Road Conditions 03/12/2010 - Freezing Rain

Spindle

Be careful on the roads today even though it is raining, the rain is freezing when it is hitting the roads leading to very slippy icy conditions. At the moment it is still between -2c and 0c outside so there is still a lot of freezing going on.

beer enigma

The Cork - Midleton road is like something out of a Spielberg movie at the moment, there are cars spinning & sliding all over the place.

Two trucks are currently jacknifed - seriously guys, stay off the roads if you can

soundsham

ya heard little island is v. dodgey at the mo.

Spindle

From AA

*MUNSTER* *CORK* Extremely slippery icy conditions with slushy snow worsening conditions. In the city, the N25 Sth Ring Rd is totally blocked due to numerous crashes and abandoned cars near the old Kinsale Flyover and the route is treacherous from Balincollig to Douglas. Blackstone Bridge should be avoided. * In West Cork, hazardous on all approaches to Bandon, with severe delays as a result. Roads very bad around Macroom and other routes also. * Avoid the N25 Carrigtwohill Bypass; numerous collisions along the route, with reports that it is blocked westbound.

Redisle

Great, looks like I might be stuck in college! Anyone know what bishopstown and the main Bandon road are like?

curly from cork

gardai have closed the magic roundabout over pass now. traffic backed up from the tunnel to there westbound. east bound ( towards MP ) moving at the moment.

dazzlermac

any news on donnybrook and douglas???

Burts Bee

Any word on the buses? Particularly the No 6 from Frankfield into town?

Ludo

I gotta get from Bishopstown to the top of Maryborough woods later to collect kids from creche, then back down to Rochestown Road and head a few miles out that...I assume I am SCREWED!!!!

corblimey

What's town like? I live in Carriogtwohill, going from Bishopstown, so I figure into town, over to the Glanmire road, then off at the Dunkettle roundabout and go home via Glounthaune. Or should I just find a comfy office and settle in for the night

Owen

Just took me an hour to get home from the Airport. Not due to ice, but morons. If the road is clearly covered in grit, and cars in front of you are doing 40mph, why do 5? People are panicked, hazard lights on, 5mph speeds, taking 30 seconds to go through a junction meaning only 1 or 2 cars can get through traffic lights.

There's heavy sheet ice on _unfrequently_ travelled roads. If its a normally occupied road, it's not going to be bad enough to warrant this sort of driving. I'm going to Poland in January, where it'll be a hell of a lot worse than this, and people still drive normally.

Driving tips :
Keep a good distance from the car in front of you, and if possible all around you.
If you have traction control, turn it off.
Keep an ice scraper in the car, or deicing spray.
If you're going downhill, brake from the top all the way to the bottom steadily reducing you speed in case you need to stop.
If you're driving an automatic, and it has a cold weather mode, use it!
If it's a normally occupied road, 20mph is an acceptable speed.
Avoid residential hills if possible.
Use your noodle!

Things aren't all that bad, despite the hysteria that the media is trying to create.

neveah

I'm in Little Island and we can see the main dualcarriage way from here, it is completely backed up and the cars are crawling, long delays I would image on both sides heading into and out of Cork. There are a lot of sirens going off as well. Our carpark at work is like an ice rink!!

Knifey Spoony

Redisle wrote: »

Great, looks like I might be stuck in college! Anyone know what bishopstown and the main Bandon road are like?

Don't worry I'll keep you company.

Should be fun walking home tonight, up and down many frozen hills.

m2wua0ox56iz93

This post has been deleted.

Buceph

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Just took me an hour to get home from the Airport. Not due to ice, but morons. If the road is clearly covered in grit, and cars in front of you are doing 40mph, why do 5? People are panicked, hazard lights on, 5mph speeds, taking 30 seconds to go through a junction meaning only 1 or 2 cars can get through traffic lights.

There's heavy sheet ice on _unfrequently_ travelled roads. If its a normally occupied road, it's not going to be bad enough to warrant this sort of driving. I'm going to Poland in January, where it'll be a hell of a lot worse than this, and people still drive normally.

That's completely wrong and an incredibly dangerous thing to say. The ring road is closed around Douglas because of all the crashes. It was fine at 8.30 this morning, but the rain that fell on it was flash freezing and the grit put on it could do nothing.

