Donegal Roads

Senna

What is happening on our roads? yet another death making it 3 in 2 days (with some people still in serious condition in hospital).

Is it down to the poor road surfaces? Narrow hedged lined roads which i think attribute to many accidents? Poor road marketing, are cats eyes a thing of the past?

Is it down to Donegal Drivers? We have (had?) the highest occurrence of road deaths by county.

Is it an Enforcement issue? 2003 was the best year for road safety and coincided with the launch of the penalty points system.
Are there two few Garda for the size of Donegal? There probably aren't in ratio to population, but in ratio to size?


I know the rate of deaths are dropping, but i would attribute that to higher numbers of newer, safer cars, nothing else.

Tech3

I think it's down to mainly two factors: poor driving attitude and poor road infrastructure.

Apart from the N15 national primary route and a small stretch of N13 dual carriageway, roads in the county are treacherous. The N56 is more a coastal route which do tend to be downright poor but the change of profile from the Donegal bypass back to the boreen of a road the is the N56 results in being quite dangerous. To drive to the limit of 100km/hr on this stretch would be tempting fate.

The maintenance of regional roads in the county are not up to standard, poor surface, no studding replacement and little hedge cutting can have big implications on the safety of the route.

Another issue is the drivers themselves. Other counties can have just as poor roads with less deaths this needs to be addressed. More enforcement of the law is needed main issues would be dangerous speeding and overtaking. Inexperienced youths are statistically the main offenders of dangerous driving

Johnny Giles

Chillax. 3 in 2 days is unacceptable but...

...How many will die next week?

Probably not so many. It is a bad spell and it is human nature really. It happens in Cork too you know and Monaghan. I think it happens in Offaly too but I might be wrong.

Senna

Johnny Giles wrote: »

Chillax.

:rolleyes:

Donegal has consistently had the highest number of road deaths by county. I didn't posted this thread solely because of the 3 deaths, but instead, due to the constant knowledge that there is an unacceptable level of roads deaths in this county.

If you have nothing to contribute, then dont post.

LoanShark

How many times do we have to listen to "Another two dead in Donegal after an accident etc.."
And then have people telling us that Donegal drivers are mad ...

If you go back over the last 20 deaths on Donegal roads You'll probably find that a high percentage of them are not native to the county..
There is alot of Northerners who loose their lives on our roads and it gives the county a bad name..

I think our roads are quite good...Not great but good..
It is just irresponsible driving and adjusting to the road you are on..

When Working, I would have covered about 1,000 miles a week and never took for granted that I knew the road and never took any chance that I believed out myself or others in danger.. I think we need to adopt the kind of driving schools that America has for High School students and maybe this might have some impact..
Also the Limit for lower power cars should be enforced with very strict penalities for those who break it..

Senna

LoanShark wrote: »

we need to adopt the kind of driving schools that America has for High School students and maybe this might have some impact..

Probably one of the few things that would have a huge benefit over time. But it wont happen because of insurance.

On the other points, although valid, i dont think Donegal has any higher a population of non-nationals, and NI has a far better safety record than the Republic, but they do have a far superior road network.

LoanShark

Senna wrote: »

On the other points, although valid, i dont think Donegal has any higher a population of non-nationals, and NI has a far better safety record than the Republic, but they do have a far superior road network.

Sorry I probably didnt make my point properly..If you look at the people who have died on our roads and take the last 20 those who lost their lives their would be a high volume that are not from Donegal and alot of them are northerners who do speed on our roads and never make it home.

North_West_Art

off the top of my head.... here are a few immediate saftey measures I would implement if I had the power...

Fahan: Speed ramps are needed from where restaurant St Johns is over as far as Lisfanan, the speed some traffic does here is suicidal... a particularly bad spot is where you come up onto the main road from the Railway Tavern

Ramelton: The corner at the Bridge Bar... traffic coming from Milford approaches way too fast especially at night, ramp needed

Letterkenny: Dry Arch roundabout where the traffic merges at the bottom of Lurgy Brack, Clanree Hotel, Dry Arch filling station... lethal area

Bunbeg: speed ramps needed through the whole area

Laghey: Junction at the quarry beside the filling station, speed reduction zone needed

Inver: Street light badly needed at the entrance of the community centre onto the main road

Kilygordon: speed ramps on way in from Lifford side needed, very dangerous when turning onto the main road to Lifford from The Cross

Dunkineely: Speed ramps needed on approach to where the junction to St Johns Point is, very dangerous pulling up onto the main road from the Point

Ballintra: Speed reduction area needed at the junction for Rossnowlagh and the turn-off for Murvagh further down the road

Burnfoot: 90 degree bend on the road that connects Burnfoot to the Slab Road at An Grianan is badly lit at night with insufficient warnings


*just a few suggestions, I know there are countless others

Senna

North_West_Art wrote: »

Letterkenny: Dry Arch roundabout where the traffic merges at the bottom of Lurgy Brack, Clanree Hotel, Dry Arch filling station... lethal area

Originally that road was to have a barrier down the middle, but a few businesses objected and the plan was scrapped, business wins over safety again.

