Wrong way..again!!!!

KeithTS · 24-05-2013 10:34am

Padraig Mor wrote: »

I believe that legislation is intended to cover people reversing on the motorway - i.e. someone who misses their exit and reverses up the hard shoulder to go back to it. The case in the OP would almost certainly be classified as (highly!) dangerous driving.

So are you defending reversing up the hard shoulder to get back to a missed exit???

Redshift · 24-05-2013 10:39am

I passed a bint in a silver yarris or something like it on the wrong side of the dual carriageway outside oranmore yesterday evening. That's two lanes either direction seperated by a median. She was traveling south in the northbound overtaking lane. I drive about 2000kms a week and the incompetence and dangerous disregard I see every day is astonishing.

gutteruu · 24-05-2013 10:51am

So, I do about 50k miles per year and over the last 5 years I have seen:

- Someone driving the wrong way along full length of Athlone Bypass
- A young women drving the wrong way from Ballinasloe to Athlone on motorway
- That idiot doing a U-tun that I posted here
- A "few" people driving the wrong way around roundabouts
- 2 people driving UP sliproads the wrong way

Not to mention the daily bull**** of people driving out on front of me, can't use lanes on motorways, roundabouts are a free for all. I have heard of at least 3 people in the last few years dying from driving the wrong way along motorways. But not one single person in this country is trained on how to use them.

And people think its not the "Road SAFETY Authorities" problem??? If road safety is not the road safety authorities problem, then whose is it because I would rather piss someone off into doing their job than have someone tell my child their dad won't be home, ever!!

Padraig Mor · 24-05-2013 11:03am

KeithTS wrote: »

So are you defending reversing up the hard shoulder to get back to a missed exit???

Where did you get that retarded notion from?!

Michael D Not Higgins · 24-05-2013 11:06am

I've seen at least on two occasions at the offices across from the Sandyford Luas stop, cars taking a left turn against the run of traffic on the one way Blackthorn Avenue, once nearly crashing into me. This means that they can avoid the traffic of doing the loop around the block.

I think they've changed this road layout now to make it two way though (or plan to, haven't been around that way in recent times).

dilallio · 24-05-2013 11:14am

gutteruu wrote: »

So, I do about 50k miles per year and over the last 5 years I have seen:

- Someone driving the wrong way along full length of Athlone Bypass
- A young women drving the wrong way from Ballinasloe to Athlone on motorway
- That idiot doing a U-tun that I posted here
- A "few" people driving the wrong way around roundabouts
- 2 people driving UP sliproads the wrong way

She didn't have a wheelie bin tied to the towbar by any chance?

_Kaiser_ · 24-05-2013 11:20am

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

I've seen at least on two occasions at the offices across from the Sandyford Luas stop, cars taking a left turn against the run of traffic on the one way Blackthorn Avenue, once nearly crashing into me. This means that they can avoid the traffic of doing the loop around the block.

I think they've changed this road layout now to make it two way though (or plan to, haven't been around that way in recent times).

Yep it's 2-way now and they had to do it twice before they got it right.

Jhcx · 24-05-2013 11:24am

it wouldnt be half as bad if they were smart and in the hard shoulder but.... oh wait

Honestly though you must be fair fcked to be going the wrong way on dualcarraige way where people love to do 100+

How far did they go back i wonder? surprised nobody was injured

gutteruu · 24-05-2013 11:34am

Jhcx wrote: »

How far did they go back i wonder? surprised nobody was injured

They went back about 100 yards, were met with a wall of oncoming traffic, swerved into centre grass median then I am presuming they went down the slip road beside them.

Jhcx · 24-05-2013 11:37am

gutteruu wrote: »

They went back about 100 yards, were met with a wall of oncoming traffic, swerved into centre grass median then I am presuming they went down the slip road beside them.

good for them hope they got a real shock to the system when they felt they had nowhere to go.
I have no sympathy for someone who is going to be in the wrong specially now that its clear they done a U-turn.

actuallylike · 24-05-2013 11:49am

Would it be in the road planner's interest to put these on the back of all road signs?

KeithTS · 24-05-2013 12:21pm

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Where did you get that retarded notion from?!

Sorry, I misinterpreted your post, saying the action the OP highlighted as being highly dangerous as opposed to reversing on a hard shoulder.

