Inane messages on roadside electronic displays

hmmm

Roadside electronic displays seem to be popping up all over Dublin (other counties as well?). They sometimes have moderately useful messages (e.g. spaces free in car parks) but most of the time they are flashing utterly inane messages.

Yesterday we were coming in past Palmerstown to be greeted by a flashing road sign. We slowed down thinking it was going to be something important and instead got to read "Watch out for pedestrians and cyclists this bank holiday weekend". Well thanks very much, I had to take my eye of the road to read that and once the weekend is over I guess I'll get back to ignoring cyclists and pedestrians. Every time it rains we get equally inane messages about "Road wet, slow down". During the snow and ice we were helpfully informed that the road was icy, which we could probably have figured out ourselves by noticing all the snow and cars sliding around.

Are these messages really supposed to be good practice? What happens when they genuinely need to communicate an important message and everyone has learned to ignore them?

noelfirl

Yes, at first there seemed to be a concerted effort to maintain and update the messages, but lately they seem wasted. Yesterday there was a temporary VMS near Bachelor's Walk and one on O'Connell Street helpfully notifying about the weekend closures (although the one on the quay was flashing so fast as to be practically unreadable) but both of the new permanent signs at Islandbridge and Wolfe Tone Quay were only displaying the parking stats and the "Garda notice". I hope the council havn't got bored with updating them already.

foggy_lad

the ones on the naas road warning that "road liable to flood" are a complete waste of resources and money, they were an afterthought after the snow and ice had melted and created floods on the road, do the council think they cant be sued as long as they have these warning signs in place?

hmmm

Wouldn't it be better to have these devices inactive except where something important needs to be communicated? Drivers have enough to distract them without having to take their eyes off the road to try and read whether the message is important or not. It seems to be an attitude of "well they're there so we had better put something on them".

Cookie_Monster

when not showing relevant traffic info they should all default to "keep left"
maybe people will take it onboard

monument

hmmm wrote: »

Yesterday we were coming in past Palmerstown to be greeted by a flashing road sign. We slowed down thinking it was going to be something important and instead got to read "Watch out for pedestrians and cyclists this bank holiday weekend". ...

You were thinking it was going to be important? Watching out for pedestrians and cyclists is not an important message?

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

when not showing relevant traffic info they should all default to "keep left"
maybe people will take it onboard

Many of the signs the OP is talking about are on urban roads where keep left would not apply.

hmmm

monument wrote: »

Watching out for pedestrians and cyclists is not an important message?

So is not driving with your eyes closed and chewing your food properly. I don't think most people need to be reminded of this.

Cookie_Monster

monument wrote: »

Many of the signs the OP is talking about are on urban roads where keep left would not apply.

:eek:

of course it applies

monument

hmmm wrote: »

So is not driving with your eyes closed and chewing your food properly. I don't think most people need to be reminded of this.

You might not need reminding, but lots of others drivers do.

Although I would add that recent message of "share the road" is a better one.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

:eek:

of course it applies

Could you explain exactly what you mean by keep left and how it applies to the roads with these signs on them?

ciaran67

hmmm wrote: »

Roadside electronic displays seem to be popping up all over Dublin (other counties as well?). They sometimes have moderately useful messages (e.g. spaces free in car parks) but most of the time they are flashing utterly inane messages.

Yesterday we were coming in past Palmerstown to be greeted by a flashing road sign. We slowed down thinking it was going to be something important and instead got to read "Watch out for pedestrians and cyclists this bank holiday weekend". Well thanks very much, I had to take my eye of the road to read that and once the weekend is over I guess I'll get back to ignoring cyclists and pedestrians. Every time it rains we get equally inane messages about "Road wet, slow down". During the snow and ice we were helpfully informed that the road was icy, which we could probably have figured out ourselves by noticing all the snow and cars sliding around.

Are these messages really supposed to be good practice? What happens when they genuinely need to communicate an important message and everyone has learned to ignore them?

I know, i couldnt believe it. I almost dropped my phone and spilt kebab in my lap!

Zoney

They shouldn't be used for trivial messages as it detracts from the attention motorists will give to VMS with genuinely important messages.

The worst are VMS used for advertising.

stomprockin

They should be displaying useful messages like - it's not a fast lane it's an overtaking lane ! :pac:

Cookie_Monster

monument wrote: »

Could you explain exactly what you mean by keep left and how it applies to the roads with these signs on them?

keep left is a constant on all Irish roads period. Its in the rules of the road.
That means keep in the left hand lane if there is more than one, unless overtaking etc or keep to the left of the lanes if it is a single lane.

Our man in Havana

The should just display the time when not in use.

bmaxi

The one on the Gorey bypass has shown 4:43 for for over a year now, this is just about the same time, in minutes, for which it worked. Another example of wanting all the new toys and then not being able to use them.

monument

stomprockin wrote: »

They should be displaying useful messages like - it's not a fast lane it's an overtaking lane ! :pac:

There is no over taking lane on many of the areas with these signs the OP is talking about.

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

keep left is a constant on all Irish roads period. Its in the rules of the road.
That means keep in the left hand lane if there is more than one, unless overtaking etc or keep to the left of the lanes if it is a single lane.

It may be good advice on motorway signs. But given that directional lanes and bus lanes are on some of these roads, it would be a hell of a confusing message if displayed on all the roads with these signs on them.

And it would be as the OP said "inane" if the signs were reminding people to keep in the left side of a lane.

_Kaiser_

When these big mobile orange signs started appearing a year or two back, they seemed to be used to convey generally important information - like "road layout altered" or even your speed.

Now though it seems every Tom, Dick and Harry can get one and they display all sorts of crap. Pity because they were initially a very useful aid I thought.

Our man in Havana

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

When these big mobile orange signs started appearing a year or two back, they seemed to be used to convey generally important information - like "road layout altered" or even your speed.

Now though it seems every Tom, Dick and Harry can get one and they display all sorts of crap. Pity because they were initially a very useful aid I thought.

Messages like "Vote No 1 Michael Lowry" and "Guess who's 40 today?"

lord lucan

There's one on the way up to Liffey Valley,"Half price furniture sale,everything must clear." or something to that effect. Arrowmount furniture used to have one like that on the Fonthill road too.

Stark

Ended up missing the yield sign coming from Parkgate Street onto Wolfe Tone quay before because I got distracted by the flashing "30km/hr ahead" sign just in front of it. Having an unobscured yield sign is more important than giving drivers several kilometres warning of a speed limit change imo.

snappieT

The ones going into the Port Tunnel are, in particular, bad. They have flashing warning lights on the corners of the sign, and "Tunnel Open" or similar printed on the sign 99% of the time. At the very least, the flashing should be reserved for those "Crash ahead" or "Tunnel closed due to flooding/maintenance/incompetence" situations.

foggy_lad

how about they show messages like kill your speed not your children or more simply SPEED KILLS or SLOW DOWN as well as other safety notices? but all the messages should fit on one screen and be large enough to read in a second or two that the driver might glance at them otherwise they are a distraction and a danger.

Stark

foggy_lad wrote: »

how about they show messages like kill your speed not your children or more simply SPEED KILLS or SLOW DOWN as well as other safety notices?

Yeah that would be great, because honestly, I'd never heard that speed was dangerous was before.