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Crashes on the N40

ncmc

Is it just my imagination or has there been a huge increase in the number of crashes/fender benders on the N40 at busy commuter times. Seems to be mainly centered around the Bloomfield Interchange, but the whole stretch from the tunnel to Kinsale Rd roundabout seems to be an accident black spot. I'm just back to work after maternity leave and in the three weeks I'm back, I've been delayed 6 times (and I only work Monday - Thursday!) and this morning I see a tweet from 96FM saying there is another crash. Invariably even the smallest fender bender clogs up the whole road for 30 mins or more.

Looking at the behaviour of drivers it's not hard to see why it's happening, switching lanes with no warnings, driving way too close to the car in front, driving too fast for the conditions. But can anything be done? Could the speed limit be reduced at certain hours? Or would a garda presence for a few weeks make a difference? Or something be done with the traffic from Douglas so there isn't so much lane switches with no warning? It's got to the stage where allowing 50 mins from Dunkettle interchange to kinsale road isn't enough, it's very frustrating, I'm either 45 mins early or late!

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D'Agger

And the lives of others Viper_JB

AlonzoHarris

Aggressive drivers joining the South Ring from the Bloomfield interchange heading west, and cutting across 2 lanes into the overtaking lane as fast as possible are causing huge problems, many crashes and massive tailbacks along the main road.

The tailbacks heading west can go from Bloomfield back to Mahon point on some mornings due to these aggressive drivers joining from Bloomfield. I have witnessed a few tips over the last month as a result of these drivers trying to cut into the overtaking lane as soon as they join.

The tailback should be on the subsidiary road (Bloomfield) not the main road (South Ring).
Some sort of traffic calming for those cars joining the south ring from Bloomfield heading west would reduce the number of crashes and alleviate tailbacks on the main South Ring road.

mik_da_man

Both sets of drivers need more manners, it's a combination of the people on the ring not leaving space to merge and people from the carrigaline Road needing to join the ring road in the first 20m of the slip road for some reason.
There should be no real queues on either side if people merged properly.

Jimmy Bottles

Its nothing to do with this. The Douglas flyover is a pinch point and it needs to be widened to 3 lanes in each direction. 2 roads are combining into 1 and the road there simply doesn't have the capacity with only 2 lanes.

Roar

Yesterday I saw a guy over take me just before the first douglas turn off, then cut across three lanes to join said turn off. No wonder there's so many accidents when there's idiots like this driving like that.

Ludo

Jimmy Bottles wrote: »

Its nothing to do with this. The Douglas flyover is a pinch point and it needs to be widened to 3 lanes in each direction. 2 roads are combining into 1 and the road there simply doesn't have the capacity with only 2 lanes.

Still cant agree with this. I believe there are many contributing factors. The above is one and even if hundreds of millions was spent making it three lanes I bet there would still be delays due to all the other issues.
And it is not like it is a massive hour long delay. It is a few minutes generally unless there is an accident and I don't believe an extra lane isn't going to help with that. There will still be accidents there with all the lane hopping that goes on around that whole area between Sarsfield Roundabout and Mahon in both directions as people can't get themselves into the proper lane in good time but always need to overtake that one last car.
I personally would be horrified if any politician even suggested making this section three lanes. Much much better things to spend the money on.

Goldstein

The queue skippers and last minute lane changers are a massive problem and danger on the N40 too.

There need to be permanent plastic bollards placed between the two lanes in the hotspots below 50m before the lanes diverge to prevent this last second idiocy.

Before the Kinsale road flyover westbound - Speeders who have had all the time in the world to move into the appropriate lane do not do so until the last possible opportunity often forcing cars in the corect lane to brake to let them in. When a tailback from the Kinsale road roundabout had extended back that far I even saw a car stopped in the middle lane indicating in - absolute madness considering the volume of cars coming behind him all doing 100kmph and may not have had anywhere to go if there was a car in the overtaking lane outside them.

