If you could make 3 changes to the rules of the road

Gary ITR

My first would be increase motorway speeds to 160km/h

Second would be to make lane hogging a penalty point offence

And the third would be to remove all bus lanes


What would yours be?

bikki

Id remove learner drivers from the road period. No full license then no drivey drivey.

Remove traffic lights from exists of roundabouts, like the lights on the walkinstown roundabout

oh and boot camp for idiots who drive in the wrong lanes for junctions.

BoardsRanger

Make blinding other traffic with your full beams left on a 1 penalty point offence.

With regards to learning to drive, make sure all students are familiar with 1)driving at night time, 2)be thought how to drive on a dual carriageway and 3) on a designated private tarmac area, learn how a car handles, skid and brake test etc.

Persons over 70 having to sit a competency test. not a full test, but just to assess if they can still drive.

bikki

oh yeah, id ban HID head lights, there not needed. They may look cool but they blind everybody else on the road

blackbox

1. Abolish speed limits except in urban areas

2. Ban speed bumps

3. Penalty points for incorrectly driving in overtaking lane

I'd also consider raising the alcohol limit (and have much stricter enforcement) - its not the people who have had one or two drinks that are the problem - even the RSA says that moderate drinking is less of a risk than being very tired.

Alkers

Just back from the States and the "right turn on red" rule worked really well, obviously that would be left turn on red here.
Learner permit-drivers should be clamped down on heavily but not until the waiting list for the test is sorted out, it's a shambles.
Would also like to see faster speeds being permitted on stretches of motorway but it still wouldn't make a difference with the lane discipline of Irish drivers.

Enda89

bikki wrote: »

Id remove learner drivers from the road period. No full license then no drivey drivey.

Surely you must have had to learn to drive at some stage? :rolleyes:

It's a little harsh to say ban all L-plates from the road. How do you expect people to learn in the first place??

jojo88

retest every ten years as compulsory

penalty points for drivers who drive below the speed limit

credits earned for good drivers i.e. similar to penalty points but bonus points

Steve

These aren't really ROTR but the idea is good.

Onkle wrote: »

My first would be increase motorway speeds to 160km/h

Agree but would have said 140kph is enough.

Second would be to make lane hogging a penalty point offence

+100

I'd also make it a mandatory to pass a theory test every time you renew your licence and at the same time reduce the life of a license to 5 years.

Yakult

Enda89 wrote: »

Surely you must have had to learn to drive at some stage? :rolleyes:

It's a little harsh to say ban all L-plates from the road. How do you expect people to learn in the first place??

QFT :rolleyes:

jojo88 wrote: »

1) Penalty points for drivers who drive below the speed limit

2) Credits earned for good drivers i.e. similar to penalty points but bonus points

1) As much as I agree with that I also disagree. Its better for someone to drive slow at a speed they feel safe at than driving fast where they are uncormfortable for the sake of a few minutes more.

2) Ncb my friend

superjosh9

1) No two-way traffic. If there was no two-way traffic, I think the number of deaths would be made a third of what it is. Obviously in urban areas this would be a problem, but people dont tend to die in urban areas - they usually die in the county back-roads that we see in the paper every week with another accident. So, if there was a big median in the road - and barriers on each side of the road, it would make it very hard to have head-on collisions and to hit trees.

Now, some will say that it just isn't practical. And money isn't there. The money is there and it's there BIG time. They just spend it the wrong way. Right now, there is a group of workers outside my window, at night, working on the N11 - and they have been doing so for a number of weeks. WEEKS. They lay down cones and pick them up several times a day. There are countless workers doing it. And what, you might ask, are they doing? Well the other day I went out to see exactly since I have come across the workers so often now and listened to the machines at night:
They are widening the outside lane by approx 6 inches on both directions. That is all. Nothing else. They have cut away the path and added the wider road, for mile after mile after for week after week after week. This is the N11 btw. There was/is nothing wrong with it before. It did not need an extra 6 inches of width in either direction. The cynic in me says someone needed to get some work done in order to get the same budget for next year. I see this kind of thing every. single. year. It kills me.

So, why not use our money to make our roads actually better?

Some will say our roads are fine - as good as any other? **** that. Why can't we have the best roads? I mean really - is there any actual reason why Ireland can't have the best roads? I don't give a damn what's happening in the UK or USA or in Europe. Ireland, because it is small, with an equally manageable population, is missing a gaping opportunity to put itself on the map - as a guideline to what safe and efficient roads should be.

It's about time we woke up and stopped harking on about speed killing people. They're buzz words and nothing more, there for political spin, to drivel out of the mouths by those who can't actually think for themselves. They need to get actual engineers in - and people who are passionate about making things safer and SENSIBLE - but who are practical and QUALIFIED to do so.

