Irish drivers are the worst drivers in europe

FreudianSlippers · 13-11-2010 07:05PM

XBOX employee wrote: »

Speed limits are there for a reason 120km is really fast. If you were tO higher the speed limits your just decreasing your chance of survival! Yeah the city center limit isnt ideal but if someone were to be hit at that speed on a bike or walking they have a hell of a lot better chance of surviving . The new rules for R and stuff im all for but there are provisional drivers out there better than full licensed drivers

Reports in Germany seem to state the opposite of this or at least confirm that this is not true in the affirmative.

There is no difference in crashes between 120 and 140 km/h.

120km/h is actually not that fast. On a well built and maintained road, 140km/h is a realistic speed limit.

hondasam · 13-11-2010 07:14PM

OisinT wrote: »

Still in operation as far as I can see.

I drive all around the Midlands and East for work. I just believe people can safely drive 130-140km/h on the motorways.

Yes agreed but unfortunately some people go on motorways and the do not know how to use them. I think the need to change the driving test because you can pass your test and head to the motorway, considering you are not allowed on there with prov d/lic. It's typical of Ireland gloss over the obvious and penalise all of us.

FreudianSlippers · 13-11-2010 07:16PM

hondasam wrote: »

Yes agreed but unfortunately some people go on motorways and the do not know how to use them. I think the need to change the driving test because you can pass your test and head to the motorway, considering you are not allowed on there with prov d/lic. It's typical of Ireland gloss over the obvious and penalise all of us.

The test is too pedantic as it stands. It's more concerned on memorisation of limits and jumping through hoops than it is about actual driving. I've been driving for 11 years and I probably wouldn't pass the test tomorrow merely for the fact that I don't know all the specific little things they want you to do.

Cantona's Collars · 13-11-2010 07:23PM

OisinT wrote: »

The test is too pedantic as it stands. It's more concerned on memorisation of limits and jumping through hoops than it is about actual driving. I've been driving for 11 years and I probably wouldn't pass the test tomorrow merely for the fact that I don't know all the specific little things they want you to do.

Exactly,it's like doing a school exam-learn stuff off by heart and drive like you're never gona actually do ever again.The test needs to be updated and have some kind of continuous assesment.A lot of older drivers sat tests long before the roads were upgraded and saw a huge rise in the numbers of cars using them.
The other day I witnessed 3 cars in a row sporting L plates on the M50,but if you want to drive from Dublin to Wexford it's very hard to avoid motorways unless you like a very long scenic drive.Even so,some of the driving on motorways by Irish drivers would shock you.

hondasam · 13-11-2010 07:25PM

OisinT wrote: »

The test is too pedantic as it stands. It's more concerned on memorisation of limits and jumping through hoops than it is about actual driving. I've been driving for 11 years and I probably wouldn't pass the test tomorrow merely for the fact that I don't know all the specific little things they want you to do.

I think we would all struggle to pass the test tbh. I did my driving test in the UK and the only difference is you have to parallel park. I just dont agree that one person can judge you for twenty minutes and say you can or cannot drive. we all know the have a certain pass/fail ratio for the day.

puppetmaster · 21-11-2010 02:00PM

XBOX employee wrote: »

What do we think of the new 600 speed camera being put in place?

Your a man for exaggeration i see. The full contract is for 45 speed camera's.

And if their placed in the right places they will be excellent and proper deterents. but i fear that wont be the case.

richieof1 · 05-02-2011 02:05PM

I totally agree, Irish driver are by far the worse, especially on Motorways.
How many times have you seen someone sitting in the middle lane at 60 MPH, left and right hand lane totally empty ??
Also when your joining the motorway from a slip road, how many times is the idiot in the left hand lane tatally oblivious and doesnt move accross to let you join.
Finally , tailgating , that drives me nuts. Happens ever day to me on the way to work..WHY..the road is full I can move, why drive up me hole

carvaggio · 05-02-2011 02:25PM

richieof1 wrote: »

I totally agree, Irish driver are by far the worse, especially on Motorways.
How many times have you seen someone sitting in the middle lane at 60 MPH, left and right hand lane totally empty ??
Also when your joining the motorway from a slip road, how many times is the idiot in the left hand lane tatally oblivious and doesnt move accross to let you join.
Finally , tailgating , that drives me nuts. Happens ever day to me on the way to work..WHY..the road is full I can move, why drive up me hole

I think you'll find these things happen in other countries too

The link below is worth a look, we're actually a reasonably safe nation to drive in.

http://www.rsa.ie/Utility/News/2010/Ireland-receives-EU-road-safety-award-2010/

Bruthal · 05-02-2011 02:28PM

Deleted User wrote: »

The French, Italians, Spanish and Polish are all as bad or worse.

At least they know the back of their cars is about the same width as the front.

Badgermonkey · 05-02-2011 02:29PM

carvaggio wrote: »

I think you'll find these things happen in other countries too

The link below is worth a look, we're actually a reasonably safe nation to drive in.

http://www.rsa.ie/Utility/News/2010/Ireland-receives-EU-road-safety-award-2010/

+1

Some continental European driving is 'eccentric' and that's being very kind to them.

