Bizarre/Illegal things on motorways

SerialComplaint

dubhthach wrote: »

When going down to Galway yesterday I past one of these on the M4 out by Maynooth, perhaps it was the same one!

Quite likely the same one, as he was heading for the N4 junction.

niloc1951

Deleted User wrote: »

is doing 140kph not stupid?

No just illegal, unless one is on an unrestricted stretch of Autobahn in Germany, in every other country afaik it's just illegal and possibly dangerous.

It's an interesting exercise, when conditions are safe to do so, to try an emergency stop from say 130 KmPH and see how fast you DON'T stop :eek::eek: you might find your brakes have faded completely when you are still doing 70Kmph particularly if you take along four of your buddies at 13st. apiece. :D

corktina

rarely would anyone need to do an emergency STOP from 130km/h. If there was an obstruction you would either have hit it or missed it in the first second or two.

L1011

niloc1951 wrote: »

It's an interesting exercise, when conditions are safe to do so, to try an emergency stop from say 130 KmPH and see how fast you DON'T stop :eek::eek:

Try it at 120. Not going to be wildly different.

The design spec on Irish motorways is for 160km/h.

niloc1951

corktina wrote: »

rarely would anyone need to do an emergency STOP from 130km/h. If there was an obstruction you would either have hit it or missed it in the first second or two.

As you say you would either hit it but you certainly wouldn't survive a swerve to miss it, either way it could turn out to be a major accident that could involve traffic in BOTH carriageways Ipswich UK

MrDerp

Saw a 'temporary dwelling' (you know, the prohibited kind) parked on a garda-only spot along the M50 yesterday between junction 4 and 5. Thankfully it wasn't still there this morning (unless I missed it)

antoobrien

Saturday night on my way back from the match in Tullamore I saw someone stopped in the slip after the Ballinasloe east on-ramp. Couldn't believe somebody stopped there, but then I saw the moron reverse back 100 yards of the slip onto the ramp and (presumably because I had passed by then and couldn't watch it in the mirror) back up the hill.

kiwipower

I almost ran a peadistrian over last week. He had crossed over two lanes of north bound traffic by Ennis on the M18 and was in the process of climbing over the concrete medium barrier as I came barrelling up the passing lane on the south bound side.

Considering I would have been doing ++/-120kmh he would have made a pretty splat on my windscreen!

Dont know how my drag didnt push him into the vehicle doing the same on the North bound side! I hope my horn is still ringing in his thick ears!

All this with in sight of an over pass!

PseudoFamous

MrDerp wrote: »

Saw a 'temporary dwelling' (you know, the prohibited kind) parked on a garda-only spot along the M50 yesterday between junction 4 and 5. Thankfully it wasn't still there this morning (unless I missed it)

It was there on Saturday morning as well. Best part was the fact that there was nothing parked in front of it.

Cookie_Monster

Sat M50 southbound, 03-D BMW 530D overtaking a car on the outside of lane 3 by using the spare tarmac between it and the barrier, only just made it to before the barrier cut back in.

White Northern reg M3 following behind him cut left across 4 lanes and undertook several cars to follow him. Way over the limit, I was doing around 130 and they left me for dead...

Cookie_Monster

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Sat M50 southbound, 03-D BMW 530D overtaking a car on the outside of lane 3 by using the spare tarmac between it and the barrier, only just made it to before the barrier cut back in.

White Northern reg M3 following behind him cut left across 4 lanes and undertook several cars to follow him. Way over the limit, I was doing around 130 and they left me for dead...

Buddies in crime perhaps!

Empire o de Sun

MYOB wrote: »

Try it at 120. Not going to be wildly different.

The design spec on Irish motorways is for 160km/h.

Please show me where that is written, I have only eve seen a max design speed of 120 km/h.

L1011

Empire o de Sun wrote: »

Please show me where that is written, I have only eve seen a max design speed of 120 km/h.

A road with a design speed of 120km/h could not be posted at 120km/h due to the fact that a substantial number of people exceed the speed limit.

The NRA however call their design speed bands "50A", "50B, etc up to "100B" and "120". These aren't speeds.

120 meets standards for 160km/h

Empire o de Sun

MYOB wrote: »

A road with a design speed of 120km/h could not be posted at 120km/h due to the fact that a substantial number of people exceed the speed limit.

The NRA however call their design speed bands "50A", "50B, etc up to "100B" and "120". These aren't speeds.

120 meets standards for 160km/h

Ok, I undestand where you are coming from, but where does the 160 km/h come from?

A design speed does exactly what it says. It means the road is designed for safe comfortable travel at 120 km/h.

Clearly a factor of safety is built into the NRA tables, but 120 is still 120.

Just like a beam is designed for a certain load, doesn't mean it can't carry more.

L1011

From other countries design manuals.

PseudoFamous

Empire o de Sun wrote: »

Ok, I undestand where you are coming from, but where does the 160 km/h come from?

A design speed does exactly what it says. It means the road is designed for safe comfortable travel at 120 km/h.

Clearly a factor of safety is built into the NRA tables, but 120 is still 120.

Just like a beam is designed for a certain load, doesn't mean it can't carry more.

Irish motorways are supposedly designed to allow for traffic travelling at 160kmh, but are limited to 120kmh. It just acts as an overprotective safety cushion, to absolutely minimise accidents. A similar case is an elevator. The recommended weight limit might be 1500kg, but the elevator will typically have at least 2 cables, each capable of carrying 2000kg on their own. By keeping the imposed limit so much lower than the design limit, accidents are cut massively.