Before the Kinsale road flyover westbound - Speeders who have had all the time in the world to move into the appropriate lane do not do so until the last possible opportunity often forcing cars in the corect lane to brake to let them in. When a tailback from the Kinsale road roundabout had extended back that far I even saw a car stopped in the middle lane indicating in - absolute madness considering the volume of cars coming behind him all doing 100kmph and may not have had anywhere to go if there was a car in the overtaking lane outside them.

Before the two Douglas offramps eastbound - the number of lunatics in the Douglas lanes that just ver right out at the last second without looking is unnatural.

Before the Mahon Point offramp eastbound - this one is 100% queue skipper related - all the way up in the Mahon Point SC lane then indicate right into the tunnel lane to try to skip about 100 cars ahead in the queue.

Also leading up to the tunnel they need to place static bollards across the hard shoulder about 100m or 150m down from the Mahon Point offramp to prevent people driving up the hard shoulder then trying to barge in just before the tunnel. It's the height of ignorance. If there were even two sets of 3/4 bollards across the hard shoulder in two points everyone could stil use it as a hard shoulder - you just wouldn't be able to drive in it very far.

SpaceTime

My observation of the N40 and the M50 is that it's full of ignorant, aggressive drivers who will not allow anyone to merge. The result is dangerous merging, frustration and sudden lane chargers.

We don't teach motorway/dual carriageway driving and the N40 and M50 are the extreme examples as they're ring dustributor roads that suddenly present totally clueless drivers with intense traffic and complicated merges and multiple junctions all close together.

The result : semi organised chaos and frustration and fender benders.

Only solution is driver education and fool-proofing of signage and junctions.

We should definitely have "merge like a zip" signage and rules.

TINA1984

Another solution is variable speed limits at peak travelling times. Indeed, the Douglas flyover with its poor sight lines, lack of H/S and twisting nature could very well be a candidate for a permanently reduced speed limit.

kcb

It's a fair point made, about there not being any real form of education in the Irish licence system relating specifically to motorways.

It seems to be rampant in Ireland - people unable to stay in the merge lane for the full length of the lane.

This combined with idiots who make no allowance for merging traffic creates lethal situations.

Another phenomenon I see is (example Carrs Hill) people who straddle two lanes when traffic is backing up and merging into one lane. God forbid both lanes would be used and someone would go past them!

They call the Irish the saints and the scholars but it's not the case when it comes to Irish roads.

Missyelliot2

SpaceTime wrote: »

My observation of the N40 and the M50 is that it's full of ignorant, aggressive drivers who will not allow anyone to merge. The result is dangerous merging, frustration and sudden lane chargers.

We don't teach motorway/dual carriageway driving and the N40 and M50 are the extreme examples as they're ring dustributor roads that suddenly present totally clueless drivers with intense traffic and complicated merges and multiple junctions all close together.

The result : semi organised chaos and frustration and fender benders.

Only solution is driver education and fool-proofing of signage and junctions.

We should definitely have "merge like a zip" signage and rules.

Completely agree with you. Driving has become very aggressive. I was lucky enough to live in California for a year, where the speed limits are strict, observed and obeyed. Signs were clear and concise and you were warned about merges/turn-offs and exits 1km before it happened. It was so much calmer - and let's face it, if you end up a few cars ahead of the person you overtook....how much of a difference will that make to your life?
The Kinsale Road Roundabout is awful - partly due poor signage (but a lot of crashes can be assigned to driving!)

run_Forrest_run

TINA1984 wrote: »

Another solution is variable speed limits at peak travelling times. Indeed, the Douglas flyover with its poor sight lines, lack of H/S and twisting nature could very well be a candidate for a permanently reduced speed limit.

sure who is going to enforce that?

Outkast_IRE

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

sure who is going to enforce that?

