M50 thread

First Up

sdanseo wrote: »

I know it's been done to absolute death but although a lot of delays seem to be caused by exceptionally poor driving leading to collisions, there's is still the old foe that is poor lane discipline. And even in heavy traffic, it's still absolutely rampant.

In the course of putting together a thesis on road safety I asked the NRAs man in charge of intelligent traffic systems about the possibility of including messages encouraging drivers to keep left on the VMS boards - unfortunately it seems all such messages have to be agreed by the RSA and Gardaí and thus the NRA themselves seem to be a bit constrained.

People who drive badly and cause accidents are always the ones who get the blame (and rightly so) - but like it or not, accidents are more often than not caused by impatience or inattention. Impatience in turn is caused by people driving badly in ways that never seem to be punished - too slow, wrong lane, no indication, and so on. And I'm convinced that a lot of these things are down to lack of education. Older drivers in Ireland never had motorways like we've had in the last 10-20 years. They are set in their ways with no idea how to correctly use them.

Example for you, and I'd like opinions as to whether this is a more dangerous excercise than it is constructive (I'm always worried that flashing the headlights will cause an accident rather than prevent one even when I'm in the right) - I was on the M1 a while back with the road almost empty, in daylight. I'm in lane 1 and I come upon a car hogging lane 2. I make the effort to move out to 3, back in to 1 (safely) but while passing, I gave a very polite flash of the lights and when pulling back in front, motioned my arm in the mirror pointing left. When I got back to lane 1, lo and behold the driver had pulled into the correct lane. I'd like to think that this particular middle aged lady got the message and now realises what lanes are for, but then maybe I'm being naive.

I agree that lane discipline on the M50 (and M7) is dreadful and must contribute to accidents. But I wouldn't blame older drivers exclusively. A lot of the culprits I notice are younger women, stuck in the middle lane, staring straight ahead and oblivious to those behind, overtaking and undertaking them.

rameire

Last week on the m50.
I have seen two crazy things.
One person eating a bowl of coco pops. With a spoon.

The yesterday.
I saw a special tool playing a tin whistle.
Elbows were used to steer.

Both people were the drivers.

First Up

rameire wrote: »

Last week on the m50.
I have seen two crazy things.
One person eating a bowl of coco pops. With a spoon.

The yesterday.
I saw a special tool playing a tin whistle.
Elbows were used to steer.

Both people were the drivers.

But were they in the correct lane?

omicron

https://www.nratrafficdata.ie/c2/tfdayreport.asp?sgid=ZvyVmXU8jBt9PJE$c7UXt6&spid=NRA_000000001503&reportdate=2015-03-27&enddate=2015-03-27

Highest traffic count I've ever seen on the NRA site, last Friday had 153k between junctions 7 and 9.

8 Car collision northbound at Blanch in the overtaking lanes, new record?

LiveDrive
M50 North: 8 car collision, down to one lane under J6 Blanchardstown. Delays building back to West Link Bridge
3/31/15, 5:02 PM

paulbok

Add to that a further crash on one and a tree down on the other back road from Lucan to Blanchardstown and it was mayhem, with the city center was clogged with traffic trying to avoid the crash.

When the M50 is out of action, there is no plan B for travel around Dublin.

Caliden

paulbok wrote: »

Add to that a further crash on one and a tree down on the other back road from Lucan to Blanchardstown and it was mayhem, with the city center was clogged with traffic trying to avoid the crash.

When the M50 is out of action, there is no plan B for travel around Dublin.

I'm still emotionally scarred from the time the water main burst at Newlands cross over the summer.

Another big crash at the same spot :rolleyes:

LiveDrive
M50 North: 6 car collision at J6 Blanchardstown . Down to one lane. Expect serious delays.
4/2/15, 5:17 PM

jack presley

cisk wrote: »

Another big crash at the same spot :rolleyes:

LiveDrive
M50 North: 6 car collision at J6 Blanchardstown . Down to one lane. Expect serious delays.
4/2/15, 5:17 PM

Serious case of deja vu going over the M50 on the N3 this evening and seeing the ambulance/fire services in a spot that couldn't have been more than 20m from where they were earlier in the week.