Deer Hunter DL

most of it is down to pure bad driving and carelessness it scares the sh1t out of me what i see on the roads most days i go out on them , boy racers do drive fast and are the cause of some RTC's i think they get blamed all to often tho, another thing i see on the road is people driving at 30-40mph on 60mph roads ,ok i know 60mph isn't a target you need to reach once your on a 60mph road i see this alot on the road from ballybofey to donegal town then there bes a big tail back people get mad and start passing where they should't and accidents happen,another one is old men looking into fields at sheep as they drive along the main road am sure someone on here seen the fella am talking about you'll often see him around the barnes more gap area in a old grey coloured toyota carina not a care in the world as he waves over and back the road looking into the field , this time of year the weather has alot to do with rtc's people forget that is takes way longer to stop on a wet road , another one is windows steamed up with the damp please clean them before going out on the road don't wait on the heater to do it , a lad just the other day pulled out in front of me all windows steamed up he never seen me at all so he just took a chance and thought ah maybe nothing is coming down the road sure i'll chance it :rolleyes:, people need to wise up and waken up a bit on the road , i also thing the driving test in this country is a joke a monkey could pass it but thats for another thread another day

ednwireland

North_West_Art wrote: »

off the top of my head.... here are a few immediate saftey measures I would implement if I had the power...

Fahan: Speed ramps are needed from where restaurant St Johns is over as far as Lisfanan, the speed some traffic does here is suicidal... a particularly bad spot is where you come up onto the main road from the Railway Tavern

Ramelton: The corner at the Bridge Bar... traffic coming from Milford approaches way too fast especially at night, ramp needed

Letterkenny: Dry Arch roundabout where the traffic merges at the bottom of Lurgy Brack, Clanree Hotel, Dry Arch filling station... lethal area

Bunbeg: speed ramps needed through the whole area

Laghey: Junction at the quarry beside the filling station, speed reduction zone needed

Inver: Street light badly needed at the entrance of the community centre onto the main road

Kilygordon: speed ramps on way in from Lifford side needed, very dangerous when turning onto the main road to Lifford from The Cross

Dunkineely: Speed ramps needed on approach to where the junction to St Johns Point is, very dangerous pulling up onto the main road from the Point

Ballintra: Speed reduction area needed at the junction for Rossnowlagh and the turn-off for Murvagh further down the road

Burnfoot: 90 degree bend on the road that connects Burnfoot to the Slab Road at An Grianan is badly lit at night with insufficient warnings


*just a few suggestions, I know there are countless others

you seem to have a thing for speed ramps on main roads (are you crazy ?) bad junctions need there sight lines sorting out not speed ramps (i could go on but i would get banned )

the main problems i see are changes in road surface drive from frosses to glenties, if you dont know a road you can be going at 100km'h quite happily on a nice wide road for the road surfce to suddenly deteriorate or the road to narrow with little warning, when the first bad weather hits when its dark at 5pm always seems to cause a problem (i always try and make sure i have decent tread depth on my tyres by october - how mnay people have a tyre depth guage - i have one)


also i find going from random streetlights to no street lights particularly annoying (esp when i'm cycling), careless positioning of house lights (why do people light up the outside of their houses stick sensor lights there - muppets)

Deer Hunter DL

ednwireland wrote: »

you seem to have a thing for speed ramps on main roads (are you crazy ?) bad junctions need there sight lines sorting out not speed ramps (i could go on but i would get banned )

the main problems i see are changes in road surface drive from frosses to glenties, if you dont know a road you can be going at 100km'h quite happily on a nice wide road for the road surfce to suddenly deteriorate or the road to narrow with little warning, when the first bad weather hits when its dark at 5pm always seems to cause a problem (i always try and make sure i have decent tread depth on my tyres by october - how mnay people have a tyre depth guage - i have one)


also i find going from random streetlights to no street lights particularly annoying (esp when i'm cycling), careless positioning of house lights (why do people light up the outside of their houses stick sensor lights there - muppets)

its good to see people like you taking action like this loads of people don't bother or would never think on tread depth, the minimum legal tread depth of 1.6 mm i think this is crazy your tyre in the wet with that amount of tread isn't worth a f*#k