Bruthal · 05-02-2011 02:31PM

richieof1 wrote: »

I totally agree, Irish driver are by far the worse, especially on Motorways.
How many times have you seen someone sitting in the middle lane at 60 MPH, left and right hand lane totally empty ??
Also when your joining the motorway from a slip road, how many times is the idiot in the left hand lane tatally oblivious and doesnt move accross to let you join.
Finally , tailgating , that drives me nuts. Happens ever day to me on the way to work..WHY..the road is full I can move, why drive up me hole

And they drive down the slip road at 40mph and wonder why they struggle to merge in.

And the point you make about the idiot in left lane not facilitating merging, idiots for certain. And tailgating, brainless.

Bruthal · 05-02-2011 02:36PM

hondasam wrote: »

I think we would all struggle to pass the test tbh. I did my driving test in the UK and the only difference is you have to parallel park. I just dont agree that one person can judge you for twenty minutes and say you can or cannot drive. we all know the have a certain pass/fail ratio for the day.

Yea i think your right there, the test is really only an indication that you have some control of the car. The actual driving methods required for the test are soon forgotten after the test is passed.

dizzywizlw · 05-02-2011 02:44PM

robbie7730 wrote: »

Yea i think your right there, the test is really only an indication that you have some control of the car. The actual driving methods required for the test are soon forgotten after the test is passed.

Deffo, I was in no way a competent driver when I passed my test, I've no problem admitting that. My problem was I was too slow in certain situations and my observation is quite poor. These days I would like to think I'm a safe driver and a 'good' one and IMO the majority on the road are 'good' drivers they're just rude and impatient. There are so many Ahole drivers out there be they van men, schmad lads, or people on their phone/putting on make-up.

With regard to motorway driving; we don't get to practice it with an instructor so by default we'll all be worse at it than in other practice situations.

But overall we're tons better than many countries, If you've ever seen a croat drive :eek:

LuckyMe63 · 05-02-2011 03:04PM

The condition of our roads is a lot worse also.

But why are so many drivers still using mobile phone handsets while driving? I thought this was illegal or got you points on your license.
I live in a rural area and during the recent bad weather when we had 12@ of snow and the roads were compacted ice, a local oil delivery truck driver was driving along chatting on his phone on a narrow road - that's just asking for an accident!!

Tchaikovsky · 05-02-2011 06:39PM

Because people are so precious and self-important that they must have their phones with them wherever they are.. driving, in the cinema, handling plutonium, in a Roy Keane press conference.

Bruthal · 05-02-2011 06:42PM

Tchaikovsky wrote: »

Because people are so precious and self-important that they must have their phones with them wherever they are.. driving, in the cinema, handling plutonium, in a Roy Keane press conference.

Well when out in the car is one of the places a mobile phone could be a life saver.

TiGeR KiNgS · 05-02-2011 06:49PM

OP ever been to France or Spain ? no, of course not.

messymess · 05-02-2011 07:05PM

I'm a male age 19 - 25 and I'm the best driver in the world!

Bruthal · 05-02-2011 07:10PM

TiGeR KiNgS wrote: »

OP ever been to France or Spain ? no, of course not.

I have been to them, i didnt really go to observe the driving though.

mikemac · 05-02-2011 07:14PM

I'd say the OP has never been to Rome

Ah the macho culture, horns blaring everywhere.
Safety equipment of choice for bikers is a t shirt, shorts and sandals.
Red lights are optional so you cross the road at your own risk

Owenw · 05-02-2011 07:47PM

robbie7730 wrote: »

Well when out in the car is one of the places a mobile phone could be a life saver.

Yea stowed in the glovebox, not glued to ones' face while weaving all over the road or tipping along the motorway at 120kph with your attention on the damn call! :mad:

limklad · 05-02-2011 08:08PM

HavingCrack wrote: »

Try driving on the highway in the United States, then you'll see what drivers not understanding lanes is really like. It's really odd, all the other roads in the US seem to have a relatively high standard of driving but once you get out on the highway it's like you're on a different planet, seriously scary lane changing.

There is no legal requirement in the US to drive on the right and overtake on the left in the US multi-lane highways unless locally stated. It is a good thing too as you can overtake lane hoggers legally.
Lane hoggers here who break the law by driving in the overtaking lane when they are not overtaking anybody and it is clearly seen that the driving lane is clear for ages..

Stinicker · 05-02-2011 08:40PM

Stuck behind some old one this evening for almost thirty minutes in heavy rain and pretty poor driving weather, no way would he/she go above 60km/h on an N road plus about three morons behind who absolutely refused to overtake.

I got so frustrated and after a few flashes of the headlights to move over nothing so I undertook the whole lot of them up the hard shoulder to much fan fare from the horns of said morons. Yes I was wrong however were they not also wrong for holding up the entire road? I could not overtake as there was no clear run with oncoming traffic

They turned a 45min journey into a 65min one. I firmly believe there should be a minimum speed limit.

sh1tstirrer · 05-02-2011 08:40PM

Ald wrote: »

Some of the things I notice about Irish drivers are:

Drivers that speed up to traffic lights and then have to brake harder at light which was red all along. Why not just maintain speed rather than waste fuel and brake pads?!

