this

The SMART car when launched was proven to be safer in both active and passive safety than its contemporary C-Class, despite being 1/3 the weight. Small does not mean unsafe. Big does not mean safe.

Mick L

I witnessed two prime examples of the need for something to be done to address motorway driving on the way home last night. Got onto the M4 at Maynooth heading towards the M50. This was around 10:30pm, traffic was light, yet there was a guy in the overtaking lane with NO cars in the inside lane for as far as I could see ahead. And he just stayed there, obviously in a world of his own. Later on down the road I saw a car with its hazard lights on and thought oh great whats happened now, but even travelling at 120kph I wasn't getting any nearer. So I thought he's forgotten to turn them off, but no.....The car was being towed, by another car, with a rope about 2 - 3 metres in front, at 120kph

slumped

mike65 wrote:

Aghhhhhhhhhhhhh! When overtaking you get past as fast as you can in safety.

There is NO excuse for dawling past another car be it on a single carriage or multiple carriage road.

Mike.

Yes Mike, and "in safety" means within the speed limit. Just because you are overtaking in the outside lane does not give you the right to break the speed limit.

Amyone else agree?
Slumped

Mick L

slumped wrote:

Yes Mike, and "in safety" means within the speed limit. Just because you are overtaking in the outside lane does not give you the right to break the speed limit.

Amyone else agree?
Slumped

I don't think you can say that in safety necessarily means within the speed limit, it's not as black and white as that.

seamus

slumped wrote:

Yes Mike, and "in safety" means within the speed limit. Just because you are overtaking in the outside lane does not give you the right to break the speed limit.

Amyone else agree?
Slumped

Nope. Maintaining a speed below the speed limit while overtaking is much more dangerous* than breaking the speed limit to complete the manouver quickly, particularly when you must cross to the opposite side of the carraigeway to overtake. Driving below the speed limit is not the same thing as driving safely.

*Much like being below the speed limit does not necessarily mean you are safe, this is not a hard and fast rule. Clearly if you are overtaking a vehicle doing 100mph on a dual carraigeway, then speeding up to complete the manouver quickly may be more dangerous than maintaining 105mph, for instance. Each situation is different.

slumped

Mick L wrote:

I don't think you can say that in safety necessarily means within the speed limit, it's not as black and white as that.

If everyone drove within the speed limits (even those really annoying ones on the M1 where it drops to 50kph) then things would be safer.

What's not safe is the amount of drivers who drive in the outside lane with faster moving cars in the inside lane.

Here is a letter I submitted to the Irish Times last year but it did not get printed:


"Last Tuesday (9th Novemebr 2004) is a day that will live in infamy or at least for a while anyway. After studying for the theory test, gaining my provisional licence, spending over €800 on 25 hours of driving lessons and sitting the dreaded test, I can now state without risk of correction that I am a fully qualified driver.

What makes me qualified? The little slip of pink paper from the driving test centre that says I am competent – the small handwritten docket that means my car insurance as a 25 year old male, will drop by over 50% next year. The little certificate that means I can legally drive at 70mph (or is it 112.654 kph?) on a motorway having never driven on one before. I decided to try this experience out and so I took to the M1 a few days after my test to see what it was like to be in control of a car at the top end of the speed limit, just because all of us 25 year old males are the speed freaks on our roads and I wanted to be part of ‘that’ big-boy club.

I drove for about 10 miles past Dublin Airport at a constant speed of 70mph. At this stage I thought the speedometer on my car was broken. I felt like a Formula One racing driver whose car engine had blown and I was coasting back to the pits. Over 40 cars and vans whizzed past me in the outside lane doing speeds well in excess of the speed limit. Old men, young women, business men, business women, old women, young men and some Northern Ireland registered cars – all of them driving at speeds which would have been more at home at Mondello Park than on our roads.

Having been in London the weekend previous I could not help but notice the huge amount of speed cameras on the M11 motorway running north out of London. And guess what, cars actually drive at a consistent speed, not over the speed limit but at a steady pace the whole time.

