Has ignoring red lights gotten a lot worse?

Weepsie wrote: »

How do you mean? Amber is the one you stop on unless it's unsafe to do so. It doesn't matter a jot how the long the sequence is, as soon as that's amber that means you should be ready to stop unless you really can't.

People keep going however, and treat it like " ah you've a few seconds til you have to stop" and 4-5 cars squeeze on through. In reality, only that first car should ever be in a position that it has to proceed through an amber light because it is close to the stop line.

You stop on amber. Simple as. It's written in very plain english in the Road Traffic Act.

I got rear ended by a truck a few years back. As I was still ages away from the lights, they turned amber, so I slowed and stopped at the light (they were red by the time I actually got to them). About 3 or 4 seconds later a truck thumped into me. The truck driver said he didn't think I'd stop. Given how far he was behind me either he completely wasn't paying attention, or saw the amber light from even further back and put his foot down at that stage.

I don't understand stuff like this. It's so easy to fix and it'd be a money maker too which pays for the fix. And if it make more money than it costs to run put the money into the Gardai.

Pop a camera on the light and take a photo of every car going through on red. Penalty points and a fine in the post. The red light runners wouldn't be long improving their observance of the red lights.

AND the guy in the OPs post had 32 previous convictions (one for drink driving and another ban from 2012). I don't know how many other were for driving offences. We need to get to a stage where if you have X amount of convictions we start getting serious about making sure that these people don't cause more death or injury to people who actually bother following the laws. In this case a 6 year old is dead. That shouldn't be acceptable to anybody.

Dravokivich wrote: »

From my recollection of reading it, Right of Way in the junction after a red, makes no distinction as to why you ended up in that junction, with a red light from where you came. Just that you are there and need to clear the junction, without others impeeding you, even if they have a green light. That'll need to be addressed before putting up Red Light Cameras. I'm not condoning it, just indicating what this thread is pushing, isn't simply a matter of sticking a few cameras up.

If the amber comes up, and I don't have the distance to stop in a manner that isn't abrupt, I'll go through it. Unless I see something else around the junction that requires me to stop abruptly.

I ain't one for speeding either. I'm genuinely not the kind to be in a rush to get anywhere. But the Ambers aren't usually set to the distance required to stop safely, for the speed limit on the road. They are just to tell you that the red light is coming up in the sequence.

You should be prepared and able to stop especially at junctions, there can be pedestrian crossings, or people with limited ability or experience to understand the speed of vehicles (ie children) you dont have a right of way to proceed, just to proceed with caution, so you cant plough on through just because you need/want to complete your maneuver. Saying amber is a sign that a red is coming up, well yes, but even if there is a green light you should be prepared and able to stop.

mickoneill31 wrote: »

I don't understand stuff like this. It's so easy to fix and it'd be a money maker too which pays for the fix. And if it make more money than it costs to run put the money into the Gardai.

Pop a camera on the light and take a photo of every car going through on red. Penalty points and a fine in the post. The red light runners wouldn't be long improving their observance of the red lights.

AND the guy in the OPs post had 32 previous convictions (one for drink driving and another ban from 2012). I don't know how many other were for driving offences. We need to get to a stage where if you have X amount of convictions we start getting serious about making sure that these people don't cause more death or injury to people who actually bother following the laws. In this case a 6 year old is dead. That shouldn't be acceptable to anybody.

I do not know how they can even speak of forgiveness,

It has reached the point where you would need cameras at every junction, I cant see a public body running it efficiently, a private company should be allowed and would be needed to run it, 50% of any penalties should be paid to the state and be ringfenced for dealing with traffic problems and enforcement. The Gardai dont care, Im not really sure what they care about or do, I dont get the impression if their numbers were increased or if they were better funded that they would do any better or be bothered. The Uk has automated systems to deal with this and Gardai should not be wasting time and resources when penalties could be managed automatically with some limited administration.
Timing of lights and introducing an amber before green, while not directly linked to the problems mentioned at least might help improve use of time available at the lights. There are a pair of light sets in close proximity to each other, near me and there is no logic in the timing between them, one set comes on and immediately you get through them and the next set is going red, but the timing is unusual as it seems to vary slightly, sometimes you will get a red well in advance, other times it stays green for longer, whats apparent is that traffic coming from a crossing lane always jumps and persists for a number of cars when you can see their light is red, while I think poor design of the timing can lead to problems, people shouldnt be breaking them, but there doesnt seem any obvious means to try and deal with it.