Turn from Clonbrassil St. to Lord Edward street is two lane onto two lane. Lane on right, Clonbrassil St. is right turn only. Lane left of right is straight on and right turn. But those turning from right lane think they are the only lane to turn right and once on Lord Edward street turn into the left of right lane to go on down to Dame St. thinking they have right of way... if you get me.

At roundabouts not using correct lanes and not indicating properly.

Indication in general is bad especially on motorways.

Under taking on motorways say where you have overtaken somebody and see ahead you'll need to do so again and decide to stay in right hand lane.

At exits on motorways not using the right hand lane to allow traffic enter motorway in left lane.

This one is to my advantage but Irish drivers are afraid to use bus lanes outside of hours. Is great on Sundays!

Motorcycles coming up really fast behind you and under taking. That's just stupid!

Worst of all is tailgating. Anybody does that to me I'll keep you there longer and god help ya if you flash me!

Not turing off headlamps

Braking to turn and then turn on indicators, not other way around which it should be!

How could you undertake while overtaking

Someone entering the motorway at an exit

sh1tstirrer · 05-02-2011 08:44PM

Stinicker wrote: »

Stuck behind some old one this evening for almost thirty minutes in heavy rain and pretty poor driving weather, no way would he/she go above 60km/h on an N road plus about three morons behind who absolutely refused to overtake.

I got so frustrated and after a few flashes of the headlights to move over nothing so I undertook the whole lot of them up the hard shoulder to much fan fare from the horns of said morons. Yes I was wrong however were they not also wrong for holding up the entire road? I could not overtake as there was no clear run with oncoming traffic

They turned a 45min journey into a 65min one. I firmly believe there should be a minimum speed limit.

Nice move :rolleyes:

TimeToShine · 05-02-2011 09:13PM

I think in terms of driving quality, Ireland is a great place to drive. The vast majority of people are disciplined and follow the rules well. HOWEVER, in terms of driving skill, the Irish are atrocious. Take a 21 year old German/Italian/any nationality in Europe and they will be far better drivers than the equivalent Irish 21 year old. Although this isn't a problem here, it becomes one when we go abroad. It's usually us who **** ourselves when we're abroad in Africa/Asia/the USA and we see the "maniacs" driving around. The sad truth is, their superior driving skill enables them to drive like maniacs whilst still keeping accidents on the road lower than us here. Also, the amount of drink-driving gobsh1tes doesn't help and having the amount of over pre-cautious tools that we do slowing everyone down doesn't help the case at all.

slimjimmc · 05-02-2011 09:38PM

Stinicker wrote: »

Stuck behind some old one this evening for almost thirty minutes in heavy rain and pretty poor driving weather, no way would he/she go above 60km/h on an N road plus about three morons behind who absolutely refused to overtake.

I got so frustrated and after a few flashes of the headlights to move over nothing so I undertook the whole lot of them up the hard shoulder to much fan fare from the horns of said morons. Yes I was wrong however were they not also wrong for holding up the entire road? I could not overtake as there was no clear run with oncoming traffic

They turned a 45min journey into a 65min one. I firmly believe there should be a minimum speed limit.

Lets see what we have here... heavy rain, poor driving conditions, traffic moving slowly, no safe overtaking opportunity to overtake all 4 cars, trying to bully other drivers out of your way.
And you think tearing up the hard shoulder in reduced visibility was a clever move? I hope that post is an attempt at trolling because I'd hate to believe that anyone's driving could be that reckless.

wellieboot · 05-02-2011 09:43PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsQDFmsaAGc

Bruthal · 05-02-2011 09:43PM

Stinicker wrote: »

Stuck behind some old one this evening for almost thirty minutes in heavy rain and pretty poor driving weather, no way would he/she go above 60km/h on an N road plus about three morons behind who absolutely refused to overtake.

I got so frustrated and after a few flashes of the headlights to move over nothing so I undertook the whole lot of them up the hard shoulder to much fan fare from the horns of said morons. Yes I was wrong however were they not also wrong for holding up the entire road? I could not overtake as there was no clear run with oncoming traffic

They turned a 45min journey into a 65min one. I firmly believe there should be a minimum speed limit.

Any clues above to who was the real moron? It can be frustrating alright, but that move was not the answer.

Bruthal · 05-02-2011 09:47PM

slimjimmc wrote: »

Lets see what we have here... heavy rain, poor driving conditions, traffic moving slowly, no safe overtaking opportunity to overtake all 4 cars, trying to bully other drivers out of your way.
And you think tearing up the hard shoulder in reduced visibility was a clever move? I hope that post is an attempt at trolling because I'd hate to believe that anyone's driving could be that reckless.

Seen this after i posted a similar reply, i think that hard shoulder undertake move should get an automatic ban. I seen it a few times, imbasils that do it.

Irish drivers are the worst drivers in europe

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