_Kaiser_ · 24-05-2013 1:15pm

actuallylike wrote: »

Would it be in the road planner's interest to put these on the back of all road signs?

Don't they have these on motorway slip roads already?

actuallylike · 24-05-2013 1:46pm

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Don't they have these on motorway slip roads already?

They do, but obviously the driver didn't see it, down to their own carelessness I know. Nonetheless, the reality is there are idiots out there so having these signs on the back of all signs might reach them.

Fozzie Bear · 24-05-2013 2:02pm

Redshift wrote: »

I passed a bint in a silver yarris or something like it on the wrong side of the dual carriageway outside oranmore yesterday evening. That's two lanes either direction seperated by a median. She was traveling south in the northbound overtaking lane. I drive about 2000kms a week and the incompetence and dangerous disregard I see every day is astonishing.

I've seen that twice in the past year on the exact same stretch of road, once at night time. Idiots....

Also met a lady going the wrong way around the roundabout at Roscam/The Galway clinic last summer.

Cantona's Collars · 25-05-2013 12:55pm

Here's an example of what can happen,this woman was killed early this morning.

A woman has died after driving her car the wrong way up a motorway in the early hours of this morning, police said.

The woman, aged in her late 20s or early 30s, died after her blue Ford Ka collided with four vehicles on the M5 in Somerset.

She hit two cars in separate collisions as she drove north up the southbound carriageway from Weston-super-Mare towards Clevedon at 12.30am, Avon and Somerset Police said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2330807/M5-crash-Woman-dies-motorway-crash-driving-wrong-way-colliding-cars.html#ixzz2UJBUHBaX

Anyone who does this should be put off the road for a minimum of 12 months,it ranks up there with drink driving imo. as the potential for fatalities is so high.

Comhrá · 25-05-2013 1:22pm

And sadly, once again, this time in Co. Tipperary, yesterday:

"Man (82) in fatal crash drove on wrong side of the road"

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/man-82-in-fatal-crash-drove-on-wrong-side-of-the-road-29294908.html

actuallylike · 25-05-2013 1:36pm

Poor man. You can say what you want about people who do it been idiots, I agree with you. Take away their licence, I agree again. Doesn't change the fact that it happens over and over again. More indications that you are on the wrong side unfortunately needs to be displayed. Prevention of occurrences rather than prosecution of offenders should be focussed on.

gutteruu · 25-05-2013 2:08pm

actuallylike wrote: »

Poor man. You can say what you want about people who do it been idiots, I agree with you. Take away their licence, I agree again. Doesn't change the fact that it happens over and over again. More indications that you are on the wrong side unfortunately needs to be displayed. Prevention of occurrences rather than prosecution of offenders should be focussed on.

No amount of signs, warnings, lights would have made a difference last week when my fella did a U-turn in the middle of the motorway. There are already signs on sliproads. The answer is teach people how to drive. The countries with proper training and testing don't have this problem.

That guy who died yesterday probably bought his license in the days before tests. He probably never done a test. Was never trained. What did we expect? Another one dead.

Seasoft · 25-05-2013 2:25pm

Sadly, not restricted to Ireland:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/25/woman-dies-driving-m5-motorway

impr0v · 25-05-2013 2:55pm

MarkR wrote: »

I met a guy at the same place several years back. Nearly pooped my pants.

There are plenty of bad drivers on the road but an error of this magnitude is still a relatively rare event. For it to happen twice in the same spot within a number years is suggestive of a problem with signage and/or junction layout somewhere in the vicinity. Or one seriously bad driver with a bad memory.

username123 · 25-05-2013 3:16pm

I only narrowly avoided a head on collision by sheer luck 2 weeks ago when I attempted to exit the Setanta carpark in Dublin city centre. I stopped a little short of the card machine at the exit barrier and had to re-position the car to reach it - those few seconds saved me, there was a woman driving down the spiral exit ramp into the car park - totally oblivious. It would have been a completely blind collision, its a tight spiral lane, you cant see more than a couple of feet in front of you the whole way up and you certainly dont expect to meet oncoming traffic.

A couple of years ago on the M50 just before the Firhouse exit I passed a stopped car in the driving lane where the driver was consulting large paper map oblivious to the fact that he was stopped on a motorway.

