Gay Byrne

AugustusMaximus

From RTE.ie

"Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Bryne said he did not know the circumstances of these accidents, but that he suspected speed was a factor."

Why did he suspect this ? How about looking at the evidence first.

feylya

He thought the cars were moving rather than parked :rolleyes:

I hate this blaming speed for everything

mike65

What he actually said was inappropriate speed. Still conjecture of course.

Mike.

javaboy

I reckon the reason he is saying he suspects speed is a factor now is that if he waits until a week later when the cause might be established, it won't make the news headlines. He is striking while the iron is hot as it were.

It's pretty poor form though. It reminds me of that lawyer who has a vendetta against GTA and Manhunt. Every time there is a shooting by a teenager he gets on his soapbox and blames GTA before the facts come out. In one instance the teenager didn't even have a games console. Gaybo is leaving himself open to a similar egg on face situation by jumping to conclusions.

AugustusMaximus

I wish we had a person at the head of our Road Safety Authority who was an expert in his field and didn't rely upon saying the exact same thing over and over again.

"Slow down".

We hear it everywhere these days.

If it starts to rain, people at the AA tell us to "slow down". Am I supposed to slow down from 50 kph to 40kph in the city centre if it starts to rain ? Are Dual Carriageways (which are deisnged for 160kph) not able to take traffic at 100kph anymore if it rains a bit.

What a stupid country we live in at times.

peasant

Technically speaking speed is a factor in every motoring accident ...you have to get the yoke moving in order to crash it into something

Useless statement nonetheless ...

craichoe

Are Dual Carriageways (which are deisnged for 160kph)

Please provide evidence of that.

AFAIK, Irish Dual carriageways are not designed for that speed as they have too many exits.

bottletops

Whats the old saying...

Its the speed that Kills, but its the rubbish driving that actually causes the accidents.

Cionád

At least he's not telling me I have a disease again.

AugustusMaximus

craichoe wrote: »

Please provide evidence of that.

AFAIK, Irish Dual carriageways are not designed for that speed as they have too many exits.

Sorry, modern Motorways and HQDC's have a design limit of 160kph. Old dual carriageways don't, but certainly have a design speed of 100kph.

Sandwich

AugustusMaximus wrote: »

I wish we had a person at the head of our Road Safety Authority who was an expert in his field

What a stupid country we live in at times.

We do. CEO of the RSA is Noel Brett.

Gaybo is only chairman, a position where it is disreable not to have an expert in the field.

ninty9er

Ninty9er made a statement this morning asking drivers to use their fu<king mirrors on motorways dual-carriageways and multiple lane roads, stating that non use of mirrors is a factor in 100% of accidents:rolleyes::rolleyes:

It's about as believeable as speed kills....even more-so really!!

He's entitled to his opinion, but it doesn't mean he's right! Idiot. Pat Kenny would be 100 times better

maidhc

Sandwich wrote: »

We do. CEO of the RSA is Noel Brett.

Gaybo is only chairman, a position where it is disreable not to have an expert in the field.

In which case he shouldn't hold himself out as an expert, which he does.

cantdecide

Long weekends are when the slow guys get slower, the fast guys get faster and the inevitable happens.

I passed a safe and sensible 206cc on wide open but hilly main national road of Wexford doing 35mph. Can you imagine the mayhem this guy caused? Everyone had to overtake him- he was dong almost half the speed limit.

But we all hate speed, oh down with speed. Oh speed is bad bad bad.

It's like the emperor's new clothes.

Marcus.Aurelius

ninty9er wrote: »

He's entitled to his opinion, but it doesn't mean he's right! Idiot. Pat Kenny would be 100 times better

Yeah but then we'd have to target sleepy drivers! God that man is so boring!!:(

ninty9er

maoleary wrote: »

Yeah but then we'd have to target sleepy drivers! God that man is so boring!!:(

:D:D:D

Anan1

cantdecide wrote: »

Long weekends are when the slow guys get slower, the fast guys get faster and the inevitable happens.

Very true.:)

wil

AugustusMaximus wrote: »

From RTE.ie

"Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Bryne said he did not know the circumstances of these accidents, but that he suspected speed was a factor."

Why did he suspect this ? How about looking at the evidence first.

I saw one of this weekends unfortunates. There is hardly a more stark reminder of the danger on our roads than seeing a bloodied body on a stretcher. I really have to commend the work of our emergency services,
Out of respect I wont say where, when or who, but from what I heard alcohol was the significant factor.
Irrespective of the reasons, it is final and there are families left mourning

I have witnessed several accidents in this country and "speeding" was NOT a causative factor in ANY of them - alcohol, wrong side of road, breaking lights, poor observation, no indicators, inexperience, impatience, mobile phones, tiredness, taking ridiculous chances and downright idiocy.
I wish Gay would speak about those first before the old unreliable "speeding". Perhaps as he gets older, his judgement is failing him.

