Charlie Bird's car accident report on 6.1 last night

Big Balls

Dunno if any of you saw it but it really was such a waste of airtime.

Charlie was filmed driving his Saab coupe from the newer end of the M50 towards Wicklow via the N11.

He stuck to the speed limit and filmed people ''flying'' by him - on the motorway.

This was all to highlight how Irish drivers are ignoring speed limits and killing themselves.

Now maybe I'm wrong, but rarely are people killed on the motorways/carriageways he was using and rarely is speed alone the deciding factor.

So car after car goes by him on a road capable of twice the speed limit it has and Charlie is nearly in tears at how many people are going to die as a result.

The piece ends with the names of everyone killed in a car accident in July scrolling across the TV screen.

Here's the thing - out of EVERYONE killed in July, ONE name was belonging to a Dubliner. The rest were Galway, Limerick, Cavan, Sligo, Waterford etc etc and as sad as it was, I couldn't help but wonder WHY IN THE NAME OF GOD he was filming people going slightly over the speed limit on the M50 when it was clear at the end of his report that the majority of the fatal crashes he was raving about were not even on or near the roads he was driving on??!!

When will they get the message that going 20 kms over the speed limit on the M50 is not what is causing the road carnage????

JoeA3

Yeah, I saw it too. Cringeworthy. Completely missed the point.

jd

I'm not going to repeat what I said in another forum on boards..~:)
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054969756

Alun

Didn't see it but know that stretch of road very well.

The last few kms of the M50 before hitting the M11 are usually fairly empty even at the best of times, and a few km/h over the limit won't do anyone any harm. The problem is when you get to the M11 junction, you get people coming from Loughlinstown trying to merge the very second the dashed line appears (or often earlier!) even though they've got a good few 100's of metres left before they have to, and then try to do this at speeds of 80km/h. After that, especially if the road is even slightly busy you'll be lucky to even reach the speed limit, let alone exceed it, with people still dawdling along at 80km/h in a 120km/h limit, who then sudenly swerve into the overtaking lane when they see a potential merging car half a mile ahead.

Thngs then only get worse as you approach the Bray / Greystones exit where everything slows down a notch for no apaprent reason, followed by that ludicrous 60km/h limit at Kilmacanogue. It isn't until after that that things really get moving again, and then you're faced with a not-too-busy motorway grade road with a 100km/h limit.

EDIT: Just watched it on the RTE website ... cringeworthy indeed. I don't think those cars were doing much more than 15-20km/h more than he was, and if he was sticking to an indicated 100km/h (i.e. probably closer to 90km/h actual) on his speedo they weren't going that much over the limit.

Robbo

It's not like Charlie Bird to be overdramatic, is it?

IrishRover

Well written post there Big Balls. Didn't see the programme on tv, but you describe how those who are in a position to do something that would genuinely have an affect on road safety either really don't get the point you just made very clear or else there is some other agenda where they a deliberately overlooking this seemingly glaringly obvious fact re where and when the deaths are actually happening.

I keep remembering one thing that someone else said on a similar thread a while back that many of the roads in Ireland could be considered to be attempted murder all by themselves! (Eg: huge potholes on your side of the road coming up to a blind bend that force you to take the wrong side of the road or else lose your wheel and sump).

el tel

As usual, some insightful reportage from Charlie, out there in the field risking life and limb for the TV viewing masses :rolleyes:

Wasn't this the muppet rescued by helicopter when he got stuck up a mountain in Wicklow?

Alun

Alun wrote:

followed by that ludicrous 60km/h limit at Kilmacanogue.

Yes I'm on that often.Yesterday I slowed down as usual in the Right hand lane only to be passed by a Rosslare-Dublin Bus Éireann bus on the left doing at a guess 85 or 90 km/hr...

Does the Garda speed trap thats regularally there catch Bus Éireann busses as well??

ferdi

just cause ye dont agree with the speed limit dosnt mean you dont have to observe it.

the funniest bit of charlie's report was the fact that he spent the majority of that journey looking behind him and at the other cars passing him, rather than the road infront of him

prospect

Earthman wrote:

Yes I'm on that often.Yesterday I slowed down as usual in the Right hand lane only to be passed by a Rosslare-Dublin Bus Éireann bus on the left doing at a guess 85 or 90 km/hr...