2) +1 on the turn right on red. It does work well in USA.
3) Get a better driving test. Who reverses around a corner? NO ONE should EVER reverse around a corner - so why in blazes is it in the test?! In Sweden they have to clock up hours driving in snow and pass a skid-pan test in order to drive. Well, something like that would soon sort out the wallies.

One rule I think is good - that I didn't think would be good - is the no mobile whilst driving. I don't think it's worthy of points or even a big fine - BUT - I find it disconcerting when I'm following a new mini with a L-sign, gently weaving from side to side with the driver blissfully unaware of all that surrounds them but whoever it is they have plugged into their ear!

Right I'm done!!! Apologies for the rant.

Alanstrainor

Okay, just a note on the "reverse around the corner" manoeuvre, although you may never have to do this once passed a test, skills learned practising this are used daily, whether it be reversing into or out of a parking space, or parallel parking, you use skills involved in this manoeuvre. It's a lot easier, and imho safer, to find a corner to reverse around on a test, rather than a car park or otherwise.
Rant.

ronnie3585

Onkle wrote: »

Second would be to make lane hogging a penalty point offence

A penalty point offence.....it should be a hanging offence, as with improper use of fog lights and no use of indicators.

Steve

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Okay, just a note on the "reverse around the corner" manoeuvre, although you may never have to do this once passed a test, skills learned practising this are used daily, whether it be reversing into or out of a parking space, or parallel parking, you use skills involved in this manoeuvre. It's a lot easier, and imho safer, to find a corner to reverse around on a test, rather than a car park or otherwise.
Rant.

If anything needs to be addressed in the driving test, surely it's the lack of an emergency stop in the curriculum.

Followed in close second by parallel parking.

Steve

ronnie3585 wrote: »

A penalty point offence.....it should be a hanging offence, as with improper use of fog lights and no use of indicators.

heheh - don't mention fog lights here - you'll get a slap from the mods.;)

(it's a pet hate in Motors)

ronnie3585

SteveC wrote: »

heheh - don't mention fog lights here - you'll get a slap from the mods.;)

(it's a pet hate in Motors)

Really, I've never seen a fog light thread in Motors:rolleyes:

Alanstrainor

SteveC wrote: »

If anything needs to be addressed in the driving test, surely it's the lack of an emergency stop in the curriculum.

Followed in close second by parallel parking.

There are lots of aspects that need to be addressed, i would have motorway driving as a big one, as well as those mentioned above. I'm not 100% sure, but i remember Wishbone Ash, with his years of experience:p, mentioning that the emergency stop was once a part of the driving test.

Steve

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Really, I've never seen a fog light thread in Motors:rolleyes:

Ever wonder why?:)

Steve

Alanstrainor wrote: »

There are lots of aspects that need to be addressed, i would have motorway driving as a big one, as well as those mentioned above. I'm not 100% sure, but i remember Wishbone Ash, with his years of experience:p, mentioning that the emergency stop was once a part of the driving test.

Agree on motorway education, I don't remember ever hearing that there was an emergency stop here - it always was in the UK though. That said, I seldom doubt anything WA has to say - he's an Ent when it comes to driving tests.

mcwhirter

Onkle wrote: »

My first would be increase motorway speeds to 160km/h

Second would be to make lane hogging a penalty point offence

And the third would be to remove all bus lanes


What would yours be?

1, I would make 5 changes
2. then another 10
3. then another 20:D

fricatus

SteveC wrote: »

If anything needs to be addressed in the driving test, surely it's the lack of an emergency stop in the curriculum.

Followed in close second by parallel parking.

Is that not on the driving curriculum here? Pardon my ignorance, since I learned over in the UK.

Madness... it's one of the most important skills there is.

BoardsRanger

fricatus wrote: »

Is that not on the driving curriculum here? Pardon my ignorance, since I learned over in the UK.

Madness... it's one of the most important skills there is.

no, its not in the curriculum here! god only knows why not. and from what i hear, the UK is going to phase the emergency stop out of their tests also.

Gregor Samsa

superjosh9 wrote: »

1) No two-way traffic. [...] So, if there was a big median in the road - and barriers on each side of the road, it would make it very hard to have head-on collisions and to hit trees.

It would also make it impossible to overtake (unless every road in the country was a dual carriageway).

Rovi

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I'm not 100% sure, but i remember Wishbone Ash, with his years of experience:p, mentioning that the emergency stop was once a part of the driving test.

When I did my test (over a quarter of a century ago ), the tester informed me at the start that he would, at some point during the test, slap the dashboard with his hand.
This was the signal for me to perform an emergency stop, and it could (in theory) occur anywhere and at any time during the test.
In reality, the tester could/would only do it when there was no danger of collecting someone else if/when it all went pear shaped; essentially, this meant that it would happen when there was little or no traffic around, and especially when there was no-one too close behind.