Oilrig

Guys, leave Gaybo alone, he's trying to bully the Gov into keeping their promises.

Our roads aren't good granted. I don't care what you say but I'm convinced our biggest problem is the way drivers use them. We've got to use the hand we've been dealt.

Every day of the week, you, me and everyone else witnesses bad driving, be it lane changing at roundabouts, speeding, someone holding up miles of traffic by driving too slowly, the list goes on.

In all honestly, is there anyone here that can honestly say they have never driven badly?

Man up guys, lets sort out our own driving first. Why not make it a point of honour to drive right & safely?

We're all drivers, if everyone that frequents this forum made a decision to drive by the rules (like them or not - and don't get me started on that...) I bet it would make a difference.

Regardless of what you drive, the measure of your ability as a driver is to get there safe. It should be our priority, bar none.

towel401

the whole 'speed kills' campaign is to detract attention from the country's brutal roads. they could pump a few billion into straightening out and resurfacing bad roads or they could pump a few million into a campaign encouraging people to drive slow on the ****ty roads we have now. of course the 'Fail picked the easy option. like any government probably would

wil

peasant wrote: »

Technically speaking speed is a factor in every motoring accident ...you have to get the yoke moving in order to crash it into something

Useless statement nonetheless ...

I am not sure how to drive any slower than parking my car up outside the house, taking a taxi to the airport and flying out of the country. What can you do when some drunken idiots try to simultaneously occupy the same parking space?:mad:
Or how about being shunted while stopped by a sleepy truck driver and ending up as a hood ornament for an 18 wheeler at 2 mph.:mad:
Or how about someone reversing in to your car parked up in a car park:mad:
There's more but I won't bore you.

If that is an example of what people are capable of in the range of 0 to 2 mph, perhaps we should revert to the original speed limit of 10mph:eek: and bring back the red flags.:rolleyes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locomotive_Act

wil

towel401 wrote: »

the whole 'speed kills' campaign is to detract attention from the country's brutal roads. they could pump a few billion into straightening out and resurfacing bad roads or they could pump a few million into a campaign encouraging people to drive slow on the ****ty roads we have now. of course the 'Fail picked the easy option. like any government probably would

Relatively few accidents are caused by the state of the roads, rather more are caused by the state of the drivers.

Continually citing the roads as the reason for our relatively high road death statistics is every bit as bad as lumping them all in to the "speeding" category. It is a cop out.

What sucessive governments here have failed to do is address decades of woeful education, attitudes and enforcement of road safety.

Wishbone Ash

wil wrote: »

Relatively few accidents are caused by the state of the roads, rather more are caused by the state of the drivers.

Continually citing the roads as the reason for our relatively high road death statistics is every bit as bad as lumping them all in to the "speeding" category. It is a cop out

+1

One of the few sensible posts in this thread.

E92

Irish drivers on the whole have a very cavalier attitude to driving and rules of the road. We as a nation are pretty poor drivers. I'd put a bet on it that over 70% of drivers would fail the test if they were made do it again.

The problem with the vast majority of other posts here is that they are all guilty of something that the RSA doesn't know about : common sense.

ninty9er

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

+1

One of the few sensible posts in this thread.

+2

unkel

E92 wrote: »

We as a nation are pretty poor drivers

Probably (one of) the worst in the EU (25 countries). Plenty of good and safe Irish drivers, but the average / typical one is pretty shabby

E92 wrote: »

I'd put a bet on it that over 70% of drivers would fail the test if they were made do it again

Tbh, they'd probably pass like the time they actually did pass (amnesty licensees excluded of course because they never passed, just like learner drivers who never even had to sit a test :eek:)

A system where one can pass a driving test without ever having been on a motorway. Says it all really...

BostonB

wil wrote: »

Relatively few accidents are caused by the state of the roads, rather more are caused by the state of the drivers.

Continually citing the roads as the reason for our relatively high road death statistics is every bit as bad as lumping them all in to the "speeding" category. It is a cop out.

What sucessive governments here have failed to do is address decades of woeful education, attitudes and enforcement of road safety.

While I agree the standard of drivers is abysmal, the road layouts, especially with crazy road markings and signage definately causes accidents. Where lanes disappear and reappear going from 2 to 3 lanes or just reappear in a different part of the road, definately causes accidents.

jimmycrackcorm

Dear Gaybo

Why don't you start working by pushing for publishing the causes of all these accidents as until we know what's causing them, we won't learn a thing.