North_West_Art

ednwireland wrote: »

you seem to have a thing for speed ramps on main roads (are you crazy ?) bad junctions need there sight lines sorting out not speed ramps (i could go on but i would get banned )

the main problems i see are changes in road surface drive from frosses to glenties, if you dont know a road you can be going at 100km'h quite happily on a nice wide road for the road surfce to suddenly deteriorate or the road to narrow with little warning, when the first bad weather hits when its dark at 5pm always seems to cause a problem (i always try and make sure i have decent tread depth on my tyres by october - how mnay people have a tyre depth guage - i have one)


also i find going from random streetlights to no street lights particularly annoying (esp when i'm cycling), careless positioning of house lights (why do people light up the outside of their houses stick sensor lights there - muppets)

There was speed ramps on every main road crossing the border until they were taken away after 1998... they slowed the traffic down on approach to the border crossings and traffic was well warned that there were ramps ahead... how else would you propose slowing traffic down going through Fahan for example; ok, maybe not ramps, a sequence of speed bumps, not an Evil Kinevil yoke

ednwireland

North_West_Art wrote: »

There was speed ramps on every main road crossing the border until they were taken away after 1998... they slowed the traffic down on approach to the border crossings and traffic was well warned that there were ramps ahead...

until i hit one at 4am going to the airport (after they took the warning signs down and left the bumps) i actually dont know how the front wheels stayed on the car.

i dont have a problem at towns , but suggesting putting them in the middle of country areas because theres a bad junction seems .. well ..see my earlier post


and as for some "safety" features, like those lines going into balleybofey from the gap they are lethal in the wet on a pushbike

mac_iomhair

the road from carrigans to raphoe is attrocious...:mad:

donegalman1

Senna wrote: »

Originally that road was to have a barrier down the middle, but a few businesses objected and the plan was scrapped, business wins over safety again.

That road is getting a central meridian, not just a barrier, The NRA are progressing but their is some time delay and it is happening

Johnny Giles

Senna wrote: »

If you have nothing to contribute, then dont post.

I understand.

I do have something to contribute though. My opinion. May not be to your taste though. I know I usually talk about sporting issues but I thought I'd throw it out there.

PattheMetaller

North_West_Art wrote: »

Letterkenny: Dry Arch roundabout where the traffic merges at the bottom of Lurgy Brack, Clanree Hotel, Dry Arch filling station... lethal area

What really annoys me when coming down Lurgybrack and taking the first exit into Letterkenny is the amount of drivers who, when they see a line of cars waiting to enter the roundabout in the left hand lane, can't wait their turn and take the first exit by using the right hand lane.

Also the amount of drivers who sit in the overtaking lane between Bunagee and Polestar Roundabouts crawling. There are bad drivers out there.

ednwireland wrote: »

(i always try and make sure i have decent tread depth on my tyres by october - how mnay people have a tyre depth guage - i have one)

Also, how many check their tyre pressures weekly? Not too many i'd say.

Essexboy

New South Wales imposes double penalty points at Bank Holidays for speeding, seatbelt and helmet-related offences.

How about double penalty points for any offence committed in County Donegal, regardless of whether the offender lives there or not?

Bound to have the local politicians shouting their heads off in opposition but they have no credibility. As John Major said 'Society needs to condemn a little more and understand a little less'

Tech3

ednwireland wrote: »

the main problems i see are changes in road surface drive from frosses to glenties

This is a very important regional rd IMO as it takes most of the west traffic off the N56 after Donegal town. The council threw a couple of million on widening works and the junction upgrade to the N56 south of Glenties. It's still only half done as no more money was funded to finish it off.

The road surface is sunk in many parts with severe bends although not on the scale of the Gweedore bends :rolleyes: There is a serious hump near a bridge on a straght bit of the road too somewhere between Frosses and Glenties.

byte

PattheMetaller wrote: »

What really annoys me when coming down Lurgybrack and taking the first exit into Letterkenny is the amount of drivers who, when they see a line of cars waiting to enter the roundabout in the left hand lane, can't wait their turn and take the first exit by using the right hand lane.

Yeah, that's really annoying alright. And quite dangerous if somebody in the left lane decided they didn't want to take the first exit.

