Irish Drivers - Have we gotten that bad?

Bluetonic

Rovi wrote:

No, not agreed.

How on earth do you drive along at a steady pace using this 'system?'

Let me simply this.

Do you think you are more in control of a car whilst?

(a) accelerating or braking
(b) coasting

As a hint, you'd fail the driving test for coasting.

I don't for one minute minute disagree that you can't slow down by deaccelerating, and you don't always have to touch the brake. My original comment is based on the OP saying 'i just stop accelerating', which I take to mean he lifts his foot off the accelerator and coasts. Maybe he means he deaccelerates.

Heinrich

Gil_Dub wrote:

I'm not modifying my 'arguement'. Let me spell it out for you:

If you're overtaking, you have business in the overtaking lane.

If you're moving right *solely* to allow traffic onto the motorway, you have no business being in the overtaking lane.

Is that simple enough? Or is the pedant in you chomping at the bit to come back with some other petty retort? If so, may I suggest you go play with yourself instead?

Petty retort of the day.:rolleyes:

Good driving is based on using your head. If the overtaking lane is solely for overtaking then why is it jam packed as you claim? As the OP stated, if there is nothing in the overtaking lane and he feels comfortable by temporarily moving there then there is no harm in that. However , on the subject of pedatry please review your second and third paragraphs! That is pedantry.

Always enjoy an intelligent comment as per the red highlights.

Tabnabs

Um, you do understand exactly what coasting means don't you? i.e. with the clutch fully pressed down. No one here has mentioned anything at all about doing that...

unkel

I'd hate to be a passenger in your car, Bluetonic

Zapho

Bluetonic wrote:

Easing off one to the other, not immediate shifts from one to the other.

Simple matter is if your not on one of the other while your car is moving your less in control of your vehicle, agreed?

Competely disagree. Once your engine is connected directly to your wheels, you are in full control of your car. Coasting is the only situation that you don't have full control of your car.
By what you've just said, you either have to be accelerating or braking all the time, no in between. Now besides the absolute waste of fuel that is, and of course the hard time you're gonna have keeping your car under the speed limit, how on earth can you explain that you're in control of your car by doing this?

Anyway what annoys me most on Irish roads (bearing in mind, I don't have any experience driving in foreign countries so I don't know what its like elsewhere) is the improper use or complete lack of use of indicators. Especially on roundabouts. Its not only annoying for drivers, but pedestrians too!

ballooba

Dr. Loon wrote:

Truly unbelievable! Was just thinking about this today as I attempted to merge with a bunch of tailgaiting pricks! It is amazingly dangerous, it's so short.

Use the lane for the Airport and merge further up the road. Unorthodox but safer.

Bluetonic

Dyflin wrote:

No one here has mentioned anything at all about doing that...

I should just stop myself any further, I appear to be making up parts of this thread in my head that don't exist!

Opps! Was sure I read something different!!! I blame too much coffee in the morning.

cornbb

Rovi wrote:

No, not agreed.

How on earth do you drive along at a steady pace using this 'system?'

If you are just driving along steadily at 100kph or whatever its necessary to keep constant pressure on the accelerator to keep the car moving, unless you are going downhill or something. Maybe the confusion here is the difference between "accelerating" and "keeping your foot down on the accelerator", which doesn't necessarily equate to accelerating. If intending to slow down you should use the brakes, not just drift. Of course it can be done steadily/smoothly.

ballooba

cyclopath2001 wrote:

Meanwhile, you've got two lanes of traffic coming down the ramp on your left doing 120+, overtaking on the inside and looking to slip through the gaps and merge into the already busy outside lane on your right.

Speed limit on the slip is 80kmph AFAIR.

siralfalot

Zapho wrote:

Competely disagree. Once your engine is connected directly to your wheels, you are in full control of your car. Coasting is the only situation that you don't have full control of your car.
By what you've just said, you either have to be accelerating or braking all the time, no in between. Now besides the absolute waste of fuel that is, and of course the hard time you're gonna have keeping your car under the speed limit, how on earth can you explain that you're in control of your car by doing this?

exactly

Zapho wrote:

Anyway what annoys me most on Irish roads (bearing in mind, I don't have any experience driving in foreign countries so I don't know what its like elsewhere) is the improper use or complete lack of use of indicators. Especially on roundabouts. Its not only annoying for drivers, but pedestrians too!

roundabouts in this country are a disaster, nobody seems to know, A. which is the proper lane to use, and B. how to use indicators on them

Wook

Zapho wrote:

Anyway what annoys me most on Irish roads is the improper use or complete lack of use of indicators. Especially on roundabouts. Its not only annoying for drivers, but pedestrians too!

signed , agreed, my pet hate from drivers

xabi

Gil_Dub wrote:

If you're moving right *solely* to allow traffic onto the motorway, you have no business being in the overtaking lane.

Thats wrong, the overtaking lane can be used to accommodate merging traffic.

X.

Fey!

