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Child Item

The Government couldn't care less about road safety

Markus Antonius

In light of the disproportionate amount of deaths on our roads already in 2024, the debates are kicking-off again with the same old culprits - drink driving, drug driving, speeding - all taking the blame once again.

Yet, they refuse to tell us how many deaths are actually attributed to these factors. Quite the slap in the face to the families of those who have died in crashes.

I would like to know why the RSA continue to hide info on accident black spots in the country. If I'm driving around I want an interactive map, a flashing beacon, a giant sign - ANYTHING that will inform me that the road I have entered is a driving black spot. But no, the government really couldn't give a flying f**k. If people knew where the black-spots were then they would only want action, a resolution. Government are allergic to action of course. And resolutions are bad for the climate.

2016 the RSA decided to pull the black spot data that they previously published (very quietly) on a monthly basis. For what reason? GDPR of course. All I want is a crude map of the country with a giant black dot on the area that is dangerous for me to drive through. I'm not looking for the PPS number, the eircode, the death certificate of every person who died there 🙄

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jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638251#Comment_121638251

Dont want to say beyond it is a very touristy area. It used to be listed in the media as one of the most dangerous roads in Ireland. The road surface was always fine but there were lots of bends so if you come around a corner and there is just something stopped on the road you are done unless you are going at a snails pace.

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638411#Comment_121638411

I agree with this, but this was my point in the original post. If the government are unwilling to act on fixing dangerous sections of road, the very very least they could do is inform us where these dangerous sections are!

The fact is, they do nothing. And as others have point out above - they used to have blackspot signs, they used to publish the data. Why have they stopped? Probably because it exposes the fact that their speed reduction campaigns and speed camera system don't improve accident figures.

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638242#Comment_121638242

Because legislating for such hyperbolic emotional reasoning is bad law just as the imminent blanket lowering of speed limits because of hysteria and pearl clutching over increased road deaths is bad law.

As I said in the other similar thread here on this topic, while every death or serious injury is sad and a loss, there are multiple other factors involved in most of these cases than just "speeding".

- Drug-driving is a huge problem (per the Garda twitter feed)

- Significantly more cars on the road since Covid with more journeys being made. In that context alone the road deaths are actually very low

- Lots of disqualified and/or uninsured drivers out there (again per the Garda twitter account)

- Lack of enforcement of pretty much anything on the roads except speeding on motorways or straight stretches of national road. Nothing about tailgating, no use of indicators, no or minimal lights in poor visibility conditions, dangerous overtaking, people who speed up when being overtaken, unnecessary dawdling or lane hogging by people trying to police the road themselves etc etc

- single occupant late at night fatalities for reasons we probably can guess at (suicide) but don't like to talk about

.... And so on. It's a lot more complex than is often made out

Although, I do actually agree that big touchscreens in cars and burying essential functions under menus is a safety issue. The reason is cost saving. It's a lot cheaper for the manufacturers to slap on a screen than buttons that have to last for years and need to be ergonomically designed and tested , and this approach also allows them (as some now are) to put some features behind paywalls.

jmayo

Ok time to vent

The government, the muppets in media and road safety (and a lot of posters here climb on the bandwagon) will tell you it is all speed so lets drop the speed limit and wayhay aren't we great.

A lot of us are always saying it is inappropriate speed.

For instance for argument sake I could drive quite safely on a fine clear day at 120kph on a section of road between Tarmonbarry and Stroketown Co. Roscommon.

I am breaking the law, but I would be pretty safe as wide road, massive hardshoulder, great view of road ahead, great surface, etc.

Far side of Strokestown the speed limit is 100kph, but a lot of sections should only be driven at under 80 kph.

Some down to 60kph even.

Reason I brought up previous section is I was done for speeding there at 11am on sunny June morning.

Never any sign of Garda speedcheck there at 1am on Saturday or Sunday night withlads heading to Longford for the night.

Now other thing I always notice is some people should not be on the fooking road because they have no concept of driving.

Road may be 100kph so they drive at 80kph, road may be 80kph so they drive at 60kph.

Some will argue they are good safe drivers.

Except the fooking a s s holes proceed to drive through next 50kph village at least 10kph over the limit.

Hos is that safe?

The other night coming up to blind junction over a crest, met couple of cars, nothing, no flashing lights, no hazards.

Finally third car flashes lights.

Over crest at junction car has crashed and is in middle of my lane.

Only 1 of three cars had cop on to warn oncoming drivers.

Come across same thing where fookers can't be ar**ed warning you of sheep, cattle, pedestrians on road.

Nothing.

It is common decency and could save someone or somethings life.

The quality of driving is atrocious.

Latest thing is you have car headlights that could illuminate a football pitch.

And to make matters worse gobsheens don't realise a car is coming against them and don't dim until they blast you full on with the full headlights.

then it seems every fooking electric car now has light bars across front and back.

Next thing they will be mimicking KITT from Knightrider or a Cylon and be strobing across the back or front of car just to dazzle others.

