M50 roadworks speed limit, is there one?

mcwhirter

On parts of the M50 where the roadworks are, there is a speedlimit of 60km/h.
Nobody takes much notice of this and the other day I spotted a garda bike in my rearview mirror. I was driving at the same speed as most other drivers, approx 90-100km/h(I'm such a rebel) and the garda drove past doing about 110km/h maybe.
The question I have is that it was obvious no one was doing 60km/h but the Guard didn't seem to be bothered. I mean he couldn't stop everyone for speeding, but if this was a different road then surely he would be pulling people over.
It is no wonder not many people obey speed limits if they aren't enforced by the enforcer.

fletch

While I feel for the workers who have to work behind those barriers, I have such contempt for that road(M50) that I drive at whatever speed I feel safe at.

tiredmam

We actually DID drive at the speed limit here-60, one day, unlike everyone else, and felt it was extremely dangerous for us to do so.
So then we just had to go with the traffic.

Steve

Maybe the guard was on his way to an incident (that wasn't necessarily serious enough to warrant siren and lights).

I do the same tbh, it would be dangerous to drive 40-50kph slower than the general traffic flow.

Anan1

I think if the limit there was 80km/h then a lot more people might stick within it.

Seth Brundle

I think the reality is that people will never stick to a posted limit for whatever reasons. However, the 60km/h limit is IIRC a European standard along major roadworks.

RubberMammy

Yeah yeah.

You all gripe about it, but the reality is that you will all do the low speed.

And you'll all cough up 50 Euro a week for the privellige.

If only the people of this country had some backbone that bloody toll would be gone altogether by now.:eek:

ardmacha

Perhaps the earlier roadworks around the Mad Cow did require a lower limit as the lanes weaved about and were dug up. However the present works, especially on the Northside, involve little interaction between the works and running lanes and the speed limit is far too low. Perhaps they need such a limit for part of the works for part of the time but it should not be there in general.

antodeco

I think its more dangerous between ballymount and the red cow. 100kmh where it goes from 3 lanes to 2, with the left lane with an immediate left turn.

chris85

RubberMammy wrote: »

Yeah yeah.

You all gripe about it, but the reality is that you will all do the low speed.

And you'll all cough up 50 Euro a week for the privellige.

If only the people of this country had some backbone that bloody toll would be gone altogether by now.:eek:

Noone does the low speed thats the point.

I dont use the toll and at, i avoid it at all costs out of principal although i dont have reason to use it often. I do travel southbound for work during the week from red cow to dun laoighaire exit. I got about 90-100 kmph tbh

spatchco

ok last saturday coming back from wexford ended up on the m50 seen all the 60k signs and had read about speed cameras,so decided to stick with speed limit,so what happens i am passed out by cement truck mixer clattering along he is on the overtaking lane when a police car pulls up behind him puts on sirens and passes him out ,yes they could have more important things to do makes me feel a right twit keeping with in the limits for what i ask my self

Type 17

kbannon wrote: »

I think the reality is that people will never stick to a posted limit for whatever reasons. However, the 60km/h limit is IIRC a European standard along major roadworks.

From personal experience, it's 80 km/h in roadworks in Germany, Austria and Italy, except in the areas leading up to a 2-lanes-into-1 merge (60 km/h), and even then, as soon as you are into the one remaining lane, it is 80 km/h again until the end of the works.

60 km/h in the M50 roadworks is stupid - yes, there is no hard shoulder, so you'd want to watch out for broken down vehicles, but the lanes are the same width as normal, and people are driving at 90-100 km/h because it doesn't feel any less safe than doing it on an N-road with no hard shoulder (M50 is safer in fact, as there is no oncoming traffic).

Roadworks or not, inappropriately low speed limits are not safer - they just lead to frustration and higher levels of non-compliance, and the likelihood that other, more appropriate, speed limits will also be ignored...

Martron

i work on the m50. i agree 60 is too slow also but there is a couple of reasons why its handy.

(maybe it can turn to 80 outside working hours.)

when working in the central lanes i have to pull out into the overtaking lane then accelerate to match the traffic. but i only drive a ford focus so if i am wainting for a gap its very hard to judge the speed of the oncoming car especially now in the evenings when its darker.


so if people are going 60 it is obviously more safer for me and oncoming driver .

also..... onlookers pose a problem due to the activities within the site people often slow down to have a good look. now if the person slows to 60 then some plonker decides to continue at 100....... usually results in an accident!!

i see at least 1 accident a day because of this.

so i agree 60 is slow when you have places to go and people to see .... but it is important at least during working hours to keep the speed down.