Ive also encountered people driving the wrong way down an exit ramp at Ballymount - more than once actually, although the first occasion may have been more excusable due to road works and changed layout.

coylemj · 25-05-2013 3:54pm

Came out of Cork city once heading for Dublin so drove out past the Silver Springs and turned left at the Dunkettle roundabout only to narrowly avoid a collision with an idiot coming towards me, he obviously had taken the wrong exit so he did a U-turn and was driving back the wrong way to take a different exit!

dr.fuzzenstein · 25-05-2013 5:16pm

djimi wrote: »

This has nothing to do with the lack of motorway training to be fair; this person is simply criminally stupid and needs locking up for everyones safety.

It's more to do with the lack of training full stop. Though I agree, a fair amount of stupidity has to be involved.
There's a lot of motorists 50+ and they belong to the "shure, be grand" generation. They never had training, never passed a test and have a god-given entitlement to be on the road.
Also, that particular stretch of dual-carriageway has driveways from houses going out onto it.
I'm sorry, but that's just Oirish.
These people will think "If I turn left, I have to go all the way to Bunratty to turn, but I want to Cratloe, so let's just turn right, ah shure, be grand, there's two lanes, ah shure it's only for a little bit, ah be grand and if anyone says anything, I'm entitled to be on the road."
I once saw a Gard have a massive row with an auld farmer on a black bicycle going the wrong way on the motorway. I don't have to be able to lip-read to know what he said:"I've been cycling this way for 40 years and no one can tell me otherwise and I'm entitled to be on the road!"
The FIRST thing the Irish need to get out of their head is that they have some God-given entitlement to be on the road and do what they want.
It has to be impressed to people that they can earn the privilege to be on the road as long as they fulfill certain criteria. And it's not permanent either, if you're not able to fulfill these criteria anymore, you're off the road.
I think training and especially motorway training are badly needed in this country, because the government here seems to think "If we don't allow them on the motorway and give them zero training, they will be BRILLIANT drivers!" and then just ignore the entire world shouting at them.
That is thick as pigsh*t. Yes, whoever came up with that is a thick, ignorant, backwards, grunting, sweating, pint-swilling, lazy, inbred, thick bastard.

L1011 · 25-05-2013 5:25pm

actuallylike wrote: »

Would it be in the road planner's interest to put these on the back of all road signs?

They do, and they're putting motion-activated LED no-entry signs on some also (so they don't light up except when a car is detected going the wrong way). Won't stop an idiot u-turning.

Spook_ie · 25-05-2013 6:40pm

The implications of going the wrong way and it isn't always some confused old biddy, this women was only 20-30 according to report

http://news.sky.com/story/1095510/woman-dies-after-driving-wrong-way-up-m5

A woman who drove her car the wrong way along a motorway has died after her car collided with four vehicles, police said.

The victim, aged in her late 20s or early 30s, was driving a Ford Ka when the tragedy happened on the M5 in Somerset.

She drove the small blue car north up the southbound carriageway from Weston-super-Mare towards Clevedon at 12.30am, Avon and Somerset Police said.

"It was involved in separate collisions with two vehicles and was left stationary when it was hit by two more vehicles," a force spokesman said.

"Unfortunately the driver of the Ford Ka, a woman in her late twenties or early thirties, died at the scene."

The road was closed while the emergency services dealt with the incident and while police officers investigated the crash. It later re-opened.

The M5 is a key tourist route in the West Country.

EDIT :- Just spotted the previous posted newspaper articles

RainyDay · 25-05-2013 7:33pm

gutteruu wrote: »

That guy who died yesterday probably bought his license in the days before tests. He probably never done a test. Was never trained. What did we expect? Another one dead.

More likely that he got his licence when motorways didnt exist.

Kenny Logins · 25-05-2013 7:37pm

testicle · 25-05-2013 7:58pm

zerks wrote: »

Anyone who does this should be put off the road for a minimum of 12 months,it ranks up there with drink driving imo. as the potential for fatalities is so high.

She's dead. Is that not punishment enough for you?

Cantona's Collars · 25-05-2013 10:43pm

testicle wrote: »

She's dead. Is that not punishment enough for you?

