Another night & more fatalities on the nations roads

kensey

Incident which occurred in the early hours of this morning

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/woman-killed-in-car-crash-2292325.html

Sadly, It just seems these will happen despite ample media awareness on the hazards present on our nations roads.

Can anyone see a realistic solution to drastically reduce these things from occurring?

Is there anything that has been tried, tested and proven to work maybe in other countries?

Interesting to hear the opinions of members on this forum

Ps - sympathies to those involved

emptyshed

All the international studies have shown the exact same results:
Better training = no results
Adverts, gruesome photos, here's how to drive yor car etc . = no results


Strict enforcement of traffic laws = huge results!!

Look at California, you roll back an inch at a stop sign, traffic light etc, instant ticket, your not in proper control of car.

kensey

emptyshed wrote: »

All the international studies have shown the exact same results:
Better training = no results
Adverts, gruesome photos, here's how to drive yor car etc . = no results


Strict enforcement of traffic laws = huge results!!

Look at California, you roll back an inch at a stop sign, traffic light etc, instant ticket, your not in proper control of car.

I wholeheartedly agree, however is there anything to suggest it would work here?
Example being, when the acceptable blood alcohol level was proposed to being reduced, there was uproar from vintners association etc.
What's wrong with leaving the car at home?

If stricter traffic laws were to save one single life, surely it's worth it

The Garda Superintendant is appealing for witnesses to the Honda Civic in the minutes before the crash to come forward.

Will we ever see these boy racers taken off the road and held accountable for their behaviour?

Shield

salonfire wrote: »

Will we ever see these boy racers taken off the road and held accountable for their behaviour?

Anyone care to count the number of baseless assumptions in this sentence?

Zambia

emptyshed wrote: »

Look at California, you roll back an inch at a stop sign, traffic light etc, instant ticket, your not in proper control of car.

I would imagine since most cars in California would be automatic it would take some thinking to do the roll back.

Even then I would not want the police to resort to this level of traffic management.

deadwood

salonfire wrote: »

Will we ever see these boy racers taken off the road and held accountable for their behaviour?

Jumping the gun a bit, there.

kerry4sam

kensey wrote: »

...
Sadly, It just seems these will happen despite ample media awareness on the hazards present on our nations roads.

Can anyone see a realistic solution to drastically reduce these things from occurring?

Is there anything that has been tried, tested and proven to work maybe in other countries?

...

I am now of the belief that no amount of courses/lessons or advice will reach every person that drives on our roads. All it takes is one person, all it takes is one!
I have seen some driving that have sent shivers down my spine while driving. Even basics like indicating right then they turn left, even getting right and left correct seems to be a problem with some drivers out there.

I don't know is it that some people are of the belief that they are untouchable, that they're convinced it doesn't matter how they drive, everyone will make space for them, maneuver accordingly and in good time to save anything from happening to them?!? I just don't know what can be done to get the message across.

What makes it worse is that it can't be pinned down to one sex, to one gender, to any age-group! Everyone needs to be reached but I don't know how that is ever going to happen.
It is unreal the chances that some people take, the un-necessary risks. Pure stupidity and ignorance!

No-one knows the condition/mentality of any driver in-front or behind them or indeed driving toward them at any time. I suppose if that thought itself sunk in, people might be some-what more cautious themselves.

Would stricter enforcement of traffic laws here even help when people can't even get the basics right?
Any traffic-corp around? Have you found an improvement in the driving on our roads in the last, say, 2-3years?

drunkmonkey

kerry4sam wrote: »

I just don't know what can be done to get the message across.

While your waiting for your car at the NCT center you could do a little refresher test for yourself, that way both car and driver are competent leaving the test center. If you fail the test you can't drive home, don't make it impossible but make it such it keeps people on their toes especially people who may have not had any reason to update themselves on car control and rules of the road in recent years. It's the only way you can get to every car owner.

Maybe you could do the test on an ipad app at the test center rather than fitting big fancy simulators which will cost us millions. I reckon I can have it up and running with staff trained, app built and 2 ipads per test center for 55k + Vat, How much does one car crash cost?

Sympathies to all those involved & related this evening.

Zambia

drunkmonkey wrote: »

While your waiting for your car at the NCT center you could do a little refresher test for yourself, that way both car and driver are competent leaving the test center. If you fail the test you can't drive home, don't make it impossible but make it such it keeps people on their toes especially people who may have not had any reason to update themselves on car control and rules of the road in recent years. It's the only way you can get to every car owner.

Maybe you could do the test on an ipad app at the test center rather than fitting big fancy simulators which will cost us millions. I reckon I can have it up and running with staff trained, app built and 2 ipads per test center for 55k + Vat, How much does one car crash cost?

Sympathies to all those involved & related this evening.

Thats actually not a bad idea ... even if it was voluntary chances I would have done that rather than sit staring at some bloke poking at the underside of my car.

Even as a back up have educational driving videos playing in the waiting rooms.

kerry4sam

drunkmonkey wrote: »

While your waiting for your car at the NCT center you could do a little refresher test for yourself, that way both car and driver are competent leaving the test center. If you fail the test you can't drive home, don't make it impossible but make it such it keeps people on their toes especially people who may have not had any reason to update themselves on car control and rules of the road in recent years. It's the only way you can get to every car owner.

Maybe you could do the test on an ipad app at the test center rather than fitting big fancy simulators which will cost us millions. I reckon I can have it up and running with staff trained, app built and 2 ipads per test center for 55k + Vat, How much does one car crash cost?

Sympathies to all those involved & related this evening.

Leaving provisional out of this for a second, lets just focus on full-licence holders. When you think of the work put in practicing to pass that test and then resorting to pure, what will eventually lead to, unforgivable errors on the roads.
That notion of passing something whilst waiting NCT is all well and good, but its the days/weeks/years later when people get lax in the way they drive and resort to reckless habits that lad us to OP's like this one here.

