Mad drivers down the country

oleras

maidhc wrote:

That would be a more attractive proposition if you used paragraphs!

I think the "mad drivers" on rural roads are invariably locals, who have neither the time nor inclination to pull over and wait a few minutes. I know my dad drives just as fast, if not faster on such roads as I do - which while much faster than a non-native would drive isn't particuarly dangerous... e.g. you dont come into an unexpected bend too fast!

apologies for the lack of paragraphs.....lol.....


but on a more serious point, especially in the nice weather now, what are u gona do if you come around a bend and meet another car....no worries, but throw the 3 walkers into the equation....its tight enough for the 2 cars, let alone a car and truck to pass....... thats the big issue, these things happen, and if you are doing 50 or 60kmh you will not be able to stop, the unexpected does happen..... as i said, just because you think you can drive fast on back roads does not make you a more competent driver, whats the big thing about slowing down a bit ?? leave 5 mins earlier for crying out loud......

Wolverine_1999

You'll notice that most of the fatal accidents in Ireland occur at around 4 or 5 in the morning, showing obviously that alcohol must come into play. The problem is that although we may have ads which may be graphic, it's still only TV and everyone knows it's just staged. Local and national newspapers will always mention that "the car went out of control" never saying that the driver was pissed off his head and was nailing his own coffin shut.

It's time people recognise the reasons for accidents in the early morning, as there are some people as thick as the ditch in Ireland..

In relation to people getting killed on country roads, the chance of having an accident when intoxicated on a road 5 metres wide is a little higher than one with 3 or 4 lanes on either side?? :rolleyes:

I still don't understand how some people can speed along at 100kph on some roads where the car can barely hold itself together. The car gets destroyed on these roads. I remember seeing a documentary on boy racers there a few years ago on RTE, this complete scanger of a girl from Tralee said that "people with modified cars take care of their cars and are the least likely to cause accidents on the roads". The biggest bull**** I've ever heard in my life. Half of those shopping trolleys are falling apart because of how "well" they take care of their cars!

Mr. Presentable

Maybe it's a Mullingar thing;)

I overtook on the by-pass a woman at the wheel of her SUV breast feeding :eek:

And near the same place a couple of months ago, a bloke at the wheel, using his mobile, with a dog on his lap :eek: :eek: :eek:

I reported both, but is anything done if the guards themselves don't see it?

Wolverine_1999

nipplenuts wrote:

Maybe it's a Mullingar thing;)

I overtook on the by-pass a woman at the wheel of her SUV breast feeding :eek:

And near the same place a couple of months ago, a bloke at the wheel, using his mobile, with a dog on his lap :eek: :eek: :eek:

I reported both, but is anything done if the guards themselves don't see it?

A bit funny these...but unlikely anything will be done! If reported as dangerous driving, you'll either have to appear as a witness in District Court, (if charges are made), or the Guards will just visit them at home and tell them not to do it again :rolleyes:

elmyra

Hmmm....well I've only been driving for about two years, my first year in the country at home and now around Dublin. I have to say, I've seen equally crazy driving in Dublin as I have on the country roads, the only difference being that Dublin traffic means speed isn't the main factor, just plain recklessness and stupidity.

I can understand the temptation to drive faster on a road you're used to, but in general I think there are safe drivers and there are crazy drivers and it doesn't make much difference where they're located, it's probably just more obvious in the country cos there are bad roads.

commited

unkel wrote:

In my 7-series I felt 100km/h was the max I could safely do on the R392 under perfect conditions. In a family hatch, I would not have gone over 80km/h, let alone in a van

How come?

babybundy

i think dublin drives are the worse drivers up the keys at 10 on a sunday morning doing over 70 mph and i suppose i am worse for keeping up with him but god almighty at least speed within reason

unkel

Wow, plenty of responses. Thanks folks!

giveth wrote:

I think it proabably has to do with that fact that your much more likely to get caught speeding on the wide open roads, as this is where all the speed traps are.

That was my intitial thought too. Then again it must be a rural thing in it's own right. Very few people would drive at a lot less than the maximum speed on reasonable quality single carriageway R and N roads, as opposed to many people crawling along at 60km/h on M roads (mainly M50, granted)

BrianD3 wrote:

I have been tailgated and overtaken dangerously on R-roads then a few miles down the road when the R-road has led onto a M-way I've caught up with the assholes

Yep happened to me a good few times too. Why do people do that?

kluivert wrote:

Country driving is incrediblely dangerous. I was trying to be smart above but its not a joke

You've good points there. It is quite likely country drivers are better drivers than city drivers. But even the best driver in the world would not be safe doing 140km/h in a van on the R392

curiosity wrote:

Curious as to why you hold this opinion. Would you be good enough to elaborate?

commited wrote:

How come?