For point motorway merging; in a lot of countries, every second car must allow a merge, so that the traffic becomes motorway/merger/motorway/merger/etc...

As for the "decelerating" issue, as said above, taking your foot off the accelerator to slow down whilst in gear isn't coasting.

Plissken1

siralfalot wrote:

exactly




roundabouts in this country are a disaster, nobody seems to know, A. which is the proper lane to use, and B. how to use indicators on them

Yes, and the biggest offenders are people with full licences, they seem to think they no longer have to follow the rules once they have that pink bit of paper. You need a crystal ball on your dash board, so you can work out what the other driver is going to do next.

ballooba

Plissken1 wrote:

Yes, and the biggest offenders are people with full licences, they seem to think they no longer have to follow the rules once they have that pink bit of paper. You need a crystal ball on your dash board, so you can work out what the other driver is going to do next.

That's actually a funny angle on it I have never heard. I personally use roundabouts properly because I don't want to be in an accident. I think you may be referring to people who got their licences before roundabouts existed and don't actually know how to use them. This is why I think traffic school would be a good idea in this country for people with a certain level of points or specific offences.

stovelid

Can I add drivers trying to merge at a snail's pace. :mad:

I've been behind the same car - twice- recently as they crawl down the slip onto the M50 at Firhouse, obviously afraid to merge. The last time she actually came to a halt in the slip lane!!! This sums up Ireland for me. Too afraid to use the motorway but selfish enough to insist on using it for convenience.

layke

Heinrich wrote:

Petty retort of the day.:rolleyes:

Good driving is based on using your head. If the overtaking lane is solely for overtaking then why is it jam packed as you claim? As the OP stated, if there is nothing in the overtaking lane and he feels comfortable by temporarily moving there then there is no harm in that. However , on the subject of pedatry please review your second and third paragraphs! That is pedantry.

Always enjoy an intelligent comment as per the red highlights.

People are tits. It's because people don't drive at the speed limit in the driving lane so everyone hops into the overtaking to drive faster. I am no exception to this either, suffice to say if the lane is clear or moving at the correct speed i'll happily drive in it. This really only happens because someone decides to do say 80km/h on the m50 and leave a huge tail so you get people overtaking 20 cars or so in one go which may as well mean driving in the overtaking lane.

Now the harm is i'm doing my 120km/h you hop into my lane at 80km/h quite simply, get out of my way. If the driver entering the motorway is anyway competant he will match the speed of the traffic, you as the person already on the motorway need only tap your brakes to drop back a bit giving him enough room to enter safely. It's a two way process and that's how it should work.

Undercoverguy

OP Returns lol

Ok when i said "I just stop accelerating" some people read too much into this, although i could maybe have phrased it a bit better.

I meant that i ease off the acceleration, allowing the car to slow down SLIGHTLY...
Back in my days of lessons i was always told "Whats the point of accelerating towards break lights?" Anyone who sees break lights ahead of them and still continues to accelerate and pick up speed going towards them should be shot!

For the merging, I said i didn't know if it was a rule of the road or even a recommendation from the RSA, its just sense if the lane is empty. Lets face it most people DON'T join a motorway at the correct speed for merging.... their either too slow or too fast.

But anyway - Overtaking, isn't that what i am essentially doing? If someone joins the motorway in front of me traveling slower than me, the only option is to overtake. Only difference is that I'm doing it as i see the slow car joining the motorway rather than waiting for them to be right in front of me. Sorry if this upsets the 'L' Plate drivers on the M50/M1 doing 160kmh in their Toyota Glanza or any high powered BWM drivers.

For the guy who said you should never stop accelerating, you should be taken off the road. How do you stop at junctions etc? Accelerate right up the the line and then do a sudden clutch and break stop? Either suddenly and make the car behind ya slam into ya, or have the break lights on a few hundred meters before the lights - meaning the longest break fade on the planet.

Acceleration: increasing in speed; becoming progressively faster; "the accelerating inflation was cause for great concern"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

layke

Undercoverguy wrote:

For the merging, I said i didn't know if it was a rule of the road or even a recommendation from the RSA, its just sense if the lane is empty. Lets face it most people DON'T join a motorway at the correct speed for merging.... their either too slow or too fast.

I know, especially pentioners. This is due to lack of driver training in the country. I would suggest everyone reads the UK rules of the road as they are similar (but not exact). They have a much better structured test and information on how to indicate around roundabouts, joining motorways and the like. Tbh if we modeld our own tests on what they have it would be much better.

Overtaking, isn't that what i am essentially doing? If someone joins the motorway in front of me traveling slower than me, the only option is to overtake. Only difference is that i'm doing it as i see the car joining the motorway rather than waiting for them to be right in front of me.

The point a lot of people are making is that you shouldn't have to enter the overtaking lane at all.

Plissken1

ballooba wrote:

That's actually a funny angle on it I have never heard. I personally use roundabouts properly because I don't want to be in an accident. I think you may be referring to people who got their licences before roundabouts existed and don't actually know how to use them. This is why I think traffic school would be a good idea in this country for people with a certain level of points or specific offences.

