Jaywalking

Aidric

It's honestly reached epidemic stage in Limerick. I have never experienced it as bad just about anywhere. William St has to come in for special mention, an absolute nightmare to drive on.

Berty

I do not slow down unless I have to. If you choose to walk out in front of my car then I will stay my course and most likely rev my engine to frighten the bejasus out of you.

Also, just because you have a buggy does not mean I will change what I said above. Putting your child out in the road in front of you means you are not fit to be a parent in the first place.

The crossing at Keane's Jewellers is my nightmare junction. The green man means absolutely nothing to people.

Of course the council will consider that it's the driver's problem and will surely make us drive at a max of 30kph to compensate for incosiderate and impatient people.

Do I cross the road at unmarked points? Yes
Do I wander out in front of traffic? No

pappyodaniel

It's not that bad, just like any other Irish city or large town. It's annoying, but if you're an assertive driver you shouldn't have any problems. Most jaywalkers are doing their best to make eye contact with the driver. Do your best not to make eye contact, but be aware of them. Keep moving and don't hesitate otherwise there'll be pedestrians all over the road. It's all in the eyes, you don't see people walking in front of cars with tinted windows because the pedestrian doesn't know whether the driver has seen them or not.

Melion

Its a fúcking joke, especially at the crossing between O'Connell St and William St(Keanes, Meteor, Debenhams). People dont even look at the lights, they just walk out once they reach the kerb.

ludwit

Why are there no pedestrian crossings on William St from the O'Connel street one up to Wickham St, if there are none then jaywalking is to be expected.

gerrymadden1

Aidric wrote: »

It's honestly reached epidemic stage in Limerick. I have never experienced it as bad just about anywhere. William St has to come in for special mention, an absolute nightmare to drive on.

+1. A real nightmare. :mad:

Isn't it a pity the Gardai don't deal with this problem??? :rolleyes:

Pikasso

gerrymadden1 wrote: »

+1. A real nightmare. :mad:

Isn't it a pity the Gardai don't deal with this problem??? :rolleyes:

Come on guys - this is a Limerick institution we're talking about!
When I first went to Dublin they were all excited about the pedestrianisation of Grafton St. I couldn't understand all the fuss as Limerick has been pedestrianised since the time of the siege.

We Limerick people love jaywalking. And as for those prams sticking out between cars - it makes the traffic slow down. Who needs 30kph limits!!

Run_to_da_hills

Worse if you are a cyclist. I use to carry a compressed air fog horn in a water bottle holder on the handlebars. Enough to lift anyone out of it if they decided to walk out in front of me.

h3000

The other place that drives me mad is turning off O'Connell st down Shannon street. There is always some idiot strolling across the road on the red pedestrian light.

bullets

I've not had a good ol whinge in a while so might as well now

So all these boards.ie drivers that are frustrated with jaywalkers have
never themselves jaywalked and are complete saints when they've got out of the car and become a pedestrian themselves?

Are people that want to cross the road expected to walk the entire length of William street to cross at one of the two sets of lights? Take a look at the length of the street compared to the width of the road and ask yourself what you would do if you were not in your car ! or were pushing your childs buggy!
I know I dont. (Self confessed Sinner)


I cant say I know what its like for Drivers as I dont drive and my only transport is my own two feet or my bi-cycle, but its frustrating for
pedestrians too. I'd love if the entire of O'Connell Street and William street
was pedestrianized, Keep the main traffic out of the innermost parts of the city. (although that may not be fair to drivers)

near where I live their is a 4 way junction at the entrance across the road
from another estate and shop, If your in a Car, if your on foot, or
if your on the bike its a nightmare to get out or cross the road.
There is no lights or pedestrian crossing near buy and after residents complained they would not even spare some white road paint to put in a
zebra crossing or any other road calming measures. There are lots of kids
that dash across the road trying to get to the shop, its only a matter of
time before there is a serious accident.


When on foot I see come pretty bad behavior from Drivers too.
Breaking the lights.
Speeding up when they see an amber light.
Driving in exits using them if they are entrances.
Putting on lipstick or shaving while driving.
On the phone without handsfree.
Driving one handed or steering with their knees while eating.
Driving through roundabouts as if they just simply dont exist.
Not even attempting to stop at Pedestrian crossings.
Parking blocking footpaths on both sides of the road.

~B

h3000

@bullets.ie

Of course people have to cross the road and they are not going to walk the whole lenght of the street to a pedestrian crossing to do so.