And don't me started on the ones out of Dublin for that day on those Go cars.

BrianD3

There is an EuroRAP road assessment initiative, I don't know if the RSA feed into it, it seems to be mainly a UK thing. It was covered on the TV programme Fifth Gear years ago. As they say, bad driving causes crashes but road design and the presence of objects like trees beside roads compound errors that all drivers make. There are thousands if not millions of trees lining twisty Irish roads and we have a lot of single vehicle collisions into trees the early hours of the morning. Probably due to fatigue or intoxication. Possibly some suicides or medical issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWegXQ81TKw

Bad driving and utter stupidity are obviously the main problem though. So far this year there are 11 deaths with 3 of those on motorways. A single vehicle crash and two pedestrian fatalities. If anyone has the time to go through all the road death reports for 2023 they'll find reports on: Hit and runs (scumbag drivers). Single vehicle crashes on motorways. Pedestrians being killed including on motorways. Motorcyclists being killed. Tractors involved in fatal collisions. Collisions where it seems obvious that seatbelts were not being worn. Collisions involving children driving cars on public roads. But never mind all that, SPEEDING.

Gussoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637048#Comment_121637048

Our roads our Public, funded by the public, as are the emergency services that attend the accidents. I don't see why the information should not also be public?

Gussoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638578#Comment_121638578

The real reason is that it probably opens the local council or RSA to liability. Putting up an accident black spot sign is an admission that this stretch of road is dangerous and that the RSA knows that it is.

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638042#Comment_121638042

I meant internet traffic, sites visited, texts/WhatsAps sent etc.

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638848#Comment_121638848

Maybe treat all roads like a black spot. Drive more careful and less speed. Would that be an idea?

Gussoe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121639136#Comment_121639136

With that logic we may as well remove all the signage that indicates a sharp bend. You in favour of that too?

batman_oh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638830#Comment_121638830

The focus solely on speeding is the most frustrating thing. Especially if you look at how it's done - only to be seen on motorways and big national roads in day time, often hiding in parts where the limit drops to 80. It's literally nothing to do with preventing anything and is just revenue collecting/being seen to do something that required minimal effort.

Unfortunately lots of plebs seem to think this is the way to bring our road deaths to the fantasy zero number that the RSA are aiming for and are all on board with reducing limits even further on these roads so we can speed camera the **** out of everybody

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121639210#Comment_121639210

No, that's not the same logic at all.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638731#Comment_121638731

In shocking post person claims they are a great driver and everyone else on the road is an idiot compared to them.

😂

Just a quick FYI, GoCars are available all over Ireland. Not just from Dublin

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121639136#Comment_121639136

That's akin to the common problem of litter bins overflowing and rubbish left near them.

Local authority solution: remove the bins..

mikethecop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637174#Comment_121637174

It is generally , but them again drivers with multiple convictions even ones who have killed people on the roads some times get suspended sentences from watery judges backed by simpering free legal aid barristers. enforcement is a joke. the traffic unit is my area is down 2/3s and regular gardai are shackled to computers or directed to stand down when trying to catch dangerous drivers

Inexperienced drivers , drink and drug drivers. **** roads. crappy and mis recorded suicides, poor no no training for gardai all contribute

but also the government really don't seem to give a thinkers curse about road deaths but then again they never did , It was the RSA who pushed the improvements that reduced them from one a day at one point

animalinside

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121638248#Comment_121638248

You won't do the limit if it's not safe to I hope. It can all change based on weather, other traffic, the state of your own car. Remember the same speed limits apply to motocyclists.

I can see how someone might see a speed limit as a signal for what speed could be gone at, but that's an unofficial and unwritten use of speed limits, do you really think the people putting up speed limits spend all day thinking about what limits to put up in random areas throughout the country - I'm sure they just throw up any old thing in some places. The best and safest use of speed limits is to completely ignore them and drive defensively at a safe and responsible speed.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121637587#Comment_121637587

The move away from knobs etc is generally cost saving on manufacturers. VW have recently announced they're bringing back a lot of the older non touch screen interaction due to consumer feedback so I can see a lot of the industry going that way. I'm fine with linked info on a screen plus GPS for example. But the overall infotainment obsession is extreme. And voice controls are most definitely not the answer.

SuperBowserWorld

This morning, walked past two guys driving in a car going up a hill and around a bend. The passenger was engrossed in his phone and then I looked again and so was the driver.

DarkJager21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640097#Comment_121640097

Yet doing what you recommend is also dangerous. I have a local road near me which is full of blind bends and would be very easy to suddenly come upon a tailback of traffic doing the limit (80kph). There is one elderly driver who goes out each weekend and can barely hold 40kph. There are only 2 opportunities in a 20 minute drive to overtake.