Exactly they dont even enforce the 100km/hr speed limit in any serious way on the road.

hoodwinked

CORK: Reports of a collision on the northbound bore of the Jack Lynch Tunnel in right lane. http://theAA.ie/Roadwatch

shocker :eek:

and in the right lane too,

i get both lanes are used in the tunnel, but people need to STOP tailgating on the N40 was on it twice on Sunday and each time saw people driving at 100km/h or more up the arse of the car in front, it was so bad not even a 1 second rule could be applied never mind a 2 second rule.

grenache

hoodwinked wrote: »

shocker :eek:

and in the right lane too,

i get both lanes are used in the tunnel, but people need to STOP tailgating on the N40 was on it twice on Sunday and each time saw people driving at 100km/h or more up the arse of the car in front, it was so bad not even a 1 second rule could be applied never mind a 2 second rule.

It wouldn't happen as much if geriatric drivers stopped hogging the over-taking lane.

marno21

I would much prefer if people using the N25 east lane approaching the Dunkettle interchange used the right lane through the tunnel and people using N8 (W) and M8 (N) used the left. (not sure if there's 4 lanes approaching the roundabout or 3, I avoid the Dunkettle interchange where possible)

Need a lot more Gardai out on the N40, although that has been said enough already. Almost got hit last week by a man who came from the KRR (I was going eastbound) who decided to come out and cut across the 2 lanes into the overtaking lane (I was in the centre of the 3 lanes, in order to allow traffic from the KRR to merge effectively)

SpaceTime

I don't understand how this keeps happening to me on the Kinsale Road Roundabout.

Driving from Togher to "N40 anticlockwise" heading for the tunnel.

Enter roundabout... Follow signs, lights, arrows for N40 and just as I go to accelerate, the car to my left turns right across me from the outside lane and heads towards the airport.

I beep and gesticulate and the driver looks at me as if it's my fault that they've just driven right across my lane, contrary to all known driving and roundabout rules.

This has happened to me at least 6 times this year and it's giving me the impression that a high % of Cork drivers can't use roundabouts or are just inctediably stupid.

Also loads of drivers on normal roundabouts either don't indicate or worse: indicate to exit and then continue on blasting the horn when you enter assuming they're exiting because they've indicated to go off at the previous exit.

There are huge gaps in driver education here.

I'm also shocked at the really hesitant drivers who seem to be incapable of merging or handling things like a right turn at a small junction. How did they pass a test?

Driving along in the overtaking lane at 80km/h wondering why people are flashing at you is another one you see regularly.

Also high % of cars make lane changes without indicating at all. You see people weaving all over the place and nobody seems to enforce these things. I've never seen Garda Traffic Corps on the N40 they only seem to do the odd speed trap.

TheChizler

SpaceTime wrote: »

I don't understand how this keeps happening to me on the Kinsale Road Roundabout.

Driving from Togher to "N40 anticlockwise" heading for the tunnel.

Enter roundabout... Follow signs, lights, arrows for N40 and just as I go to accelerate, the car to my left turns right across me from the outside lane and heads towards the airport.

I beep and gesticulate and the driver looks at me as if it's my fault that they've just driven right across my lane, contrary to all known driving and roundabout rules.

That's why I stopped using the right hand lane years ago, too many people cutting across your path. Even though the right hand lane is the correct one for joining the N40 and continuing past Douglas. It's an unusual path as the right hand lane can go geometrically straight on.

The opposite commonly happens the opposite direction, if you're in the left lane going straight from Douglas to Togher you'll commonly be cut off by someone going from the middle lane to the airport.

People are unaware of signage and markings basically. Jebus help you if you try to follow the lane markings when taking any third exit on any of the three N40 roundabouts!

SpaceTime

A % of people seem to be aware of very little! The signage isn't bad at all.

ABajaninCork

I hate the Kinsale Rd Roundabout. Poorly signposted, and too many people simply don't know how to approach roundabouts properly.

The amount of times I've had to step on the brake/hit the horn because of idiots is unreal. The new layout at the Sarsfield Rd is awful too.

I'd like to shake the idiots who dreamed this hot mess up warmly by the throat!!

SpaceTime

I saw a guy blissfully sailing around the Glanmire Rd roundabout past all exits with his left indicator on yesterday wondering why a truck beeped at him.

