Drackionian measures on our roads

Imposter

Originally posted by Victor
Do we have the same conditions as mainland Europe?

If you menas in terms of weather then no, Ireland has better conditions. If you mean in terms of the state of the roads, such roads exist albeit not as much (in that the quality is generally higher but some 'bad' roads exist).

No - it is necessary anywhere there is high pedestrian / vehicle conflict – housing estates / “homes zones”, shops, pubs, public buildings, playgrounds & parks (exits tend to be limited in number).

And the pedestrians jaywalking and stepping out in front of cars are obviously the driver's fault? Children are an exception.

Tehn agin most people only do 30mph so they can race to the next traffic lights.

And to me this a a traffic flow/traffic management problem. Is there one single route in Dublin, for example, where you can pass more than 5 sets of lights doing the speed limit (exactly) where all lights will be green?

Yes they do. Mostly busy crossing points and junctions, tight bends and humpback bridges and the like. However, inappropriate speed on main roads through towns is a major killer, in particular places like Dundalk (most dangerous place in the country) and Waterford City.

Fair enough lower speed limits or warning signs in these places.

The limits only apply to mechanically propelled vehicles. I have yet to hear of people being killed by a speeding cyclist – a bike just doesn’t have the killweight of a car.

I don't think just manually propelled vehicles is the law at the moment! It seems like you are only talking about pedestrians in this whole thing. A cyclist at 35kmh puts themselves in danger and could also seriously injure pedestrians, despite it being legal if you had your way.

Not really ridiculous when you realise virtually no pedestrian will survive a 40mph accident, some will survive a 30mph accident and most will survive a 20mph accident.

And if the car is on the footpath that's a problem but if the car's on the road and has right of way then it shouldn't be.

This is Ireland - think (a) road conditions (b) weather (c) people have problems sticking to limits already.

Obviously speed should be linked to road conditions. Weather is the responsibility of the driver to drive at a speed which matches the road conditions. After all it's legal for me where I am to drive 130kmh but if it's snowing or there's a possibility of patches of ice then i'm hardly likely to do that speed unless i've a death wish!

...and 40kmh over 1km.

With traffic light interuptions you'd be travelling faster over smaller distances.

As for your other post on your preferred limits some are way too low and frankly treat pedestrians like idiots, which although sometimes neccesary, is not always practicable or a good idea. Same goes for road users. They have to make safety decisions for themselves. Otherwise you'd have a system where speed limits are designed for an almost blind person with slow reactions driving in a raging blizzard on icy roads, lined with pedestrians and thus taking almost all of your factors into account. And that would be just stupid now, wouldn't it?

growler

there are really two issues here
1 speed this can be dealt with by cameras which pay for themselves very quickly and don't tie up garda resources from other things. cameras should be there as a deterant not to catch people out , their overall objective should be to reduce the average speed on the roads to whatever is judged an appropriate limit. In the UK they have big yellow painted speed cameras and even cardboard coppers on roadsides to slow down traffic. Ireland hs always had the mentality , enforced by idiotic police hiding in bushes, that speeding was something to be gotten away with, like a motorised game , very little emphasis was placed on general and personal safety aspect.

2 standard of driving
you couldn't increase spped limits or even build a real motorway network in ireland due to the inability of a significant minority to get themselves from A to B without putting other lives in danger , usually unwittingly , like the blind pensioner in the old cortina, the girl with the make up, the tractor with no lights at 11 at night etc. Until the rules governing who gets on the roads are tightened up and the existing idiots on the road taken off it or fined so much they stay off it , nothing can be changed.

Maybe we do need more draconian measures but only as a short sharp shock with a view to longer term improvement and safety.