Why are young drivers tarnished in this country as being the speed freaks? Why are there not more speed cameras on our roads? When will the government take road safety seriously? When will the ignorant start driving at safe speeds? Personally I will continue to drive with respect for the speed limits, but to all those drivers out there who do break the speed limit, to those drivers who cause accidents as a result of driving too fast, to those drivers who are forcing my insurance premium higher and higher – shame on you."

Any thoughts??

Slumped

Mick L

On a motorway, to take your example, I feel it would be safer to break the speed limt for the short amount of time it takes to overtake (without taking the piss of course) than have a line of irate drivers behind you. You'll just cause bunching up of faster moving traffic behind you. I know the counterpoint is that there shouldn't BE any faster moving traffic if you're at the speed limit already but there will be for whatever reason. Your point may be valid, but only in an ideal world.

css

The speed limit is 120kph on a motorway, might explain why you were a chicane..

slumped

css wrote:

The speed limit is 120kph on a motorway, might explain why you were a chicane..

Read the thread properly this time - it is dated in November 2004 when the speed limit was 70mph - tut tut tut

ds20prefecture

slumped wrote:

Any thoughts??

Jesus, and I thought I was sanctimonious.

slumped

ds20prefecture wrote:

Jesus, and I thought I was sanctimonious.

Not meant to be sanctimonious, a tounge in cheek view on the amount of ignorant speed freaks who feel the need to constantly break the speed limit :mad:

frenchychristy

i think that the problem is coming from the way irish drivers are educated... Besides being a country where the drink culture is number 1, the irish drivers arent taught properly like it happanes in other countries. France for instance. You must get your theory test before you are allowed to get your driving test. You are only allowed to get your driving if you got your theory test. If you fail your driving test 3 times, you are back to square one and have to go re-do your theory test. By law, a learner driver has to have had at least 21 hours of driving lessons with an official teacher, until then this learner driver is not allowed to drive. Not like over in Ireland where you take 2 hours of driving lesson s and you can drive your luvely Micra and create chaos and potentially fatal accidents...

What about corporate responsibility? Nissan has been chasing in on these new drivers with their Micras and what have they done for the irish roads and irish learning how to drive industry? Nothing... What abotu the insurance besides the fact of making a fat juicy profit?

seamus

slumped wrote:

If everyone drove within the speed limits (even those really annoying ones on the M1 where it drops to 50kph) then things would be safer.

Can't disagree with that, but it doesn't capture the entire problem. Driving above the speed limit isn't the biggest killer on our roads. Inappropriate speed (whether inside or outside the limit) is a big problem, but again, it's still not solely to blame. Poor overtaking kills a lot of people. Drinking-driving again kills a lot of people. Believe it or not, the biggest killer is driving onto the wrong side of the road, and colliding head-on with an oncoming vehicle. Speed is not even a factor. Exceeding the speed limit accounts for just over one-fifth of all fatal collisions. So there's obviously no point in just saying "speeding is bad, m'kay?". It's an overall attitude that needs to be addressed. Four-fifths of fatal accidents are caused by things other than speeding, so clearly there's more at work here.

What's not safe is the amount of drivers who drive in the outside lane with faster moving cars in the inside lane.

Yes and no. It's a problem. But in theory the drivers in the left-hand lane should be moving out into the overtaking lane, and not overtaking on the left. In the eyes of the law, they are also being unsafe (both drivers could be prosecuted for it). I make a point of flashing anyone when I come upon them going slower in the right-hand lane. I've found in Dublin people are atrocious for responding - they just don't look in their rear-view mirrors. Outside of Dublin they're much more aware.

Praetorian

Lots of Irish people are brutal on motorways. When we are learning and doing our driving tests we aren't even allowed practice on them, so it should not come as any surprise that people get it all wrong.

* People not moving over to the left.
* People driving at 65mph ~110 kph in the overtaking lane
* People driving at 50mph ~ 80 kph in the left lane
* Driving up the rear end of the car ahead
* Not indicating when moving left or right

All very annoying :O

nb. The problem is much more noticable on the M1 compared to the M50.

css

slumped wrote:

Read the thread properly this time - it is dated in November 2004 when the speed limit was 70mph - tut tut tut

Yes and by you doing an indicated 70mph, you're more likely to be doing close to 65mph.. so people with gps and calibrated speedo's will be passing you of course as well as the evil speedy's.. I'm sorry I don't agree with the whole anti-speed campaign on motorways, on other roads yes, but not on motorways.