ABajaninCork

At least he indicated!! So many drivers approach the roundabouts and trundle on their merry way expecting me to use ESP and KNOW where the hell they're going!!! :mad:

I was at the Dunkettle last week, wanting to go straight ahead. Not the first exit going to Glanmire, but the second one going to Midleton. I'm in the right hand lane, indicating right. Two cars already on the roundabout. No indicators. So I wait. Idiot in an X5 starts leaning on the horn.

He then wondered why I gave him the finger...

Padraig Mor

SpaceTime wrote: »

I don't understand how this keeps happening to me on the Kinsale Road Roundabout.

Driving from Togher to "N40 anticlockwise" heading for the tunnel.

Enter roundabout... Follow signs, lights, arrows for N40 and just as I go to accelerate, the car to my left turns right across me from the outside lane and heads towards the airport.

Mostly people coming from Kinsale Rd (by Woodies) I reckon. In fairness, it's difficult to get out from there at busy times - they usually only get a gap of maybe 2 seconds between sets of lights to their right, so I guess many of them just plough into the wrong lane, just to get onto the roundabout (not that that excuses going around in the wrong lane).

TheChizler

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Mostly people coming from Kinsale Rd (by Woodies) I reckon. In fairness, it's difficult to get out from there at busy times - they usually only get a gap of maybe 2 seconds between sets of lights to their right, so I guess many of them just plough into the wrong lane, just to get onto the roundabout (not that that excuses going around in the wrong lane).

Good point! Hadn't thought of that.

I could sympathize with their difficulty if they only indicated their intention, someone should let them into the correct lane to continue round. Unfortunately cut-offs normally only happen when you're surprised, if you can see what someone's trying to do you generally hold back and let them in. No hope of that happening when it's a case of close-your-eyes,-swing-into-the-lane-and-hope-for-the-best.

D'Agger

Very good point - for one of the main roundabouts in Cork City how is it that a road like the one from Woodies (which sees alot of traffic) doesn't have lights to regulate traffic, it's the only road into the roundabout that doesn't have lights, why?...although another set of lights on that roundabout would be ridiculous!

run_Forrest_run

D'Agger wrote: »

Very good point - for one of the main roundabouts in Cork City how is it that a road like the one from Woodies (which sees alot of traffic) doesn't have lights to regulate traffic, it's the only road into the roundabout that doesn't have lights, why?...although another set of lights on that roundabout would be ridiculous!

it really is utterly bananas that cars are allowed enter the roundabout from this side without a fair time shared slot like all the other entry points...it's as if the authorities said "era, it's grand as it is like...let's not go there".

I never approach the roundabout from that side due to the haphazard nature of it, I prefer to head down Mick Barry road and join from the link, it may be a bit longer but it feels a bit more 'controlled'.

SpaceTime

I agree it shouldn't have an uncontrolled route onto a signalised roundabout - it's causing huge delays for traffic too.

Dublin's full of somewhat insane roundabouts in the Northern suburbs in particular too.

Those kinds of junctions encourage people to take risks when they've been sitting there frustratedly waiting to get out.

54kroc

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

it really is utterly bananas that cars are allowed enter the roundabout from this side without a fair time shared slot like all the other entry points...it's as if the authorities said "era, it's grand as it is like...let's not go there".

I never approach the roundabout from that side due to the haphazard nature of it, I prefer to head down Mick Barry road and join from the link, it may be a bit longer but it feels a bit more 'controlled'.

I've always done this, it seems perfectly reasonable to do it, however if anyone is ever with me they never agree with me.

Ludo

54kroc wrote: »

I've always done this, it seems perfectly reasonable to do it, however if anyone is ever with me they never agree with me.

I always do it also. Even leaving Smyths I turn left and go round the long way. Probably just as quick sometimes judging by the time some people wait to turn right at Smyths exit.

Padraig Mor

run_Forrest_run wrote: »

I never approach the roundabout from that side due to the haphazard nature of it, I prefer to head down Mick Barry road and join from the link, it may be a bit longer but it feels a bit more 'controlled'.

I do the same. I'd hazard a guess that Kinsale Rd was left as the poor relation in terms of access as the bulk of traffic would have been expected to be coming from the South Ring and South Link.