My problem and I think most other peoples problem with jaywalking is when pedestrians completly ignore the red signal at a pedestrian crossing. This happens all the time at the O'Connell St/William St junction and O'Connell st/Shannon St junction. If the signal is red just stop and wait for the green signal like all motor vehicles have to.

lasno

Unfortunately its not just pedestrians that ignore the lights at the junction of
O'Connell St. and Sarsfield St. When the traffic lights turn red a lot of drivers
take that as a signal to speed up and get through at all costs.

dave 27

i think everyone is forgetting the term jaywalking is an american expression and is only used in america, in ireland anything goes..im just glad im not told by some stupid cop how to cross th road correctly! its a city for feck sake, can you imagine all those people queing in an orderly manner to cross the road?!

ill pick freedom of crossing the road without getting a fine any day thanks very much!

h3000

lasno wrote: »

Unfortunately its not just pedestrians that ignore the lights at the junction of
O'Connell St. and Sarsfield St. When the traffic lights turn red a lot of drivers
take that as a signal to speed up and get through at all costs.

Have to agree with you, there is an awful lot of that happening too, at nearly all junctions around the city.

DJ_U4EA

William Street is the best example of this. These stupid people just will not learn NOT to walk on a road with moving traffic until they physically see some other idiot getting crushed under the wheels of a bus or car. It is going to happen eventually. If you play the stupid card and walk blindly across the road, ignoring a ton of steel moving quickly toward you, don't be surprised if you get pulped.

DJ_U4EA

lasno wrote: »

Unfortunately its not just pedestrians that ignore the lights at the junction of
O'Connell St. and Sarsfield St. When the traffic lights turn red a lot of drivers
take that as a signal to speed up and get through at all costs.

Not sure if you or anyone else has noticed this, but the traffic lights running from The Bitter End up to Debenhams are horribly out of sync. As for the lights at that junction you mentioned, there's a reason most drivers will speed up - the cretins who don't understand that a red man means stay off the ****ing road.

lasno

[QUOTE=DJ_U4EA As for the lights at that junction you mentioned, there's a reason most drivers will speed up - the cretins who don't understand that a red man means stay off the ****ing road.[/QUOTE]

Silly me thinking that a red traffic light means stop! In future I shall continue through the junction when the lights are red and hopefully you are not one of the "cretins" crossing when the green man is showing.

Paulegend

there is no such thing as jay walking in Ireland. there is however rules of the road concerning pedestrians http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/...zsi182y1997a46.

there is such thing as crossing the road. there is also such thing in this country as terrible drivers with aggresion problems. if i walk out into the street and someone revs their car at me they better run me down. a**holes like that shouldnt be driving.

there is a huge problem that there are no pedestrian crossings on william street but that will be changed soon with the redevelopments of william street.

there is also a problem on ever road in ireland that if a driver sees an amber light they speed up. you can make all the excuses you want but this is something that the gardai need to clamp down on. not people crossing the road. calm down so what if people cross the road in the CITY CENTER. dont drive through the city center if you dont have to. it is very avoidable. at peak times you will be stuck in traffic and people will cross on front of you

DJ_U4EA

lasno wrote: »

Silly me thinking that a red traffic light means stop! In future I shall continue through the junction when the lights are red and hopefully you are not one of the "cretins" crossing when the green man is showing.

You do know the difference between a "red man" and a "red light" don't you??

Paulegend wrote: »

there is no such thing as jay walking in Ireland. there is however rules of the road concerning pedestrians http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/...zsi182y1997a46.

there is such thing as crossing the road. there is also such thing in this country as terrible drivers with aggresion problems. if i walk out into the street and someone revs their car at me they better run me down. a**holes like that shouldnt be driving.

There is such a thing as crossing the road SAFELY. But thats not how its done in Limerick - strolling out blindly without even a glance at the traffic approaching or a care for yourself or the driver of the car coming towards you.

there is a huge problem that there are no pedestrian crossings on william street but that will be changed soon with the redevelopments of william street.

Yes and when its pedestrianised they can do cartwheels up and down the length of it for all I care. Until then, they would be advised to read up on the safe cross code and understand that a ROAD with moving TRAFFIC on it is NOT A FOOTPATH.

there is also a problem on ever road in ireland that if a driver sees an amber light they speed up. you can make all the excuses you want but this is something that the gardai need to clamp down on. not people crossing the road. calm down so what if people cross the road in the CITY CENTER. dont drive through the city center if you dont have to. it is very avoidable. at peak times you will be stuck in traffic and people will cross on front of you

Some people need to travel through the city centre, there's no way around that. People crossing the road safely is fine. People crossing the road while the traffic lights are green and causing delays for motorists is not.

