Traffic Today

Sconsey

It's not just car drivers!.....I was at the junction the other day, coming from Mervue direction heading straight through t'words Lough Atalia. I was second from the lights, one car in front of me and city bus behind me. When the lights turn green the car in front and myself took off fairly snappy, I looked in my rear view mirror and the bus driver still had his head in his hands, he was beginning to consider taking off the handbrake by the looks of things. I had a look back again as I was passing Trappers and it looked like the bus was just beginning to move, I doubt anyone else got through on that cycle of the lights. You'd think that bus drivers would at least have a clue.

KevR

Sconsey wrote: »

It's not just car drivers!.....I was at the junction the other day, coming from Mervue direction heading straight through t'words Lough Atalia. I was second from the lights, one car in front of me and city bus behind me. When the lights turn green the car in front and myself took off fairly snappy, I looked in my rear view mirror and the bus driver still had his head in his hands, he was beginning to consider taking off the handbrake by the looks of things. I had a look back again as I was passing Trappers and it looked like the bus was just beginning to move, I doubt anyone else got through on that cycle of the lights. You'd think that bus drivers would at least have a clue.

Sorry, I meant to say all motorists!

I have a new hobby that if I'm at the front waiting for a green light I see how far I can get through the junction (and sometimes well clear out the other side of the junction) before the car that was behind me even crosses the white line to even enter the junction. I pull off fast, but not dangerously fast, and don't break the speed limit. It's ridiculous how far I can get sometimes before the car behind even crosses the white line.

?Cee?view

Discodog wrote: »

The IAM & Police teach a technique called Defensive Driving which basically means that you assume that everyone else is an idiot & unpredictable. This an essential survival skill in Ireland.

One of the books on defensive driving, "Roadcraft" by ROSPA should be required reading for all drivers.

snubbleste

Trafic pretty manic again today throughout the day, maybe Wednesdays are to be avoided in future?

?Cee?view

Anyone see the Galway Independent today? Apparently the junction is "running well"!!!!!

http://www.galwayindependent.com/local-news/local-news/monie-junction-%27running-well%27/

Now, I expect that paper to spout rubbish, but it's hard to believe the cheek of the City Council "Director" of Traffic!

happyoutscan

churchview wrote: »

Now, I expect that paper to spout rubbish, but it's hard to believe the cheek of the City Council "Director" of Traffic!

Hard to believe any of them. I used to use that junction a few times a week (not during rush-hour mind) but now I completely avoid it. It's a mess, as is this 'Directors' superior knowledge of the current traffic flow throughout the city. Is it too late to bring in the Germans? :rolleyes:

galah

It is never too late to bring in the Germans. (if you bring them, can you ask them to bring some goodies? Shopping list attached...) ;-)

On topic though - only this council will start roadworks on the dual carriageway near Briar Hill the very day ALL kids are BACK TO SCHOOL.

They had f*cking 3 months, where traffic was lighter (comparably), but no, they had to wait until school's back. Sadists.

Zzippy

I think people are now so fed up of this junction mess that they're taking alternate routes home. The link road between Menlo roundabout and Tuam road roundabout is now backed up a lot more in the evenings lately (the last couple of weeks) than it was before. Ciaran Hayes should be brought before the council and made to explain a) data on commute times before the change b) data on commute times after the change and c) value for money. I wager they don't have any of that data, its all "anecdotal evidence".
Fuckin incompetent tw@t!

blond45

whats the point on haven a left arrow at the eye cinema side of lights when theres only room for one car, or worse you cant get near it cos of traffic going right or going tru the lights,.got caught once there, havent being there since. BRING BACK THE ROUNDABOUT.or invest in a big hinelly bike.[hope ive spelt it wright]. thats what some tit is telling us to do GET ON THE BIKE. tell that to a mother of 3 kids on a wet day tring to get them to school.

bazjnr

Magnus wrote: »

Well, there seems to be a lot of lay experts on this thread (every traffic thread in fact).

My suggestion, use reserve Garda to control junctions, it won't get you there faster but at least eejits won't get away with eejit things any longer.

Your suggestion smaks of one made by a lay expert? Reserve gardai have to be accompanied by a real Garda thus tying up more Gardai.

JustMary wrote: »

I've come from a place where the intelligent lights really do work, and observation there is that intersections move a lot more slowly under manual control than lights. And that's with the manual control done by full-time police who know how to do it (I can't say much that's polite about the standard of points duty I've been from gardi here.)

Unfortunately Gardai don't learn 'point duty' here. Yes they learn how to put up their arm and wave it about but not truly how to regulate a 4 way junction for example. My some total of training for directing traffic was a 45 minute class behind a building in templemore stopping an imaginary car. From all accounts things haven't changed talking to students coming through.