Carawaystick

rameire wrote: »

Last week on the m50.
I have seen two crazy things.
One person eating a bowl of coco pops. With a spoon.

Say a lady at the same craic going southbound yesterday.
in fairness to her, when the cereal was gone, she didn't bother slurping the milk up and just drank from the bowl, which was only a little bit bigger then her face...

paulbok

Oh sweet devine jaysus, 2 seperate incidents northbound on the M5o near Blanchardstown.

Kermit.de.frog

rameire wrote: »

Last week on the m50.
I have seen two crazy things.
One person eating a bowl of coco pops. With a spoon.

How did you know it was coco pops?

Andru93

paulbok wrote: »

Oh sweet devine jaysus, 2 seperate incidents northbound on the M5o near Blanchardstown.

So there were two between Junctions 5 & 6 northbound,
A pile up on the aux lane for Junction 7 northbound
Two other minor incidents between Junction 9 & 10 yesterday northbound.

So five incidents on the m50 yesterday evening. (excluding the pile up between junction 11 & 12 yesterday morning southbound)

Thank god most people took the day off work or else this would been a nightmare to endure!

JustTheOne

Something has to be done, it's at least two every day.

paulbok

JustTheOne wrote: »

Something has to be done, it's at least two every day.

I absolutely agree, but realistically what can be done?

Effective policing on the M50. I doubt there are enough resources at the moment to do this, but would be the most logical and quick method for improvement available.

Driver education - Do such campaigns, such as the tv ones for using roundabouts and cyclists, make any difference? would the muppets that cause the problems pass any heed?
Perhaps making stats of the causes of accidents available by the Gardai could go someway to make driver have a think about their driving.

Does the road itself need to be looked at? It seems to be the same stretchs that most collisions occur. I don't have a source to hand but I do remember hearing on the radio a year or two ago that Blanchardstown to just after the Lucan merge on to the M50 southbound has the most accidents per Km or no or vehicles passing in the EU. Could something be done with the layouts to calm down merging?

Variable speed signs would help but God knows how long it would take to get them. The volume seems to be greater (going by my journey) South in the morning and North, but not generally as bad in the evening. Slowing the volume and pacing it would help.


I don't know if better public transport, more direct routes along the M50 corridor, would make a huge impact. For my journey, the bus would take 2-2.5 hours each way, with no rail service available. The car takes 1hr on a bad day. Even with the metro north & west constructed, it still wouldn't suit a lot of people to not use their car. ( I realise this is probably a hornets nest opinion.)

loyatemu

paulbok wrote: »

I don't know if better public transport, more direct routes along the M50 corridor, would make a huge impact. For my journey, the bus would take 2-2.5 hours each way, with no rail service available. The car takes 1hr on a bad day. Even with the metro north & west constructed, it still wouldn't suit a lot of people to not use their car. ( I realise this is probably a hornets nest opinion.)

I agree - the destinations on the M50 are too numerous and spread out for any public transport solution to make much of an impact on the traffic levels.

mackerski

paulbok wrote: »

I absolutely agree, but realistically what can be done?

Effective policing on the M50. I doubt there are enough resources at the moment to do this, but would be the most logical and quick method for improvement available.

Enforcement is a viable option on the M50, but not of speed limit compliance, since getting above 100 is rare during congested times anyway. But at those times, the big problems are caused by poor lane use and failure to keep adequate distance. These issues exacerbate each other and the failure to keep distance in particular creates avoidable conflict at merge points. This conflict in turn encourages the perception that it is necessary or desirable to clear the left lane to allow merging, which creates even more congestion in the remaining lanes and even worse lane use.

So let's see policing of these very basic root causes. Please???

Alkers

paulbok wrote: »

Effective policing on the M50. I doubt there are enough resources at the moment to do this, but would be the most logical and quick method for improvement available.