You could argue that that person is entitled to travel at half the speed limit of the road, completely oblivious to any carnage that might unfold behind them, all caused by their driving. I'd argue that if you can't comfortably operate a vehicle to within at least 10kph of the designated limit, you shouldn't be on the road. Slow drivers are as dangerous as drink drivers

Baba Yaga

speed is a small enough part of it i think...as has been said mobile phone usage is off the charts from what i see everyday when im either driving or walking,the inside of every few cars is lit up from a phone either in the middle of the dash,stuck on the windsreen or in the drivers hand/lap,ffs put away the phones!!! also i get the impression theres alot on cocaine,the amount of pure aggression on the roads the last couple of years is nuts,i dont exactly hang about,id be as they say "making progress" but holy jebus! calm down a bit...just look at particularly the m50 in dublin,every day theres several smashes on it...i for sure dont have the answers but maybe just get off the phones and calm to fcuk down a wee bit when driving..

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640556#Comment_121640556

People are just clowns. They prefer to leave 5 mins after they should and then try to make up the time on the road. It's not just on the main roads, as I posted on another thread we live on a road which is used as a way to skip traffic, the clown first of all think they are on the M50 and take over the entire road. Don't seem to understand that it is not salted, plus going at least 20-30kmph more than they should be.

In terms of phones, I seen people doing video calls while driving with th ephone slapped in the middle of the screen in front of them so they have to look past the phone to see the road.

Honeslty the IQ of the population is going in one direction and it ain't the right direction

Rubberchikken

Crap. No road is dangerous. Dangerous is the tool of a driver not paying attention. Drink and or drug taken, speed etc.

Drive to suit the road and weather conditions. Stay off phone. No alcohol or drugs in your system and stop being a complete tool.

cj maxx

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

^^^^^^^

this . Companies and people are held liable under strict safety rules but Co Councils and other agencies can’t be . A local man died a few years ago on a road that was black spotted . The cause wasn’t drink or speed . It was due to a slump in the road on a corner . It had been pointed out to the council many times without anything being done . The day after the accident it was fixed .

Why can’t the RSA simply put signs up saying that this particular stretch has a higher than average accident risk .

animalinside

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640581#Comment_121640581

Right about certain people leaving late. If they went earlier then they'd not only be a lot safer, they could have a pleasant drive and able to contemplate things, prepare what they will say, etc on the way. It actually saves time.

As you suggest most of these people aren't actually short of time at all, they just leave it late. It's as if they have so little going on in their lives they get addicted to the adrenaline rush of trying to make it on time to give a little excitement to their otherwise mundane lives.

animalinside

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640154#Comment_121640154

This is an extremely ridiculous post on many levels.

Del2005

Listening to the radio a while ago and a minister talking about blanketing the country in speed cameras after an RSA report. The report said that DUI and distracted driving has massively increase, so the solution is to use speed cameras!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640108#Comment_121640108

And voice controls are most definitely not the answer.

Why isn't voice control the answer? I can press a button on my steering wheel and tell the car to warmer or colder, I can get it to call someone, I can get it to change my music, I can get it to set my sat nav. It can adjust everything that you need to take your eyes off the road for a second to find the knob to adjust. Voice control is safer than buttons as you keep both hands on the wheel at all time and don't have to glance down to find a button/knob.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640905#Comment_121640905

Cause as other posters pointed out, it's not very reliable. A family in a car for example, can end up with functionality not working very well if everyone is talking while you're trying to tell the car to indicate or whatever. Ignoring that, plenty of car models have it randomly activating and misbehaving. So no, I can't see it becoming the norm in the near future.

Flinty997

Voice control doesn't work reliably...yet..

_Kaiser_

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121640755#Comment_121640755

Nope, he's spot on.

Inappropriate speeding doesn't just work one way. Slow dawdling drivers on national roads or motorways are essentially a hazard - they're a rolling road block and they are also in my experience the same drivers who will then continue at that same speed (now in excess of the limit or what's appropriate) as they pass through the next town or village.

These drivers are inattentive to the conditions of the road and the problems they are causing behind and around them, and equally they are slow to react to changes in those conditions resulting in more problems.

As I said, if you can't - or won't - drive at the limit or speed of the rest of the traffic around you when there's no valid reason not to, then you shouldn't be on the road. If you're being overtaken by car after car, or if you're being passed by buses and HGVs then you're doing it wrong!

Strumms

Quality of driving is at an all time low.

So is from what I can see the amount of enforcement. I rarely see any traffic corps unless it’s tax / insurance checkpoints…

Speeding and mobile phone use is far more prevalent than a few years back. If I notice it from my seat…..so should the Gardai.

the phone thing I find difficult to understand or have even a sliver of sympathy for as if you are one of those people that constantly is a needy waster… simply get a car with phone tech that allows you to talk hands free…. Even some 10 year old cars have that tech and if they haven’t get yourself a Bluetooth hands free kit, one of those Parrot jobs…you’ll get a very good one for 200 quid…

animalinside

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

Slow driving can be hazardous, I didn't deny that, nobody denied that. Driving slowly without a valid reason (you don't know what problems a car is facing) is also illegal.