I don't see a way of changing people's mindsets for their entire driving life.

drunkmonkey

kerry4sam wrote: »

I don't see a way of changing people's mindsets for their entire driving life.

A refresher every 2 years has to have some sort of impact. It's better than kicking stones outside the test center. A simple drive on a 3 lane motorway show's how clueless the average driver is in this country.

I don't know about changing people's mindsets it only takes a split seconds loss of concentration by an experienced driver to end in tragedy, we can't prevent or police for that but I do believe there are a lot of uneducated drivers on our road in the first place and we can do something about that.

shakin

There wil always be road deaths, its just getting it as low as possible and keeping it there, in fairness to the rsa they have made great strides in the last few years and long may it continue.

One thing maybe to have a proper driving test, the one now is piss easy any fool with working limbs should pass it, it teaches nothing about roundabouts, motorway driving, driving in adverse conditions etc start at the beginning and perhaps a re-test every 5 years.

bigbadbear

From the article we know nothing. For all we know the reason this crash occurred could be because one guy was driving with a bucket on his head.

"Can anyone see a realistic solution to drastically reduce these things from occurring?" ban bucket head driving.

Seriously though, until we hear more about what actually happened we are not in a position to comment

kerry4sam

bigbadbear wrote: »

From the article we know nothing. For all we know the reason this crash occurred could be because one guy was driving with a bucket on his head.

"Can anyone see a realistic solution to drastically reduce these things from occurring?" ban bucket head driving.

Seriously though, until we hear more about what actually happened we are not in a position to comment

You want to "ban buckethead driving?", well okay fair enough. That's your opinion.

I can only speak for myself but my remarks here were directed toward driving on our roads, in general. I think that everyone is in a position to comment on the driving on our roads, and what can lead to OP like this one here.

Idbatterim

Possibly fit all cars with black boxes, without knowing exactly what happened, why ament i surprised it was a 20 year old in colt. Start charging people will manslaughter and hand out lengthy jail sentences, that will make them think about drunk, drug or reckless driving!

KevR

shakin wrote: »

There wil always be road deaths, its just getting it as low as possible and keeping it there, in fairness to the rsa they have made great strides in the last few years and long may it continue.

One thing maybe to have a proper driving test, the one now is piss easy any fool with working limbs should pass it, it teaches nothing about roundabouts, motorway driving, driving in adverse conditions etc start at the beginning and perhaps a re-test every 5 years.

I'm taking anything away from the RSA or the Gardai because I think they are doing a great job and have contributed a lot to the reduction of road fatalities.

However, the opening of new stretches of Motorway and Dual Carriageway has been a huge factor in the decline of road fatalities over the last few years. As far as I know, on average you are 11 times less likely to be killed while travelling on a motorway than if you are travelling on a single carriageway road. Apparently, the old N1 had 30 times the number of deaths that the M1 has and the M1 is now busier than the N1 ever was!

More sections of motorway are due to open over the coming months which is great to see because our road network will be that little bit safer when they do open.

I know we can't make every road Motorway or Dual Carriageway but we can focus on straightening particularly bad bends; put down a special anti-skid surface at high risk locations; improve road markings and road signs for hazards...etc.

In saying all of the above, I do think that the standard of driving in this country does need to improve - there is only so much that can be done with road upgrades that will improve safety.

angelfire9

I remember being told when I was learning how to drive to always regard every other driver on the road as an idiot!!!

May sound stupid but in 10 years of driving i've only had one minor (material damage only) crash and thats cos I was rear ended and shunted

kerry4sam

angelfire9 wrote: »

I remember being told when I was learning how to drive to always regard every other driver on the road as an idiot!!!

May sound stupid but in 10 years of driving i've only had one minor (material damage only) crash and thats cos I was rear ended and shunted

Wow! That is exactly what I was told aswell, and I've never forgotten it. I hope I am as lucky as you after 10years of driving

angelfire9

kerry4sam wrote: »

Wow! That is exactly what I was told aswell, and I've never forgotten it. I hope I am as lucky as you after 10years of driving

Such a simple piece of advice but i never forgot it

Ah well the hubby makes up for it i suppose wrote off his 3rd car 2 weeks ago.... doing his bit for the government scrappage scheme!

Zambia

kerry4sam wrote: »

Wow! That is exactly what I was told aswell, and I've never forgotten it. I hope I am as lucky as you after 10years of driving

+1 same advice same result.

Local-womanizer

Knowing alot of young drivers up these parts,I most say,the majority are sensible when it comes to their conduct on roads,mainly because they dont see the point in writing off a car they worked hard to pay for.

But there still remains a minority of idiots who refuse to understand the effect road deaths have on people.

After a funeral of a young fella up here,his mates thought it would be a good "tribute" to drive around town acting like idiots. The fact that a friend died as a result of idiotic driving seems to be lost on them.......

The best way it seems to me to curb the road deaths in the country,is to hit these repeat offenders where it hurts,ie in their pocket. The cars should be taken off them and crushed for repeat offences. They will eventually get fed up with having to pay for car after car.

bigbadbear

Local-womanizer wrote: »

The best way it seems to me to curb the road deaths in the country,is to hit these repeat offenders where it hurts,ie in their pocket. The cars should be taken off them and crushed for repeat offences. They will eventually get fed up with having to pay for car after car.

I'm with you here. In parts of the country like donegal the Gardaí know exactly who these lunatics are that are speeding around blind bends and overtaking blind corners all the time.

If they're caught once: Warning and fine

Caught twice:

Zambia

Thats a fiat, thats not a punishment its a favour.