Paulegend

DJ_U4EA dam you talk some amount of crap.

anyway yea crossing the road safely is what i mean. when the traffic is stopped i will cross the road with or without permission from a traffic light. if there is no pedestrian crossing within 15 meters of where i want to cross then i will cross when i feel its safe to do so(as entitled to do so under "ROAD TRAFFIC (TRAFFIC AND PARKING) REGULATIONS, ACT OF 1997" article 46 section 7).

my point is that during busy times in the city center traffic is stopped(not because of pedestrians but traffic conjestion) and if the traffic is stopped people will cross.

its mostly on william street as thats the worst area for pedestrian crossings.

i will not walk out on front of an oncoming car if i think its close. i have seen people walking out and not caring but i wont comment on those people because aparantly when i do comment on them im aparantly discriminating according to some on here. so lets just say we would agree on what should happen if they just wonder out not caring about on coming traffic.

ludwit

Paulegend is spot on but I can understand drivers being pissed off , they are the ones who could seriously hurt someone and be at the end of a claim.

wylo

I drive through Limerick more than I walk it, but still love the freedom that people have to walk around the city centre. Its almost a tradition now, a bit like Cork, and it would be a shame it was gotten rid of.

Aidric

wylo wrote: »

I drive through Limerick more than I walk it, but still love the freedom that people have to walk around the city centre. Its almost a tradition now, a bit like Cork, and it would be a shame it was gotten rid of.

Who suggested denying you your freedom to walk around the city centre? The complaint here is people walking out on to the road at traffic lights when the red man is showing or people who just walk out on to the road on William St when it suits them.

wylo

Dont get me wrong, as I said, I spend more time in the car in Limerick than on foot, but it just doesnt bother me because its nice to see the pedestrians having a hold of the city centre rather than cars.
Dont get me wrong I know its probably illegal and frustrating for drivers but this is why I think they should hurry up with the pedestrianising altogether.

zuroph

Limerick is jaywalking capital of the world, we have it down to a fine art. Its one of my favourite things about Limerick, and only occasionally does someone get it wrong and annoy me. We're very skilled at it, and its hilarious to watch tourists reactions to it.

Henry Ford III

zuroph wrote: »

Limerick is jaywalking capital of the world, we have it down to a fine art. Its one of my favourite things about Limerick, and only occasionally does someone get it wrong and annoy me. We're very skilled at it, and its hilarious to watch tourists reactions to it.

Absolutely.

Unfortunately we also have a unique specimen locally - the aggressive pedestrian, who walks out if front of you, irrespective of road conditions or traffic or even pedestrian lights, glaring as if to say "you stop or else" :eek:

I've never encountered such a creature elsewhere.

Paulegend

i think HenryFord is right

problem is we have aggressive pedestrians and aggressive motorists. they basically play chicken with eachother and neither agree they are wrong. if you run them down................. they die or they sue. to be honest i dont think i could take my time walking on front of an on coming truck:D

Ireland has had this sueing mentality for years. its not right but how do we change it?

concussion

By showing due care and consideration to others and by taking responsibility for ones actions. It'll never happen.

Karmafaerie

I love all the self righteous motorists on here.
The same kind who believe that cars automatically have right of way on the road.

The amount of times I have to control my temper as drivers try and drive through pedestrians with rights of way is ridiculous.

My personal favorite is on Mulgrave street.
(As I've spent decades walking up and down it)
Drivers turning into laneways, and onto side roads who assume right of way which they don't have just because they're in a car.

The amount of times I've been halfway across the junction (not sure of the name) down past where The Pike used to be as you leave town, and cars pulling off the main road just try and drive through you.

Disgracefull and every bit as reckless and dangerous as all the pedestrians been bitched and moaned about in here.



I for one love the fact that Limerick has what I honestly believe is a great tradition like this.
It adds a bit to the city, and as mentioned earlier, is hillarious to watch tourists (especially Americans) adjust to it.

Hu Deman

i agree it is funny to see all those expressions on tourists faces, but at the same time it can be annoying trying to get up william street on a busy saturday in summer!!

concussion

Pedestrians should have free movement in the city centre. Of course the road network doesn't support this yet but it's nice to think about a city centre without cars.