And finally in my own opinion Galway has been left behind in comparison to every other town in the country when it comes to road building over the last 10/15 years. Virtually no new roads worth speaking of, outer by pass, bus lanes, priority corridors etc. That leaves the Gardai in a catch 22. They can't do anything with the gridlock simply because there is nowhere to put the traffic. i have been asked many times by motorists while i'm on duty to do something with the traffic. i simply ask them where do they want me to put it? in my pocket??

KevR

galah wrote: »

On topic though - only this council will start roadworks on the dual carriageway near Briar Hill the very day ALL kids are BACK TO SCHOOL.

They had f*cking 3 months, where traffic was lighter (comparably), but no, they had to wait until school's back. Sadists.

I disagree. Those roadworks are for a new roundabout which will join the new M6 motorway to the existing N6 Dual Carriageway. They were always going to leave it as late as possible to start on the roadworks for the roundabout. An extra roundabout on the Ring Road while the motorway itself is not open is going to be bad for traffic. If they installed it 3 months ago then we would have an extra 3 months of poorer traffic flow on the Ring Road. It wouldn't be worth it just to avoid having roadwaorks during school term. Also, if they started work 3 months ago then roadworks would have been ongoing around the time of the Ocean Race and/or the Horse Racing later in the summer - that would have been a huge nightmare!

Also, it's the NRA and the construction company building the motorway who decide on the timing of these roadworks. It's nothing to do with the City Council.

On a side-note, it's a disgrace that they are joining a motorway and a dual carriageway with a roundabout.

KevR

Forgot to mention, was queuing for the traffic lights here today and there is a yellow box a bit before the lights. The other side of the yellow box wasn't clear for me to pull into so I duly waited not blocking the box. Some stupid old woman in the queue of traffic behind me overtakes me and pulls into the yellow box, blocking people trying to get out of that little retail park and blocking someone trying to get in (which in turn caused a tailback behind in the other direction).

This shocking driver behavior is the exact reason why intelligent junctions (Moneenageisha) don't/won't work properly in Galway. The most basic of road markings (a yellow box) designed to keep traffic flowing is too difficult for some people to understand; no way could these people be expected to act in a proper manner at an intelligent junction, nevermind even understand how the junction actually works.

When the roundabout was in place at Moneenageisha people could use the wrong lane on approach to the junction and then just cut a lane on the roundabout to get off at their exit (which was really dangerous). With the lights, people are forced to be in the right lane on approach or else they get sent in the wrong direction. So you have people trying to change lanes right up at the junction when the lights go green because they didn't pay attention to the signs/road markings further back. Whenever this happens it has a devastating impact on traffic flow through the junction for that cycle of lights, the back-log starts forming and is made much worse when the next person tries changing lanes at the last second.

snubbleste

Quit yer whining folks, the City Council wants to hear how you can do a better job than Ciarán Hayes

The city council needs the public's input in developing a Travel Plan for the city for a national transport competition. The Department of Transport is offering 50 million euro between four local authorities and Galway City Council hopes to be one of them.
The Galway city transportation unit is now seeking ideas and suggestions from groups and individuals on what would encourage them to walk, cycle or take the bus more often.
According to census figures for the city, 52 percent of people travel by car to work or school. All viewpoints on promoting sustainable transport which can be very detailed or simply a one line idea can be forwarded to Galway Transportation Unit at gtu@galwaycity.ie or posted to Galway Transportation Unit, Galway City Council, City Hall, College Road, Galway

bonzodog2

One wonders if the council did any traffic flow measurement of existing traffic or computer modelling of the junction before they built it

KevR

snubbleste wrote: »

Quit yer whining folks, the City Council wants to hear how you can do a better job than Ciarán Hayes

They asked everyone to view the plan for the Moneen junction before it was built and very few did. It would have taken a lot less effort to view the plan and make suggestions than it does to write a long letter to the Galway Advertiser complaining and saying a mini-roundabout should be put in. I would guess that more people have written letters of complaint to the Advertiser, City Council and Radio Stations than people who have viewed the plans for the junction.

KevR

bonzodog2 wrote: »

One wonders if the council did any traffic flow measurement of existing traffic or computer modelling of the junction before they built it

I assume that they did. I doubt the computer models would be capable of taking how slow Galway drivers are to react at traffic lights into account!

Traffic lights are more effecient than roundabouts at peak times, everywhere except for Galway.

snubbleste

that's why I posted it here KevR
I'm going to make a submission along the lines of carpooling, more safe roads and equal treatment for cyclists, zero tolerance for any motorist using their contraption to restrict or obstruct pedestrian movement on footpaths, a 24hr congestion charge and of course a 3 line monorail venture funded by an increase in parking tickets and a local lottery..