I am assuming you were turning right ahead (or the left lane was left turn only), otherwise you had no business being in the Right Hand Lane if the left lane was clear enough for a coach to pass you at a higher speed than you were travelling.

ismynametoolong

This had to be the most Pi$$ poor report i have ever seen on any topic !
No doubt Charlie was able to claim business expenses for that trip !!
Great to see the € 155 Licence fee been put to great use .
With the exception of Israel i know its a slow news month but even the old Bird should have known this report was terrible .If your going to jump on the band wagon Charlie why not get out of bed at 2 or 3 am and film the potential single car incidents on all our back roads !!!!

homerjk

Not to speak ill of the dead, but the old stick that the media and insurance companies use about young male drivers causing all the accidents doesnt really hold up in that crap clip either. I counted 7 young males out of the 38 people in that list. Thats around 18%. what's that percentage they used to roll out when people complained about this?
Im sure i heard it somewhere that young males caused 40% of accidents and i always thought this was a riduculously high amount.
Not saying that this clip is concrete evidence that they aren't very bad drivers beacuse i know that a lot of them are...

aphex™

Do you guys think the people who were breaking the speed limit on the M50 automatically observe the speed limits when they go on to other roads?

No, they do even more stupid overtaking manovers and even more tailgating.

Alun

prospect wrote:

I am assuming you were turning right ahead (or the left lane was left turn only), otherwise you had no business being in the Right Hand Lane if the left lane was clear enough for a coach to pass you at a higher speed than you were travelling.

All well and good in theory, but in practice since the 60km/h limit coincides with a junction designed by someone with apparently only half a brain (a petrol station which exits onto an OFF ramp!) the outside lane is actually the safest place to be. Plus if you happen to be there at the point when the limit starts, because you're in the process of overtaking someone, and actually slow down to 60km/h, your chances of getting back into the inside lane before the limit ends a short way up the road are vanishingly small.

I sugest you try it some time and get back to us.

Alun

aphex&#8482 wrote:

Do you guys think the people who were breaking the speed limit on the M50 automatically observe the speed limits when they go on to other roads?

No, they do even more stupid overtaking manovers and even more tailgating.

Nope, can't see the automatic connection there. I "speed" on the M50, never, ever tailgate and only do sensible and safe overtaking manoeuvres.

homerjk

homerjk wrote:

young male drivers causing all the accidents doesnt really hold up in that crap clip either. I counted 7 young males out of the 38 people in that list.

Im sure i heard it somewhere that young males caused 40% of accidents

you can cause a crash and not die...



Emmet

gyppo

Charlie Bird's reportage of speeding was indeed cringeworthy.

However, I think an important point is being overlooked here - The speed limit was being broken.
The speed limit is the maximum permissible limit you can drive on a road under optimum conditions.

Big Balls wrote:

rarely is speed alone the deciding factor.

Not in itself, but its certainly a contributary factor.

I agree that the road he filmed on is probably one of the safer ones in the country - however, if you were going filming people speeding, where would you film?
Would you go to a back road where the fatalities are actually occurring, and spend god knows how long filming - or would you go to a busy road, and prove your point (the speed limit is being broken) in half an hour?

Big Balls wrote:

When will they get the message that going 20 kms over the speed limit on the M50 is not what is causing the road carnage????

A guard told me their rationale behind setting speed camera's on good M and N grade roads - Habitual speeders who break the limit on good roads are just as likely to break the limit on bad roads.
Before anyone takes a bite out of me, they were the guards words, not mine.

HelterSkelter

The most recent available accident statistics (2004) show that 1 person died on the M50 that year. It had one of the lowest accident rates in the country (0.03 accidents per 1,000,000 vehicle km)

Vegeta

In my opinion if you speed on a motorway or dual carriageway, you'll speed whenever given the chance on other roads aswell.

People will try and defend speeding by saying that motorways are safe places for speed. That's opinion though and illegal in this case.

prospect

Alun wrote:

All well and good in theory, but in practice since the 60km/h limit coincides with a junction designed by someone with apparently only half a brain (a petrol station which exits onto an OFF ramp!) the outside lane is actually the safest place to be. Plus if you happen to be there at the point when the limit starts, because you're in the process of overtaking someone, and actually slow down to 60km/h, your chances of getting back into the inside lane before the limit ends a short way up the road are vanishingly small.

I sugest you try it some time and get back to us.

That is all well and good, but if there was enough space for a coach to 'undertake' at 90kmh, then there was enough space for the car in the right lane to move onto the correct road position.

Anyway, I am only pointing it out 'just in case' the person who posted it is one of the multitude of right lane hoggers on our roads.

prospect

Vegeta wrote:

In my opinion if you speed on a motorway or dual carriageway, you'll speed whenever given the chance on other roads aswell.

People will try and defend speeding by saying that motorways are safe places for speed. That's opinion though and illegal in this case.

I agree.

However, the report should have shown the country roads bit. It would have illustrated the dangers more graphically....

seamus

He should have spent a day driving up and down the N81, and then editing the footage to show the worst manouvers. I don't think it's fair to say that speeding on the "slow" section of the M50 highlights the larger problem. That said, I didn't see the report - I'm assuming that most people only cruised by Charlie and weren't thundering along at 150km/h.