I didn't know it had been dropped from the test, that seems most peculiar to me.

galwaytt

Rovi wrote: »

When I did my test (over a quarter of a century ago ), the tester informed me at the start that he would, at some point during the test, slap the dashboard with his hand.
This was the signal for me to perform an emergency stop, and it could (in theory) occur anywhere and at any time during the test.
In reality, the tester could/would only do it when there was no danger of collecting someone else if/when it all went pear shaped; essentially, this meant that it would happen when there was little or no traffic around, and especially when there was no-one too close behind.

I didn't know it had been dropped from the test, that seems most peculiar to me.

Same here - I had the same routine in my test, in 1988.

And, why was it dropped from the car test, but it's not from the bike test ? Like people will only run out in front of bikes, but not, say.....cars ?

TheBazman

1/ No other vehicle is allowed on the same stretch of road as me
2/ Illegal for traffic corp to speed check on motorways/dual carriageways
3/ All other rules of the road to no longer apply to me

craichoe

We switch to driving on the right side of the road and get rid of this f*cked marked of cars with steering wheels on the wrong side.

Oh .. and it might cure the ol crazy foreigner driving on the wrong side of the road by mistake.

h3000

superjosh9 wrote: »

1) No two-way traffic. If there was no two-way traffic, I think the number of deaths would be made a third of what it is. Obviously in urban areas this would be a problem, but people dont tend to die in urban areas - they usually die in the county back-roads that we see in the paper every week with another accident. So, if there was a big median in the road - and barriers on each side of the road, it would make it very hard to have head-on collisions and to hit trees.

Thats ridiculous that would never work. Have you ever actually seen or been on a 'country back-road' or just seen them on TV and in the papers. If you put a central median and barriers at each side of the road my car would not fit on most of the roads.

How would you ecpect people to get anywhere?

How would trucks get to where they need to go?

What would happen if there was a breakdown?

If there was an accident how would emergency vehicles get to the scene?

Would people be expeceted to just follow a slow tractor for miles without overtaking?

Before it is suggested a complete one-way system would not work either people would have to drive an extra 4 or more miles around in a big circle to get home.

The only thing needed to reduce deaths on 'country back roads' is policing.

ronnie3585

fricatus wrote: »

Madness... it's one of the most important skills there is.

Why so critical? Don't forget that the 'emergency reverse around the corner' saves lives too:rolleyes:

superjosh9

h3000 wrote: »

Thats ridiculous that would never work. Have you ever actually seen or been on a 'country back-road' or just seen them on TV and in the papers. If you put a central median and barriers at each side of the road my car would not fit on most of the roads.

How would you ecpect people to get anywhere?

How would trucks get to where they need to go?

What would happen if there was a breakdown?

If there was an accident how would emergency vehicles get to the scene?

Would people be expeceted to just follow a slow tractor for miles without overtaking?

Before it is suggested a complete one-way system would not work either people would have to drive an extra 4 or more miles around in a big circle to get home.

The only thing needed to reduce deaths on 'country back roads' is policing.

huh? take the N11/M50 - pretty good roads by our standards. Why not have the country roads at that standard. That's all I'm saying. I wasn't saying that you must have a single lane in either direction. Generally, surrounded by fields etc, there is often no excuse to have the tiny 2 way traffic roads that are currently everywhere.

And just because they've always been there - it doesn't make it ok.

It's not right that a car should have to cross over onto the other side of the road to overtake.

ninty9er

superjosh9 wrote: »

huh? take the N11/M50 - pretty good roads by our standards. Why not have the country roads at that standard. That's all I'm saying. I wasn't saying that you must have a single lane in either direction. Generally, surrounded by fields etc, there is often no excuse to have the tiny 2 way traffic roads that are currently everywhere.

And just because they've always been there - it doesn't make it ok.

It's not right that a car should have to cross over onto the other side of the road to overtake.

We'll leave you to break the news to all the people whose houses are going to have a road put through them so....oh wait...no houses....maybe no need for the road...so now we have a dual-carriageway to nowhere:rolleyes:

My changes:

1. Enact DRL legislation
2. Once you pass a theory test you don't get a learners permit, instructors would be insured to teach people with a proper permit system (i.e. you give the theory test slip to an instructor and they teach you, but you may not drive outside of these circumstances).
3. Speed Limits - Motorway - 200; DC - 160; N Roads - 120; Urban - Use electronic signs and increase the limit after 10pm

Apart from changes to rules of the road make an advanced driving qualification an entry requirment when applying to become a Garda.