Steve

Some good point's there Martron.

I can see how it could be difficult at the start and end of a shift.

What do they do when they are moving the slow heavy stuff in and out?

Martron

most of the big gear would only get moved into the site once and then moved up and down the site within its own boundaries. but the likes of most machines can be moved around on the back of a truck so providing that people move at 60 the truck driver generally has not much bother merging.

but again most of these movements are done very early or late and the traffic is not as heavy.

but you will see cars zipping in and out all day these would be engineers and managers moving from section to section or going to the office etc etc


when i first started i thought it was impossible but i have got used to it.

another big problem i have also seen is when some one coming see you waiting to get out into the overttaking lane they slow down to let you out.... although this is courteous its not very smart . people behind you (the previously mentioned 100 kmh'ers) may not notice then another accident is caused.

i am happy to safely wait for a large enough gap

Steve

Thanks - it's interesting to hear the view form the other side of the barrier!

It's interesting if somewhat disturbing to hear that the minority drivers who are keeping the speed down and driving at the limit are actually causing accidents.

I guess we'll see this type of thing more when the speed cameras are rolled out
People throw the anchors out at the sight of one (regardless of what speed they are doing).

andrewh5

Martron wrote: »

i work on the m50. i agree 60 is too slow also but there is a couple of reasons why its handy.

(maybe it can turn to 80 outside working hours.)

when working in the central lanes i have to pull out into the overtaking lane then accelerate to match the traffic. but i only drive a ford focus so if i am wainting for a gap its very hard to judge the speed of the oncoming car especially now in the evenings when its darker.


so if people are going 60 it is obviously more safer for me and oncoming driver .

also..... onlookers pose a problem due to the activities within the site people often slow down to have a good look. now if the person slows to 60 then some plonker decides to continue at 100....... usually results in an accident!!

i see at least 1 accident a day because of this.

so i agree 60 is slow when you have places to go and people to see .... but it is important at least during working hours to keep the speed down.

Going slightly off topic, do you know why the work isn't being carried out 24/7? Most other european countries would have done that - especially germany.

Martron

SteveC wrote: »

It's interesting if somewhat disturbing to hear that the minority drivers who are keeping the speed down and driving at the limit are actually causing accidents.

nope was not suggesting this in the least. the person going the correct speed and then gets hit by people going too fast are hardly cauing the accidents!

Steve

Martron wrote: »

nope was not suggesting this in the least. the person going the correct speed and then gets hit by people going too fast are hardly cauing the accidents!

I didn't mean to say you were suggesting it - sorry if it seemed so.

let me rephase it then:
It's interesting if somewhat disturbing to hear that the minority drivers who are keeping the speed down are actually getting involved in accidents because they are (rightly) driving at the limit. Unfortunately this means that they are 40kmh slower than the general traffic flow who are exceeding it.

I'm not saying speeding through roadworks areas is OK and it's one of the times where I think drivers in general are selfish. They are briefly exposing themselves to danger as they pass so the chances of an accident are slim, guys like you who work there are exposed to the same risk but for 8 hours a day.

The point of my comment was that, in my opinion, if the traffic in general is (rightly or wrongly) flowing at 100kph and the sole driver is sticking to the 60kph limit - he is greatly increasing the chances of an accident and your comment about seeing this actually happen on a daily basis is what interested me.

Martron

that sped limit is ther for safety . that is all. in the extremely unusaul event of something happening in the site and going into the traffic damage is minimised because people are going slow enogh to react.

same go the other way. in the event of a car loosing control and entering the site the speed is considerably less as to minimise injury.

there is at all time sufficient protection for both parties. but in the unlikely event of something happening on either side of the barrier the speed is a major contributing factor of the overall result of such accident.

Martron

andrewh5 wrote: »

Going slightly off topic, do you know why the work isn't being carried out 24/7? Most other european countries would have done that - especially germany.

work is currently going on 24/7 in the next few weeks. you will notice there is activity most days on the road up to near enough 10.

at the end of the day we have to get rest at some stage!!! ha ha


only kidding. its the same with any construction site. you would have to pay 2 crews to work 24/7. the crew at night would be considerably more money......

its all about money and someone high up will have to see tht if the project is worth finishing earlier for a higher price!

its construction econmics.

Ok back on topic.

Steve

Martron wrote: »

that sped limit is ther for safety . that is all.

I'm not disagreeing with you.

Martron

not disagreeing with you either just trying to clarify a speed which people think is too slow.