Alun

seamus wrote:

He should have spent a day driving up and down the N81, and then editing the footage to show the worst manouvers. I don't think it's fair to say that speeding on the "slow" section of the M50 highlights the larger problem. That said, I didn't see the report - I'm assuming that most people only cruised by Charlie and weren't thundering along at 150km/h.

You can see it for yourself here ...

http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/228-2161809.smil

The Muppet

prospect wrote:

Anyway, I am only pointing it out 'just in case' the person who posted it is one of the multitude of right lane hoggers on our roads.

I'd hazzard a guess and say he won't be.



The report is a joke, the M50 is a joke , Irelands largest carpark most of the time not a chance of exceeding the limit even if you wanted to..

smarty

I just watched the report online (http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/228-2161808.smil).

It was pathetic. He claimed that drivers were going "way" over 100kmph. I disagree.

The international standard for motor vehicle speedometer accuracy is 10%. Charlie was using the standard car speedometer for checking his speed, so it is quite possible that he was driving at 90kmph. I don't know if the cars that overtook were doing more than 10kmph more than him.

He also complained about a BMW tailgating him. However Charlie was sitting in the overtaking lane, and did not appear to be overtaking.

I do agree that drivers who speed on motorways are more likely to speed on other routes, but this really is a non story.

Is there any investigative reporter out there who could do a check to see if Charlie has ever had any driving offences or penalty points in the past?

Also, I wonder what odds Paddy Powers would give on Charlie being banned for speeding or drink driving within the next 12 months?

Alun

smarty wrote:

Is there any investigative reporter out there who could do a check to see if Charlie has ever had any driving offences or penalty points in the past?

Personally I'm half considering waiting in the petrol station in Ashford one morning until a dark blue Saab cabrio goes by and following him along the N11 to see if he really sticks to 100km/h or if he's just doing it for the cameras. Now, that'd be a story

Cyrus

smarty wrote:

I just watched the report online (http://dynamic.rte.ie/av/228-2161808.smil).

It was pathetic. He claimed that drivers were going "way" over 100kmph. I disagree.

The international standard for motor vehicle speedometer accuracy is 10%. Charlie was using the standard car speedometer for checking his speed, so it is quite possible that he was driving at 90kmph. I don't know if the cars that overtook were doing more than 10kmph more than him.

He also complained about a BMW tailgating him. However Charlie was sitting in the overtaking lane, and did not appear to be overtaking.

I do agree that drivers who speed on motorways are more likely to speed on other routes, but this really is a non story.

Is there any investigative reporter out there who could do a check to see if Charlie has ever had any driving offences or penalty points in the past?

Also, I wonder what odds Paddy Powers would give on Charlie being banned for speeding or drink driving within the next 12 months?

that was the worse bit, him in the outside lane complaining about a bmw right behind him, move over charlie

oh and watch the road in front not behind

IrishRover

Vegeta wrote:

In my opinion if you speed on a motorway or dual carriageway, you'll speed whenever given the chance on other roads aswell.

People will try and defend speeding by saying that motorways are safe places for speed. That's opinion though and illegal in this case.

You qualified your own assertion by saying "in my opinion" and then in your second sentence you seem to imply that you disagree with what seems like a reasonable assertion because it is "opinion".

I haven't watched it at that link yet, but looking at it from another way, even if it wasn't his intention, could Charlie Bird actually be demonstrating that the speed limits on (at least some sections of) the M50 and N11 are too low?

omega man

What a joke of a report. I was enraged watching it. It has done nothing
for the very serious issue of road deaths in Ireland. Charlie should be out
in the Lebenon instead of trying to catch people driving 'dangerously' on
a dual carraige way. What an idiot!

gyppo

IrishRover wrote:

I haven't watched it at that link yet, but looking at it from another way, even if it wasn't his intention, could Charlie Bird actually be demonstrating that the speed limits on (at least some sections of) the M50 and N11 are too low?

I think your point is irrelevant. What is relevant is his attempt to show that current (not some time in the future) speed limits are being broken. Whether you personally agree/comply with the current limit is your own choice - the fact is that the current legal limit is in force, and if a driver gets penalty points by breaking it, then tuff sh1t paddy.

Maxwell

The first poster summed it up perfectly - good post.

Im all for the RTE highlighting the problems in this country, but to highlighting speeding in relation to deaths on the roads on THE BEST ROAD in the country is just plain ridiculous.

As other posters said, why don't they just drive up and down the backroads of the country where the people are actually dying - not up and down the best road the country has (surface wise)

My opinon is that most people speed and I don't condone it, but there is a big difference between "speeding" at 110kmph instead of 100kmph on the largest motorway in Ireland and doing 120kmph on the backroads between towns on roads that are built for horse and carts.