Nah, the biggest idiots on the roads today are full licence holders, they are arrogant, and no longer follow the rules of the road (not everyone of course). I find that at least L drivers are busy learning for their test, so they at least try to let you know what they will do next.

RosieJoe

Saw a learner driver last night getting a driving lesson by a reputable company.

Start as you mean to go on... The instructor had the driver trying to turn right at a junction where no right turns are allowed :eek: What hope does she have!

Undercoverguy

Plissken1 wrote:

Nah, the biggest idiots on the roads today are full licence holders, they are arrogant, and no longer follow the rules of the road (not everyone of course). I find that at least L drivers are busy learning for their test, so they at least try to let you know what they will do next.

The L Drivers i assume your talking about are all 23+ males or any age females.
Because not a single guy in most of Dublin under the age of 23 with a 'L' Plate follows the rules of the road. I'm not saying good young male drivers exist, i'm just saying they are a majority! Thats running under the assumption they even have the plates up, in the UK theres a massive fine for not having the R or L Plates up.... over here the guards simple dont give a f*k. Then where they are up, chances are its a cut out red letter 'L' with no white background hidden behind a 90% tinted window.

If anyone wants to argue this with me i dont think i can say much more than open your eyes.

Undercoverguy

Just another random comment by the way.
I think one of the biggest things that seprate good drivers from bad drivers is being mature enough to accept when your in the wrong. I'm not totally arrogant, when i look back at when i was a L driver i know i done some stupid things, but like i said in my first post noting compared to what i see on the roads now.

Dosnt matter if your driving two weeks or twenty years.... when your in the wrong you should be able to admit it. Otherwise were all just taximen lol

I refuse to believe nobody makes little mistakes from time to time, like forgetting to indicate, or get into the wrong lane. It happens but hopefully to us experienced drivers it dosnt happen to often.

Little boy racers believe they are NEVER in the wrong.
Even tho 90% of them wouldnt know the rules of the road if ya slapped them with it.

Marcus.Aurelius

Would agree wholeheartedly with the merging points. Undercover Guy, your ISP detection thing is cool. It even detected my ISP, Irish Government!

Wishbone Ash

RosieJoe wrote:

The instructor had the driver trying to turn right at a junction where no right turns are allowed :eek: What hope does she have!

Perhaps it was a junction where no rights turns are permitted at certain times (usually 4pm - 7pm)?

RosieJoe

The junction is set up so that there are no right turns at all times!

ambro25

Undercoverguy wrote:

1) - The smallest yet biggest offender. The traffic lights, since the day i first start driving i was always told to be READY to pull of the second the light goes green. So since day dot when i see the lights go red for the other traffic i get ready to pull off for when my light goes green. Most junctions have an identical pattern so its not like people don’t know when its gonna be their turn, yet some people look at the light go green AND THEN put the car into gear, put the handbrake down and start to pull of. Not a major thing but when rush hour traffic in the city is at its peak and light changes are brief its one of the most annoying.

Not looking to p1ss on your parade, because a lot of what you said echoes with me, but the above is just plain dumb in Dublin, where red-running is endemic. I have never been anywhere on Earth (and I've been to, and driven in, a few places) where so many people run the red light (usually the last 2-3 cars) on such a regular occurrence - it's nearly as if it was a a matter of course :eek:

Only last Monday again, seen a biker just down from Rathfarnham setting off at a cross junction, nearly T-bone a car that ran the red 2 full seconds after it had turned from green - luckily the biker had his wits about him and dropped anchors.

So, I never set off the second the light turns green, and I always leave it 2 or 3 seconds before doing so.

Stark

ambro25 wrote:

So, I never set off the second the light turns green, and I always leave it 2 or 3 seconds before doing so.

You could look to see what's coming and then go, rather than sitting there twiddling your thumbs while you count to 3.

ambro25

Why - duh me!

Of course, every single red light in Dublin has at least a 180 degree clear field of view and at least a 100 meters clear line of sight.

Never thought of that... :rolleyes:

EDIT - on the topic of M'way merging, the biggest fault with drivers in Ireland in general, is that they do not respect safety distances (whereby pile-ups are so very frequent on the M50).

If driving at 120km/h there should be at least 100 meters between any two cars in the same lane at any one time, giving ample room for a 4 meters-long car having attained 120 km/h to merge therebetween without anyone having to resort to sudden manoeuvers. It is the responsibility of the merging vehicle to adjust its speed to "fit" the interval - by going slightly faster or slower than 120 to "fit" at the time of entering the lane. Of course, that's supposing there is an interval to enter, which most frequently is not the case (from Firhouse, e.g.), the good old "God forbid someone gets in front of me" rule being seemingly very alive and well here.

Stark

ambro25 wrote:

Why - duh me!

Of course, every single red light in Dublin has at least a 180 degree clear field of view and at least a 100 meters clear line of sight.

Never thought of that... :rolleyes:

Well now you know.