Sandwich

I always keep to the 60 when its indicated. Dont feel unsafe and it doesnt generally obstruct the rest of the traffic overtaking me in the right hand lane. When very busy, it probably does delay people getting onto the M50, as there will be a couple of hundred yards of unused empty lane ahead of me, although that seems to suit a lot of the speeders who are also happy to use the leftmost lane to jump the queue and overtake those already in the overtaking lane.

(BTW, amazing how much fuel efficiency increases when you stick to cruising at 60, less than half the l/100km than when doing 100kph)

shakenbake

Just to throw my two cent in, be very cautious of travelling over that speed in places on the M50. It's virtually impossible I know.

The friday before last I was on my way to work and an articulated truck (that was working on the upgrade process) decides to pull straight out infront of everyone ... and I mean he didn't give a BOLLIX ... he pulled straight out without any consideration. I had to jam on, a bike directly behind me did the same and alot of cars had their breaks tested. It was dangerous. BUT I don't know of any safe way without a tone of co-ordination that he would have been able to do pull out onto the motorway. If everyone was doing 60k it would have stood a chance ... but the fact was everyone was doing ~100k

That happened before the Leopardstown exit btw.

Type 17

shakenbake wrote: »

Just to throw my two cent in, be very cautious of travelling over that speed in places on the M50. It's virtually impossible I know.

The friday before last I was on my way to work and an articulated truck (that was working on the upgrade process) decides to pull straight out infront of everyone ... and I mean he didn't give a BOLLIX ... he pulled straight out without any consideration. I had to jam on, a bike directly behind me did the same and alot of cars had their breaks tested. It was dangerous. BUT I don't know of any safe way without a tone of co-ordination that he would have been able to do pull out onto the motorway. If everyone was doing 60k it would have stood a chance ... but the fact was everyone was doing ~100k

That happened before the Leopardstown exit btw.

Question: why the are the works exits organised so that vehicles exiting them have to pull out into traffic with no chance to match their speed to other traffic?

Have they never heard of merging lanes - this is a motorway after all?

Steve

Type 17 wrote: »

Question: why the are the works exits organised so that vehicles exiting them have to pull out into traffic with no chance to match their speed to other traffic?

Have they never heard of merging lanes - this is a motorway after all?

There physically isn't room.
Afaik, a term of the contract was to maintain 2 working lanes and an emergency lane at all times.

Type 17

SteveC wrote: »

There physically isn't room.
Afaik, a term of the contract was to maintain 2 working lanes and an emergency lane at all times.

[Cynical] Did the contract specify any levels of safety during the works? [/Cynical]

Breezer

I did 60 religiously on it at first. It was frustrating going so slowly but I reckoned I couldn't risk getting points given my age (21) and the resultant rise in insurance that I wouldn't be able to afford. Not to mention the safety issue in terms of workers.

Since the works started, I've witnessed removal of speed cameras, guards flying past me without any sirens, absolutely everybody overtaking me, multiple boy racers nearly hitting into the back of me, people tailgating me (in the left lane, with an empty right lane, can't figure that one out...) In the end I gave up and I do around 80 now and it feels much safer. I reckon I'm less likely to have an accident with other traffic, which would cause my premiums to skyrocket anyway, and that it's still a reasonable speed to avoid an accident with workers. As has been pointed out, you'd easily do that on any much narrower single-lane N road.

If it had been 80 to begin with, with 60 in some sections where needed, I reckon it would have stood a far better chance of actually being obeyed by most people.

NeMiSiS

If they really wished to slow traffic to should put that big wheel back up, people used to love to slow down and have a good gawk at that. Never mind the speed cameras.

Agreed though the speed limit seems to slow, but I think at Ballymount it is actually justified due to the road layout.

TK

Martron

SteveC wrote: »

There physically isn't room.
Afaik, a term of the contract was to maintain 2 working lanes and an emergency lane at all times.

yep you are correct has to be 2 working lanes and emergency unless under very strict circumstances.


and another poster asked why do we have to drive into the overtaking lane...?

well how do we build those lanes of the road?

and also dont get me started on the merging abilities of irish drivers!!!!

i spend most of my time now on the m50.... and i have seen some serious acts of motoring!!!

merging is not a hard concept to grasp but people always think you are skipping the queue or something. so back in square one trying to pull out into overtaking lane.

its quite complex from a traffic management point of view but it would be helped if people tried to keep to speed limit and if not just be more vigilant when coming to site entrance/exits and be prepared for slower moving vehicles.

it will be changing soon and you will have new road to drive on shortly.

have you noticed the new lines? you should be able to drive on them in about 4-5 weeks. and then the fun really begins but i will keep that part under my hat for the moment.