Its an endemic in Dublin and is getting worse as there is zero enforcement or consquesde for breaking a red light.
Yesterday I was stopped at the lights at the old Griffith avenue Garda station & counted 5 cars that broke the red light.
Further up the road at the Collins avenue beside Whitehall Church, I counted
8 cars that broke the red lights.

I've been thinking about that little boy since it happened over a year ago. It was right outside my parent's estate, the house I lived in for several years. I still cross at those lights regularly with my own children. The teddies and stuffed toys are still pinned to the wall beside it in tribute to Cian.

That boy did everything right but a man who wasn't bothered stopping for the light killed him.

It made me think a lot about crossings in this country. I genuinely think that pedestrian crossings with lights are flawed as they encourage the driver to focus on the light rather than on the pedestrians themselves. In other countries they use zebra crossings a lot more and it moves the drivers attention to the pedestrians rather than some pole with a light on it. I think having the emphasis on drivers to pay attention to and cede to actual people would be better. It's easy to break a light - it's just a light. But if you see an actual person there it's harder, I think, to ignore them. Also, a zebra crossing puts an emphasis on the pedestrian to only cross when the cars are actually stopped as opposed to obeying a light which is ultimately meaningless, as was so horribly demonstrated in this case.

That poor family though. It's just too much.

cameras are the solution.
when someone gets a notice of fine/points in the door and the reason why maybe then the message will get through.

the disregard for the pedestrian crossing near our local supervalu, a crossing used by adults and kids all day, is frightening.
i used to think it was just young lads driving through the red but ive seen men old enough to know better and women, some with kids on board, sail through.

then you have the one who sails through the red and on the phone. ain't life grand *sigh*

breakemall wrote: »

I was the front car at a roadworks "Stop-Go" yesterday when a driver became inpatient and came up on the inside, driving along the footpath. The guy holding the stop sign had to look twice as he could not believe what he was seeing.

Having navigated around the road works the driver then gunned it down the road because the permanent traffic lights were by this stage amber, before going through the junction well after they became red.

Drivers/cyclists/pedestrians breaking red lights is now nearly the norm, but what are the odds of them getting caught and even if they do get caught, what will happen?

Many drivers have dash cams now (some stills from yesterday now attached), so maybe the way forward is for the Gardai to set up a portal where you could upload offenders and they would deal with it? The increased risk of getting caught might then make some of these plonkers think twice?

Did you report that?
I would.

mfceiling wrote: »

Drivers do not care. The yellow box at the junction of templeogue road and terenure road is basically just for sitting in.
The extent the other day was a lad sitting in it and texting away without a care for the rest of us having to try and swing around him. I blared the horn and pointed at the ground and gave him the "wànker" salute but he didn't give a shiny shìt.

Twice recently I have been crossing there with children when cars have not only broken the red light but actually saw us crossing and still kept driving...

Stark wrote: »

One thing I would like if enforcement is to be more strict is to have some sort of "turn left on red" rule like they do in other countries ("turn right on red" usually being the rule there as they drive on the right). For most junctions in Dublin, there seems to be a ridiculous amount of time where traffic is stopped at a junction but nothing is moving through in the other direction. Allowing people to turn left on red while yielding to pedestrians would allow much more flow and mean less sitting around feeling like you're stopped for no reason. I'm sure there'll be the usual "oh that wouldn't work with Irish drivers" objections but I've seen it work well in cities with far more aggressive drivers.

it would be too confusing for people to understand, plus there are lots of pedestrian lights included at junctions here especially in busy junctions, maybe not so much in the US. Things would work if people obeyed the existing lights, it's probably busier now, so more traffic and the same roads, rushing from one queue to the next doesn't save time, although I think if we had amber before green it would help make use of the green light time available, still need cameras to enforce red lights and penalise those that won't comply, no doubt we will all pay for it, but it's one thing I think is necessary and worth it, too many willing to take a chance and not consider the consequences to others.

Here is a good example. Nearly took a motorbike out of it.

Yes. Zero visibility or enforcement by Gardai has led to the problem deteriorating rapidly in the past few years.

Meanwhile the Garda press office and the dubiously named RSA are putting all their efforts into making sure all non car users of our roads are aware they should be clad in in yellow vests. Because if ya aren't, you will be blamed when a car runs a red light and mows you down.