The section of M11 between Arklow and Gorey is of a much higher quality than the A555 between Bonn and Cologne in Germany (granted, that motorway has 3 lanes each direction), but you're limited to 120kmh on the M11, and much of the A555 doesn't have any limit. You could definitely do 150+kmh on many Irish motorways. I suppose the NRA would like you to arrive slightly slower than not arrive, so maybe the speed limit is simply for everyone's own good, from the NRA's POV.

MrDerp

PseudoFamous wrote: »

Irish motorways are supposedly designed to allow for traffic travelling at 160kmh, but are limited to 120kmh. It just acts as an overprotective safety cushion, to absolutely minimise accidents. A similar case is an elevator. The recommended weight limit might be 1500kg, but the elevator will typically have at least 2 cables, each capable of carrying 2000kg on their own. By keeping the imposed limit so much lower than the design limit, accidents are cut massively.

The section of M11 between Arklow and Gorey is of a much higher quality than the A555 between Bonn and Cologne in Germany (granted, that motorway has 3 lanes each direction), but you're limited to 120kmh on the M11, and much of the A555 doesn't have any limit. You could definitely do 150+kmh on many Irish motorways. I suppose the NRA would like you to arrive slightly slower than not arrive, so maybe the speed limit is simply for everyone's own good, from the NRA's POV.

I'd add to this that most Irish cars are not designed for travelling at 160km/h, which is all the more reason to have a lower limit.

I drive regularly on the motorways and my current car is much more composed at speed than my previous. At 140km/h (per speedo) my current car is composed on the motorway and I could comfortably drive it at 150km/h (if I wasn't worried about points!), but my previous car was a little jumpy at 140km/h and didn't handle as well.

Because we have such bog spec cars here (underpowered engines and the like), and because we don't take as good care of them, we'd never be suited to autobahn limits anyway.

Empire o de Sun

But no one has shown me a reference to this 160 km/h, other counties road manuals???, if you are refering to the UK, the NRA's Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) is a direct copy from the UK one with a few minor changes.

When you design something, you build in a Factor of Safety, sometimes it's 1.5 or even 2.0. I don't know what it is for the DMRB.

So if the road is designed for 100 or 120 or 50 km/h, it is still just designed for that speed.

One could argue the it is 250 km/h, cos there is supposidly a "gentlemans agreement" with auto manufacturers to limit production cars to 250 km/h.

Cookie_Monster

well it's hardly something the NRA of government would want attention drawn to now is it?

Telling people the roads are designed for 160 but you're only allowed do 120 wouldn't go down to well I would imagine

marmurr1916

Empire o de Sun wrote: »

But no one has shown me a reference to this 160 km/h, other counties road manuals???, if you are refering to the UK, the NRA's Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) is a direct copy from the UK one with a few minor changes.

When you design something, you build in a Factor of Safety, sometimes it's 1.5 or even 2.0. I don't know what it is for the DMRB.

So if the road is designed for 100 or 120 or 50 km/h, it is still just designed for that speed.

One could argue the it is 250 km/h, cos there is supposidly a "gentlemans agreement" with auto manufacturers to limit production cars to 250 km/h.

This may help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_speed

One quote: "The design speed may be higher than legislated speed limit caps, so it would not be legal to sign some roads at their design speeds".

L1011

Try the US "Green Book", I can't find a digital copy atm...

kiwipower

Bunch of idiots with a death wish on Nifty 50s on the M7 motorway between Nenagh & Limerick this evening

L1011

there are constantly cyclists on that stretch of m8. I keep calling trafficwatch in the hope enough get nicked for it

Mc Love

The OH saw a lady on the M7 the other day pulled in at the side of the road, picking the roadside flowers!!

MrDerp

M8 between Glanmire and Dunkettle, Thursday about noon, cyclist in the emergency lane.

M8 between Dunkettle and Glanmire, Sunday at 4.30pm, tractor driving slowly enough to appear stationary on approach, pulling a massive trailer laden with bales. There's a couple of bad downhill sweeps further on, stupid prick could have spilled that load.

niloc1951

The design speed of a road is quite irrelevant, once it's safe for 'normal' anticipated traffic speeds and volumes. Remember one is supposed to drive within the posted speed limit, and, btw it's not a target, it's a limit .

Ones speed should be dictated by a combination of road conditions, traffic conditions AND the driving ability of the other users of the road. Believe me at 200KmPH + what the driver, and the road, a kilometer ahead does is the most important thing in your life and the horizon arrives awful quick.

Got the tee-shirt many years ago

veryangryman

MrDerp wrote: »

M8 between Glanmire and Dunkettle, Thursday about noon, cyclist in the emergency lane.

M8 between Dunkettle and Glanmire, Sunday at 4.30pm, tractor driving slowly enough to appear stationary on approach, pulling a massive trailer laden with bales. There's a couple of bad downhill sweeps further on, stupid prick could have spilled that load.

Redesignation of this section to Motorway hasnt really hit home (witness someone who called the cops to complain about similar issue. The reply? "Ah sure its only DC there")

:rolleyes:

L1011

niloc1951 wrote: »

it's not a target, it's a limit .

Thinking this is true will fail you your driving test.

ardmacha

Thinking this is true will fail you your driving test.

This statement is trite and misleading.

road_high

Not really bizarre or anything but what the fcuk is it with the N7 between Naas and Newlands Cross. Really starting to hate this road, nobody has a clue how to use it. All hogging the middle overtaking lane constantly with the result traffic does not move as freely as it should at all.