This to me has to at least be trialled at first? How much would it cost the NRA to cover the cost of 4 x bike cops for three hours every am and pm - even for a month to see if it made a difference.

tonc76

Simona1986 wrote: »

This to me has to at least be trialled at first? How much would it cost the NRA to cover the cost of 4 x bike cops for three hours every am and pm - even for a month to see if it made a difference.

The difficulty with this is that there are no areas for the guards to safely pull people in to.

celticbest

tonc76 wrote: »

The difficulty with this is that there are no areas for the guards to safely pull people in to.

The H/S....

Streetwalker

Think the road works pretty well tbh myself. Yes their is traffic build up at times but that's the price you pay for having such a high car usage in Dublin.

Caliden

celticbest wrote: »

The H/S....

The sections of the M50 that are the most congested don't have a hard shoulder. The auxiliary lane is the merging/exit lane for the most part. (J12 northbound to J3?)

Dial Hard

celticbest wrote: »

The H/S....

And how does that work around merges, which is where most of the problems are occurring in the first place?

mackerski

tonc76 wrote: »

The difficulty with this is that there are no areas for the guards to safely pull people in to.

Send a fixed penalty notice. They've been doing it for years for speeding offences.

Bummer1234

Going southbound last night at around 9pm from J6 to j7,Woman doing 80 kmh in the left hand lane,As i get closer i indicate to overtake into the middle lane,She then just moves into the middle lane,Not to overtake any other car at all or let a car merge, It baffles me how some people make such stupid moves like this woman did last night.

celticbest

Caliden wrote: »

The sections of the M50 that are the most congested don't have a hard shoulder. The auxiliary lane is the merging/exit lane for the most part. (J12 northbound to J3?)

Dial Hard wrote: »

And how does that work around merges, which is where most of the problems are occurring in the first place?

:eek: Eh....simples, pull them over where it is safe to do so... Jebus, it's not rocket science....


EDIT: After further thought we could just leave the M50 unpoliced and let it get out of control altogether if it's too much hassle to pull someone for dangerous driving.

Caliden

celticbest wrote: »

:eek: Eh....simples, pull them over where it is safe to do so... Jebus, it's not rocket science....


EDIT: After further thought we could just leave the M50 unpoliced and let it get out of control altogether if it's too much hassle to pull someone for dangerous driving.

Nothing wrong with policing it but pulling someone over when safe to do so could take 10+ km. (30+ minutes). Drive the m50 at rush hour to see what I mean.

celticbest

Caliden wrote: »

Nothing wrong with policing it but pulling someone over when safe to do so could take 10+ km. (30+ minutes). Drive the m50 at rush hour to see what I mean.

Junctions are not more than 5 mins apart on this Motorway, no one says you have to make a vehicle stop on the mainline.

There could be signage used in the Patrol vehicle to indicate where to pull over.

Query: What stretch of the M50 goes 10km without a hard shoulder?

The Bogman

Hi all, have a quick question. Any help would be appreciated. Have to collect herself at the airport in the morning and am just trying to figure out what time I'll need to leave at. I'll be getting on the M50 at Liffey Valley and am wondering how long it would take from there to the airport at maybe half 8ish in the morning? Is it worth my while leaving 30 min early and trying to avoid traffic? Or will it be busy at that time? As you can probably tell I'm not used to driving in Dublin at busy times and am fairly clueless :rolleyes: Thanks!

celticbest

The Bogman wrote: »

Hi all, have a quick question. Any help would be appreciated. Have to collect herself at the airport in the morning and am just trying to figure out what time I'll need to leave at. I'll be getting on the M50 at Liffey Valley and am wondering how long it would take from there to the airport at maybe half 8ish in the morning? Is it worth my while leaving 30 min early and trying to avoid traffic? Or will it be busy at that time? As you can probably tell I'm not used to driving in Dublin at busy times and am fairly clueless :rolleyes: Thanks!

NB is normally free flowing, especially this week as the kids are off school, unless there's an accident...