Senna

Deer Hunter DL wrote: »

its good to see people like you taking action like this loads of people don't bother or would never think on tread depth, the minimum legal tread depth of 1.6 mm i think this is crazy your tyre in the wet with that amount of tread isn't worth a f*#k

I said this a few times in the motor forum, but the amount of powerful cars in Donegal driving on rubbish tyres is unbelievable. A good few times i've been in tyre garages and seen EVO's, ITR's, etc getting Nangkan, Sava, etc tyres is unreal. A descent make tyre with bugger all thread would do better than them in the wet. Always reckoned that happens up here more than in any other county. Just personal opinion, no facts to back it up. But we do have our fair share of Boy racers involved in accidents, it might contribute.

donegalman1 wrote: »

That road is getting a central meridian, not just a barrier, The NRA are progressing but their is some time delay and it is happening

Sorry, yeah i meant a Meridian, couldn't think of the word. But that was meant to be made when the road was being developed (probably 10-15 years ago now?), it was at that time that business objected and the road was left open for crossing. And ironically, the loudest protester at that time isn't even open for business any more.

PattheMetaller wrote: »

What really annoys me when coming down Lurgybrack and taking the first exit into Letterkenny is the amount of drivers who, when they see a line of cars waiting to enter the roundabout in the left hand lane, can't wait their turn and take the first exit by using the right hand lane.

Yep, and the amount of people who think thats a legal maneuver, which its not.

PattheMetaller wrote: »

Also the amount of drivers who sit in the overtaking lane between Bunagee and Polestar Roundabouts crawling. There are bad drivers out there.

Dont get me started on them, we probably need a rant thread also:D

donegalman1

Donegal has quite a few factors contributing to its road crashes:

1. Most amount of Roads in any county over 8000km, mostly of a very bad standard

2. Little or no public transport meaning much more reliance on cars at all times of the day and night, compared to counties with populations based in large towns and cities, we are quite rural

3 A high proportion of out of state drivers many of whom believe the law doesn't apply to them

4. a history of boy racers and indeed slow overly cautious drivers who hold up huge amounts of traffic that chance their arm then to pass at any opportunity

I think its high time the actual findings of all traffic accidents were published. Then we could see where drink, speed and age are the causes. I firmly believe that the reason this isn't done is that the standard of roads would be the biggest factor, this would then put a moral and probably legal responsibility on the government to fix dangerous roads.

No one can deny that most fatalities in Donegal are on the same stretches of Roads, its obvious that road design plays its part. Were the authorities to acknowledge this, they would bear some responsibility.

Let me give you an example, when the smoking ban was first mooted, the government stated that not banning smoking in the workplace would lead to fatalities from Cancer etc for workers, once they had stated that, there was no way the could not bring the ban in as they would have been open to compensation claims as they had admitted the measure was needed and had to put it in place.

danjo

Very interesting thread.
I believe the rally has a very negative impact on drivers. It seems to encourage a culture of reckless driving among young impressionable drivers. Many try to imitate the rally drivers.

smashey

I might be the devil's advocate here but while the standard of the roads plays a part in this, the biggest problem is the sheer stupidity, recklessness and arrogance of a lot of drivers.

On Wednesday morning of this week, I was on the N15 and was overtaken by one of the aforementioned stupid arrogant drivers. Nothing new about being overtaken, it's just he started the manoeuvre on a chevron and continued it over a solid white line leading to a bend. They don't seem to care and have absolutely no fear of being caught.

Some day, a judge will make an example of one of them and maybe then they might get the message.

muffler

^ ^ What about road rage? :rolleyes:

PattheMetaller

smashey wrote: »

...the biggest problem is the sheer stupidity, recklessness and arrogance of a lot of drivers.

There's a people carrier that comes out the Ramelton road most evenings at 5pm ish. Usually pays no heed to the 60kpm limit on this particular stretch. This evening, it sat so far up my ass the headlights were nearly in the back seat. I suppose I was holding the cretur back as I had the audacity to sit at the speed limit.:rolleyes:

Senna

smashey wrote: »

I might be the devil's advocate here but while the standard of the roads plays a part in this, the biggest problem is the sheer stupidity, recklessness and arrogance of a lot of drivers.

Then the question is, are Donegal driver worse than any other/most/majority of other county drivers?
I agree that the stupidity of a lot of drivers is unbelievable, but i just cant say if Donegal is worse than elsewhere.

North_West_Art

A funny site, and a controversial post about 7 comments down

http://****edrivers.com/2007/08/31/overtaking-on-bend-after-bend/

muffler

The link doesnt work - for me anyhow.

North_West_Art

muffler wrote: »

The link doesnt work - for me anyhow.

Ive realised now why it doesnt.... do you see the four **** in the url? The word before drivers in the url is sh1te (instead of the '1' you would use an i)