Wasn't commenting on her per se,just the fact in general that anyone who is thick enough to drive the wrong way on a motorway clearly isn't fit to be behind the wheel of a vehicle.

hoodwinked · 26-05-2013 12:51am

testicle wrote: »

She's dead. Is that not punishment enough for you?

i'd rather she was alive and off the road tbh,

these deaths are preventable by not allowing people who drive like that on the roads...

Solair · 26-05-2013 1:07am

Honestly, I think if you're caught doing something like that you should have your driving license torn up pending a psychological / neurological / visual examination to prove you're actually competent to drive at all and complete driver retraining and re-testing.

It's just too dangerous to leave someone who has done something like that in charge of a vehicle.

ArseBurger · 26-05-2013 1:38am

http://www.eteknix.com/giant-stop-sign-projected-onto-a-makeshift-waterfall/

Waterfall stop signs would probably help.

Solair · 26-05-2013 1:44am

That'd be useful on tunnels, but you can't really do much when someone actually makes a full U-Turn on a dual carriageway.

The only thing I would say though is perhaps we should paint more arrows on the roads, especially on some of those old below-spec dual-carriageways that have entrances onto them.

Maybe just replace the yellow dashed line with yellow

> shapes?

It might be a help for drivers generally on our roads as we have to deal with a lot of continental drivers who are used to driving on the right.

Karl Stein · 26-05-2013 2:07am

testicle wrote: »

She's dead. Is that not punishment enough for you?

She's not the victim here so stop with the don't-speak-ill-of-the-dead bull**** peddling. The people she crashed into and might have killed are the victims here.

hi5 · 26-05-2013 10:53am

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/man-82-in-fatal-crash-drove-on-wrong-side-of-the-road-29294908.html

As a matter of interest, how would the guards go about intercepting someone driving on the wrong side of the road, do they too have to drive on the wrong side of the road?

gutteruu · 26-05-2013 6:23pm

hi5 wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/man-82-in-fatal-crash-drove-on-wrong-side-of-the-road-29294908.html

As a matter of interest, how would the guards go about intercepting someone driving on the wrong side of the road, do they too have to drive on the wrong side of the road?

The first time I came across someone driving the wrong way, the gaurds blocked the road behind me with flashing lights and crawled along in the middle of the road to hold back all traffic.

Victor Meldrew · 26-05-2013 9:14pm

Saw this thread a few days ago and now, thanks to two old dears in a Peugot 208 trying to drive up the off ramp at Arklow this morning, I can participate my anecdote.

Silver 208/308 (all pugs since the 306/106 have been rubbish) very old passenger and a late 60 year old "driver".

The exit is actually angled to make driving up it akin to a hairpin, and there is the big arrow with a red line through it.

Nuts..

Terrible about the old man in Tipp, . I know mobility and independence are a issue in rural Ireland, but at 82...

Frank Black · 27-05-2013 10:14am

I can see why previously there was some justification for not incorporating motorway driving into the driving test, but given the 100's of km of motorway that has been constructed over the last 5-6 years it is crazy we are not teaching learner drivers how to safely drive on these roads.
The driving test should be updated to reflect the current reality of everyday driving in Ireland.
Obviously it won't solve the problem of stupid behaviour from current drivers, but it should improve things in the years to come.

Alun · 27-05-2013 10:48am

It happens all over the world, even in that bastion of well trained motorway drivers, Germany. They call them 'Geisterfahrer', or 'ghost drivers'. So not a typical Irish problem, nor apparently, a lot to do with lack of suitable motorway training.

[Warning ... graphic images of some very nasty car crashes]
http://www.google.ie/search?q=Geisterfahrer&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5DmjUYrtHeSM7Aap14D4BQ&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=871

When I lived there, the RDS traffic alerts would alert other drivers to these incidents ... quite a chilling thing if all of a sudden your music is interrupted by a (loud) 'Geisterfahrer auf der A8' blaring out of the radio if that's the road you're on.

Frank Black · 27-05-2013 11:18am

Alun wrote: »

It happens all over the world, even in that bastion of well trained motorway drivers, Germany. They call them 'Geisterfahrer', or 'ghost drivers'. So not a typical Irish problem, nor apparently, a lot to do with lack of suitable motorway training.

[Warning ... graphic images of some very nasty car crashes]
http://www.google.ie/search?q=Geisterfahrer&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5DmjUYrtHeSM7Aap14D4BQ&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=871

When I lived there, the RDS traffic alerts would alert other drivers to these incidents ... quite a chilling thing if all of a sudden your music is interrupted by a (loud) 'Geisterfahrer auf der A8' blaring out of the radio if that's the road you're on.