Seth Brundle

a_ominous wrote:

I wrote something similar on another thread. I think it was Victor who pulled me up on it. The ROTR state the fehicle has to be capable of a speed of 30mph (not 50kmph!). Not that the minimum speed is 30mph.

See the following pic...

No vehicles under 30mph

BrianD3

Praetorian wrote:

Lots of Irish people are brutal on motorways. When we are learning and doing our driving tests we aren't even allowed practice on them, so it should not come as any surprise that people get it all wrong.

* People not moving over to the left.
* People driving at 65mph ~110 kph in the overtaking lane
* People driving at 50mph ~ 80 kph in the left lane
* Driving up the rear end of the car ahead
* Not indicating when moving left or right

*Drivers who merge at 40-50 mph
*Drivers who can't be bothered waiting till the hatch markings end before merging and instead zoom across the markings and straight into the overtaking lane
*Drivers who wait till the very last minute to exit off the motorway
*Drivers who miss their exit and then reverse along the hard shoulder
*Drivers doing U turns across the median if there's a gap in the chicken wire
*Drivers who stop illegally in the hard shoulder to answer their mobile/have a picnic/have a piss etc.
*Drivers who get a flat tyre and instead of pulling their car as far off the road as possible they leave it near the edge of the hard shoulder resulting in their big arse sticking out into the traffic as they change the wheel.
*pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles incapable of reaching 30 mph using the motorway

Macy

BrianD3 wrote:

*Drivers who merge at 40-50 mph

The merging would be the most dangerous thing I see on motorways and dual carriageways.

I know it's not strictly motorway, but the prime example would be people joining from Enniskerry on the N11 - I regularly see them stop rather than use the length of the joining slip.

I would add, there's also the problem with people in the inside lane not moving out to let people merge, or not leaving enough space if they can't move out...

Beëlzebooze

Of course Government agencies are going to say that speeding is the cause of most road deaths, because that means the owness is on YOU and ME to change.

The fact of the matter is that drivers need to be educated as they start to drive. Driving is a serious matter, you have the ability to KILL if you do not do it correctly. So if somebody want to learn to drive they must go to school to learn. Learning to drive by experience is only good enough if you have a certain level of proficiency, if you have mastered the basics, i.e. you have a license. And the lisence is only given (just like in any other school) if you pass the exams.

So no more provisionals , driving lessons become compulsory, and like in germany, if you fail 3 times, you go for psych eval, to see if you should be driving in the first place.

Alun

I know it's not strictly motorway, but the prime example would be people joining from Enniskerry on the N11 - I regularly see them stop rather than use the length of the joining slip.

That one really gets my blood boiling as well. The slip road is plenty long enough to get up to speed, but like you say, people get to the left turn and then just stop and wait for a gap before even moving off. I seem to recall that "the powers that be" have also added an extra yield sign and line just there as well that reinforces this behaviour.

Mind you, nowadays I always now take a good long look to the right when coming on there, because on more than one occasion I've witnessed people apparently turning off to Enniskerry, but then shooting straight across the cross hatching at the junction onto the slip road, presumably because they haven't managed to merge successfully at that stage. The same thing regularly happens on the other side of the road at the Herbert Road junction.

Boggle

Having been in London the weekend previous I could not help but notice the huge amount of speed cameras on the M11 motorway running north out of London. And guess what, cars actually drive at a consistent speed, not over the speed limit but at a steady pace the whole time.

Whats better: Someone driving at a sped they feel comfortable and safe (given their experience) at or someone glued to 70 paying more attention to their speedometer than the road?

Surprisingly enough someones speed wont cause an accident - mistakes cause accidents.

Alun

Having been in London the weekend previous I could not help but notice the huge amount of speed cameras on the M11 motorway running north out of London. And guess what, cars actually drive at a consistent speed, not over the speed limit but at a steady pace the whole time.

Whilst that may be true on routes that have large numbers of speed cameras, on other motorway routes you'll find the average speed (when feasible) to be more like 80-90mph. The police won't go near them at speed.