Motorists urged to drive carefully

rp

Why do they always feel the need to urge motorists to take care when the weather gets cold, and not cyclists? No fair!

seamus

Because as a cyclist if you don't take care on an icy road, you'll very quickly know about it. A motorist might only get into trouble if they have to brake or swerve suddenly.

That said, I remember last year seeing POBs cycling along the side of the road through the slush, no lights or anything, so maybe if you cycle with enough foolhardiness you're impervious to ice?

Oddly, the one thing you don't hear is them being told to keep their distance from cyclists who may end up falling off right in front of you.

victorcarrera

rp wrote: »

Why do they always feel the need to urge motorists to take care when the weather gets cold, and not cyclists? No fair!

Many of them drive off in the morning without defrosting their windscreens, but cyclists don't wear blindfolds.

I thought yesterdays RSA radio add was brilliant. It encouraged motorists to turn on their fog lamps in fog and reminded them to turn them off again when the fog cleared.

Bluefoam

rp wrote: »

Why do they always feel the need to urge motorists to take care when the weather gets cold, and not cyclists? No fair!

Its better than the ads they run that tell cyclists its their responsibility to look out for drivers trying to kill them...

Fighting Irish

:rolleyes:

doozerie

Following the AA Roadwatch traffic report on radio each morning they invite people to text in info on traffic issues "but not while driving". It just seems to be assumed generally that motorists are too thick to know better. Sadly, some people consistently try (by their actions) to prove this assumption to be true.

irishmotorist

The AA is mainly and traditionally a motoring organisation, so I suppose that's the reason for their direction. I think that when the RTE news refers to advice from the likes of the RSA, they usually talk about 'road users'....i.e. 'appeal to all road users to take extra care' etc.

ednwireland

i would have got 5 yards this morning on a bike the car had a layer of ice on it as did the roads we had rain showers all night, the road surface was a skating rink this morning yet puddles at the side of the road werent frozen.

so you went from nothing to sheet ice

but we get weather like that every year

doozerie

This morning, in the usual slow moving traffic, I was passing on the left/inside of a car that started to drift towards me. We were coming up to the entrance to a car park and as usual I assumed that they were going to turn into it without indicating or looking so I held back. But they slowed down well before the turn so I took the opportunity to get past them and away from danger. When I glanced into the car I saw that the driver was busy dusting down their dashboard with a big feathery duster, obviously far more important than keeping an eye on the road. As I glanced back I saw that they did actually turn into the car park too, but either they were too busy to indicate or the indicator lever was too dusty to contemplate touching it. Maybe the AA need to remind people against other activities in the car other than texting.

Doctor Bob

Are you sure it was a duster? I passed a woman in an SUV this morning on Strand Road who was applying make-up in her rearview mirror with what looked like a feather duster, but I understand from the fairer sex that make-up brushes these days can be quite large. Maybe your candidate was just removing the excess compact-dust from her dash? (This lady seemed to be as oblivious to the traffic outside her window as yours was, btw.)

Anyway, slightly more on topic, a radio announcement this morning told 'motorists, cyclists and pedestrians' to take care on the roads. 410 FTW?

doozerie

No, definitely a duster, it was about a foot long. ...mind you, it could have been Twink applying her panto make-up, as judging by the "quality" and quantity of her make-up generally she might well apply it with such a brush (and a garden shovel).

victorcarrera

And todays RSA warning in the Indo.

The RSA said that people should watch out for black ice, use dipped headlights, leave plenty of space to brake and be prepared for breakdowns.

I guess the cyclist's equivalent would be 'Don't forget your pump and spare tubes'

rp

Met Eireann wrote:

Motorists are being advised to take extreme care on the roads this weekend as snow and icy conditions are expected from this evening.

HSE wrote:

...are advising people to wear sturdy rubber-soled shoes and keep their hands out of their pockets while walking.

Road Safety Authority wrote:

... has urged that drivers, cyclists and pedestrians should be extra vigilant.

Ah, someone does care about us, that's nice.