Of course you will have some incidents of this despite any amount of signage or training, but that doesn't mean we should therefore not train people appropriately.
I have no idea of the relative frequency of these incidents in Ireland or Germany (or even if a proper register of such events is maintained), but it would be interesting to compare the number of events, factoring in for the amount of motorway km's travelled by drivers in each country.

Victor Meldrew · 27-05-2013 12:47pm

Frank Black wrote: »

given the 100's of km of motorway that has been constructed over the last 5-6 years it is crazy we are not teaching learner drivers how to safely drive on these roads.

I agree that all learners should be given tuition on how to drive at speed on motorways.

But....

How many cases are there of learner drivers (typically young people) doing this versus old people (many of whom have never sat a test) doing this.

I see this as a combination of Eyesight, Age, confusion and (lack of any) training.

gutteruu · 27-05-2013 4:25pm

Victor Meldrew wrote: »

But....

How many cases are there of learner drivers (typically young people) doing this versus old people (many of whom have never sat a test) doing this.

I see this as a combination of Eyesight, Age, confusion and (lack of any) training.

So lets train everyone. Lets do a safepass type, 1 day revision course every 10 years, to bring all people in Ireland up to date on the new roundabout rules that changed 6 or 7 years ago with no notice, motorway driving and all the other things they were never trained properly on or have changed since. Driving on Irish roads for work now is like an extreme sport.

If I was to ask everyone on here, what was the cause of a near miss or accident they had, I would bet my arm it had nothing to do with drink driving or speed. I would say it was because someone drove stupidly. But yet all our focus goes on drink and speed, even though the highest percentage of accidents occur between 10am and 4pm on the slowest driving day of the week (Sundays, according to RSA's stats)!

Why do we put up with it?

Tails142 · 27-05-2013 4:27pm

It's the at-grade junctions where people go wrong... yes its their stupidity but cost skimping by the government also has a part to play.

ardmacha · 27-05-2013 4:38pm

Driving on Irish roads for work now is like an extreme sport.

Let's not lose the run of ourselves, driving in Ireland has improved enormously and is one of the safest countries in the world.

That said a rules test every 10 years when you renew your licence seems reasonable. This could be multimedia test in this day and age.

hoodie6029 · 27-05-2013 6:13pm

ardmacha wrote: »

Let's not lose the run of ourselves, driving in Ireland has improved enormously and is one of the safest countries in the world.

That said a rules test every 10 years when you renew your licence seems reasonable. This could be multimedia test in this day and age.

Most sensible comment I've heard in Motors for a long time.

Driving standards have improved greatly. The drop in drivers and economic activity has contributed but has also given us the breathing space to educate and improve roads that we didn't have during the boom.

With the centres available already for the theory test this should be something very easy to implement.

Anyone Noel Brett or Leo Varadkar's numbers?

ardmacha · 27-05-2013 6:37pm

With the centres available already for the theory test this should be something very easy to implement.

And I would even go beyond these centres, have 10 year tests in your local school on a Saturday morning or Wednesday evening. Its not mean to be inconvenient, just to check that you are fully up to speed on the rules of of the road.

hoodie6029 · 27-05-2013 7:00pm

And if you get below a certain score, you have to resit and do a road test.
It'd probably have to be done a year before your licence is due to expire to give people the chance to do it and pass.

Frank Black · 27-05-2013 8:03pm

Tails142 wrote: »

It's the at-grade junctions where people go wrong... yes its their stupidity but cost skimping by the government also has a part to play.

What do you mean cost skimping?
It's not feasible or sensible to grade separate every junction.
Even grade separated junctions have roundabouts or T's at the end of the slips.

Victor Meldrew · 27-05-2013 8:53pm

ardmacha wrote: »

Let's not lose the run of ourselves, driving in Ireland has improved enormously and is one of the safest countries in the world.

That said a rules test every 10 years when you renew your licence seems reasonable. This could be multimedia test in this day and age.

A rules test and a few hours safety lectures would be sensible.

However, "Failure" , or fear of failure would make it political suicide.

That is why they can't get old people to hand over their licences in the US.

Wrong way..again!!!!

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