Mrs OBumble

KevR wrote: »

I assume that they did. I doubt the computer models would be capable of taking how slow Galway drivers are to react at traffic lights into account!

It shouldn't be too hard to do though: just add an extra queue to the model representing the time between lights going green and motorist reacting. There must be a statistical pattern they could fit with a decreasing average time the further back someone is in the queue.

(I haven't worked or played with traffic modelling software. But it was well-talked-about when I was an operations-research student over 20 years ago, so I'm assuming the tools are very sophisitcated now.)

KevR

In my opinion they shouldn't have to do that though. If people have passed their driving test they should be able to navigate a set of traffic lights in a quick and effecient manner. Galway City Council shouldn't be held responsible for people not being able to drive properly.

I feel like writing a letter to the Advertiser myself...

snubbleste

I was waiting to cross at the magic roundabout earlier. As usual, fun for all mayhem, people going into the wrong lanes to avoid a jam, failing to indicate, going through the red light. 11 cars passed me by before I crossed. Of those, 7 had their right hands up to their right ear and were talking away into their contraptions. This is while entering and negotiating the roundabout.
Unbelievable!
Clearly some people need their licences revoked

Is it just me or is driver behaviour in town worsening?

Malice

snubbleste wrote: »

7 had their right hands up to their right ear and were talking away into their contraptions.

Were these people deaf and fiddling with their hearing aids or something? :pac:

snubbleste

Malice_ wrote: »

Were these people deaf and fiddling with their hearing aids or something? :pac:

I could'nt tell if they were mobile phones or pieces of plastic, but some of them had a clear luminescent glow of an lcd screen.

I think some drivers are unaware that they can be seen from 'outside'

dnme

KevR wrote: »

They asked everyone to view the plan for the Moneen junction before it was built and very few did. It would have taken a lot less effort to view the plan and make suggestions than it does to write a long letter to the Galway Advertiser complaining and saying a mini-roundabout should be put in. I would guess that more people have written letters of complaint to the Advertiser, City Council and Radio Stations than people who have viewed the plans for the junction.

Kev, how are ordinary people suposed to know what will and will not work with regard to traffic planning? We are not experts in traffic management or civil engineering whereas the council are or at least they employ people who are. So asking people to view a plan and give feedback is a little pointless and futile in this case. It may infact be a device to cover their own backs.

The only effective way ordinary people can give feedback on these designs, is by using them and then communicating their experiences. As far as that junction is concerned, it is pretty bad in my opinion.

LowOdour

snubbleste wrote: »

I was waiting to cross at the magic roundabout earlier. As usual, fun for all mayhem, people going into the wrong lanes to avoid a jam, failing to indicate, going through the red light. 11 cars passed me by before I crossed. Of those, 7 had their right hands up to their right ear and were talking away into their contraptions. This is while entering and negotiating the roundabout.
Unbelievable!
Clearly some people need their licences revoked

Is it just me or is driver behaviour in town worsening?

Are my balls freezing? The answer to both questions is yes. And some of the driving in the current road conditions back my point up. And i dont just mean the speeding careless driving, i also mean the people going 5 mph cus they don't know what to do.

KevR

dnme wrote: »

Kev, how are ordinary people suposed to know what will and will not work with regard to traffic planning? We are not experts in traffic management or civil engineering whereas the council are or at least they employ people who are. So asking people to view a plan and give feedback is a little pointless and futile in this case. It may infact be a device to cover their own backs.

The only effective way ordinary people can give feedback on these designs, is by using them and then communicating their experiences. As far as that junction is concerned, it is pretty bad in my opinion.

Loads of people were making themselves out to be experts in saying what the City Council should have done with Moneenageisha........after the upgrade had been carried out. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I personally think a lot of people are wrong in their criticisms of Moneenageisha. It has improved traffic flow at peak times. It has made the junction safer for pedestrians and cyclists. Off-peak, people do get stuck waiting at the junction for longer than they did before. I think this is a price we have to pay for the improved peak time traffic flow. Also, I do think the off-peak sequences could be altered a bit to reduce the wait.

People were writing in to the Galway Advertiser saying the lights should be removed and a mini-roundabout installed!! To me, that is insanity. A mini-roundabout would be worse than the old regular-sized roundabout which was there previously.
There were bad problems for the first few days. The local media were all over these problems like a bad rash. It was never given a fair chance and a lot of people still have it in their heads that the junction is still a disaster even though it's far from it.

The junction is not perfect, but it could be a lot worse and it is certainly better than the old roundabout in my opinion.