My car is long and wide. It is heavy. It has a 50-50 rear-front weight distribution. The traction control I always leave on in normal driving works amazingly well. The car has been professionaly lowered, the suspension stiffened and the brakes uprated. The tyres are upgraded and are low-profile and very wide The car is very stable and the centre of gravity is very low. To pick one of the above as a highlight, the brake power is extremely good. The braking distance in my car from 100-0km/h would be a lot better than in an average family hatch or van from 80-0km/h

@Nuttzy - LOL, I had a good laugh from your post

DublinWriter

kluivert wrote:

You dublin boys give out about driving on the M50 or M1 thats a piece of pee compared to country road driving.
...
You must be able to play chicken with overtaking cars.
...
You must be able to driving at least a metre from the car in front in order to drive safely.

Screw that. As a Dublin Boy living in the depths of Meath, I've seen no end of lunacy from both Cavan and Lithuanian regged cars on N-roads that the phrase 'twisty slurry covered pot holed boreen' wouldn't do justice to.

You should have added 'You must be prepared to become another death statistic' to the end of your list.

Just because you've grown up in the area since the year dot and you think know every little twist and bend in the road doesn't make you super-immune and invincible in your little souped-up *insert country 20-somethings car of choice here*.

The death stats at the end of every weekend speak for themselves. It's not the Dubs dying in cars in ditches by the side of the M50 every weekend, and considering the geographical concentration of people inside Dublin, the amount of deaths outside Dublin is staggering and usually make up 95% of the total road fatalities.

...and with attitudes to driving like yours kluivert, I ain't surprised.

layke

I have a question regarding accidents these days. when I was growing up Dublin was considered the most viable place to have an accident. Hence higher insurance costs (or so it was claimed). Now it seems whenever I hear an accident has happened it's always in some county top the west on some dodgy road.

Does the above still apply to Dublin or has the west surpassed us?

DublinWriter

layke wrote:

I have a question regarding accidents these days. when I was growing up Dublin was considered the most viable place to have an accident. Hence higher insurance costs (or so it was claimed). Now it seems whenever I hear an accident has happened it's always in some county top the west on some dodgy road.

Does the above still apply to Dublin or has the west surpassed us?

It was because Dublin had 'whiplash fever' between 1970 and the early 1990s, before Whiplish could be properly medically verified as being present in someone.

The slightest shunt ended up in claims of tens of thousands of punts. Statistically Dublin always had a high rate of non-fatal non-headline making accidents.

Secondly, car insurance isn't life insurance.

kluivert

DublinWriter wrote:

Screw that. As a Dublin Boy living in the depths of Meath, I've seen no end of lunacy from both Cavan and Lithuanian regged cars on N-roads that the phrase 'twisty slurry covered pot holed boreen' wouldn't do justice to.

You should have added 'You must be prepared to become another death statistic' to the end of your list.

Just because you've grown up in the area since the year dot and you think know every little twist and bend in the road doesn't make you super-immune and invincible in your little souped-up *insert country 20-somethings car of choice here*.

The death stats at the end of every weekend speak for themselves. It's not the Dubs dying in cars in ditches by the side of the M50 every weekend, and considering the geographical concentration of people inside Dublin, the amount of deaths outside Dublin is staggering and usually make up 95% of the total road fatalities.

...and with attitudes to driving like yours kluivert, I ain't surprised.

Am sorry but you have got to be joking because if you had of read the full post you would have read

Country driving is incrediblely dangerous. I was trying to be smart above but its not a joke

Frankly I am disappointed with what you said, you dont know me nor my attitude.

Please read that post again and apologise!

I have had two friends die on the roads, one of which was crushed under a lorry, I have wrote off my first car after been on the road only three months after i lost the rear end on wet grass going around a corner. My best friend was runned of the road on a corner by a lorry that couldnt take it properly. I never drive above 50mph on country roads Id say on average my speed is around 40mph, I dont take chances because I am aware of the studity on the roads these days and I love my life to much to throw it away.

After reading this you should have have realised that the list I posted was based on true events.

I am highly upset with your comment. You bulled into a reply without reading the post properly because it made a reference to a dublin person. I am sitting here in rage, you wouldnt believe.

...and with attitudes to driving like yours kluivert, I ain't surprised.

My initial comment about "Dublin Boys" referred to driving on the motorways, I believe the motorways are a great thing and there should be more of them as I believe they save lives.

Pigeon Reaper

I've seen all types of driving in all parts of the country. There are idiots everywhere. Personally I never drive faster than the conditions or speed limits allow.This has meant being overtaken on doulbe white lines by cars who are impatient. Personally I prefer driving slower and knowing I'll get there in one piece than pushing it and not getting there alive. I used to speed well above the limit where possible but came across an accident once where I saw what was left after a person crashed at 80kph after hitting a diesel spill from a truck. The guy seemingly knew the road but couldn't foresee the diesel on a bend.

base2

I think it is obviously you who likes to drive a bit slow. I'd have no problem with others doing 70mph on a quality back road. Was doing it last week when I was in a rush and it was fine.

Pigeon Reaper

I'll do the speed limit no problem if conditions permit. I admit it can be infuriating at times when you have a straight and it's safe to go faster but the law forbids it. What I'm talking about are bad roads with blind bends, uneven surfaces or god knows what around the next corner. When in Germany working I do drive at high speeds on the autobahns and have passed 130MPH on my bike but to consider doing the speeds some do on Irish R roads is insane. Personally if I want to drive at high speeds I go to Mondello or road racing where the roads are clear and you know whats around the bend. Personally I choose to be late rather than risk a bad accident or injuring someone else.

Stark

base2 wrote:

I think it is obviously you who likes to drive a bit slow. I'd have no problem with others doing 70mph on a quality back road. Was doing it last week when I was in a rush and it was fine.

Ah but not everyone has a bit of Dutch courage when they're driving.

That said, I was stuck behind camper vans doing less than 30mph on a 60 mile stretch of country road over the weekend. Successfully overtook one (had to wait for a queue of cars to overtake it) only to be stuck behind another one and its queue of cars 20 miles later. Seriously did my head in. Cars were attempting more and more dangerous overtaking manouvers the longer it dragged on for.

The worst thing is if there was an accident he'd be thinking "Well I was doing 30mph the whole way so I was a safe driver, bloody murderers on our roads..."

unkel

base2 wrote:

I think it is obviously you who likes to drive a bit slow

That aimed at me? If it is, I can assure you I do not like to drive slowly

Seth Brundle

base2 wrote:

I think it is obviously you who likes to drive a bit slow. I'd have no problem with others doing 70mph on a quality back road. Was doing it last week when I was in a rush and it was fine.

Some of the comments in this thread are getting really immature.
70mph (we have now gone metric BTW!) is a fast speed for many of our minor roads - especially those with many bends. the nature of our roads is such that a bend may be just a kink or a complete hairpin and usually there is no advance notice of it.
What happens if there is a kid playing, or loose cattle on the road just around the corner? What happens if there is a tractor with two big feck off round bale tynes sticking out behind it? What happens if there is an accident around the corner?
Even straight stretches are not always safe! The amount of times I have been involved in an overtaking manouvre (both overtaking and being overtaken) when some idiot pulls out of a side road without looking. Its very common!
And before Im labelled as being a "Driving Miss Daisy", Im certainly not one!

mike65

Someone reported some of the ****e on this thread but I think its best to let the wise heads show up the stupidity of the basebal cap style speed-freaks.

Mike.

babybundy

i am a young fella and i admit i do like to drive fast but i have no prob with someone going slow (with in reason) but its when they speed up and push out when the chance comes to over take really pisses me off

Victor

layke wrote:

I have a question regarding accidents these days. when I was growing up Dublin was considered the most viable place to have an accident. Hence higher insurance costs (or so it was claimed). Now it seems whenever I hear an accident has happened it's always in some county top the west on some dodgy road. Does the above still apply to Dublin or has the west surpassed us?

Not so simple. Its primarily down to the cost of settling claims.

The major cost in accidents are deaths and severe injuries. There are subsidiary factors like earning ability of a person and their life expectancy.

Now Dublin has higher earners and a younger population than say Leitrim, but fatal accidents have dropped a lot in the last decade in Dublin, but creeping up again.

unkel

mike65 wrote:

Someone reported some of the ****e on this thread but I think its best to let the wise heads show up the stupidity of the basebal cap style speed-freaks

I agree and I strongly feel it is best not to intervene unless it is absolutely necessary

I've made it known in the past that I am not a fan of bannings, closing threads or even posts edited by a mod, however I do realise that when it comes to abusive language, illegal comments or slander, there is no other option a mod can take

Back more or less a bit on topic...

Victor wrote:

Not so simple. Its primarily down to the cost of settling claims.

The major cost in accidents are deaths and severe injuries. There are subsidiary factors like earning ability of a person and their life expectancy

Indeed. Permanently and totally disabling a 30 year old high-earner with a young family and partner not working will cost many, many millions in direct compensation alone (for loss of earnings and medical bills)

Wolverine_1999

babybundy wrote:

i am a young fella and i admit i do like to drive fast but i have no prob with someone going slow (with in reason) but its when they speed up and push out when the chance comes to over take really pisses me off

I have to agree. They are only a danger to themselves and everyone else on the road with this kind of driving. I find it's usually middle aged women or older men who do it and it just drives you to beep like crazy when going past them just to show what kind of knobs they are..