Stop giving out bad information, it'll get people killed.

neveah

neveah wrote: »

I'm in Little Island and we can see the main dualcarriage way from here, it is completely backed up and the cars are crawling, long delays I would image on both sides heading into and out of Cork. There are a lot of sirens going off as well. Our carpark at work is like an ice rink!!

Update: this is now moving much better, the main back log of traffic seems to have cleared

poconnor16

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Just took me an hour to get home from the Airport. Not due to ice, but morons. If the road is clearly covered in grit, and cars in front of you are doing 40mph, why do 5? People are panicked, hazard lights on, 5mph speeds, taking 30 seconds to go through a junction meaning only 1 or 2 cars can get through traffic lights.

There's heavy sheet ice on _unfrequently_ travelled roads. If its a normally occupied road, it's not going to be bad enough to warrant this sort of driving. I'm going to Poland in January, where it'll be a hell of a lot worse than this, and people still drive normally.

Driving tips :
Keep a good distance from the car in front of you, and if possible all around you.
If you have traction control, turn it off.
Keep an ice scraper in the car, or deicing spray.
If you're going downhill, brake from the top all the way to the bottom steadily reducing you speed in case you need to stop.
If you're driving an automatic, and it has a cold weather mode, use it!
If it's a normally occupied road, 20mph is an acceptable speed.
Avoid residential hills if possible.
Use your noodle!

Things aren't all that bad, despite the hysteria that the media is trying to create.

Aren't that bad??? I'm only getting into work now because my car did a 360 spin and hit a bank getting off the Sth Link trying to get up on to the exit for Curaheen. There were multiple crashes out on what is a heavily used road.

I know people driving really slowly can be frustrating but I would rather see that morons speeding and overtaking. I will be one of those going really slow on my way home these evening.

uncle-mofo

Am I totally mad thinking of driving to Waterford?

Kimono-Girl

Gardai forced to close the flyover on the South Ring road due to lethal road conditions - motorists advised to stay off the roads #cork

Owen

Did either of you read my posts?

I said ... and I'll repeat it if you didn't see it ... ice is there on unfrequently travelled roads. I'm driving an old automatic long wheel base estate with about 3 tonnes of weight and a trailer. If anyone's going to have trouble driving/stopping, it's probably me. I've just driven from the Airport road (Which everyone's panicking over) to Blackrock, and it's been absolutely fine. Perfectly fine.

I travel to Poland several times a year and drive in conditions far worse than this, so my advice is from experience, not from someone who claims experience based on a few icy days.

Residential estates (As per my post) are bad, and caution is needed, but mild caution is only needed on roads which clearly have grit, and clearly have other people doing 40mph without problems. If there are cars doing 40mph and you're doing 5, the happy medium is somewhere inbetween ... say like ... 20mph like I suggested?

Its no where near as bad as the media hysteria is trying to make out. And yes, I saw crashes too on the way home, but if people actually left a big enough buffer between them and other cars (As per my post also), you can be sure over half would have been avoidable.

Simple rules - don't drive at a walking pace, don't drive at 60mph, keep PLENTY of space between you and other cars, and use common sense.

CrankyCod

I was complaining about slow drivers this morning until I hit the South Ring Road. I expected it to have been gritted but it was like Disney on Ice, cars waltzing around each other. We counted 10 cars crashed until we pulled off at Douglas.

The rain is freezing on impact and is incredibly slippery; only the streets in the flat part of Cork City are safe to drive on at normal speed, assume everything else is deadly, and drive as slowly as you think is safe.

Pumpkinseed

anyone know anything about the cork-limerick, road or am I mad as well to think about driving it?

Owen

Bah, this is going to descend into a tit-for-tat boards battle. I can sense it in the air ... do whatever you feel you need to do people, ignore anything I've said.

CrankyCod

Pumpkinseed wrote: »

anyone know anything about the cork-limerick, road or am I mad as well to think about driving it?

Just left it 5 minutes ago, and it was slippery but had improved since earlier. The problem is if it rains it will freeze fast and you might end up stuck near Bruree or somewhere; if you have to travel bring a book and a sleeping bag:)

poconnor16

Pumpkinseed wrote: »

anyone know anything about the cork-limerick, road or am I mad as well to think about driving it?

The link is closed at the moment so I would say traffic is going to be the biggest problem now. Keep an ear to the radio reports, and travel earlier if you can. Follow Paint Doctors tip as well...stay back from cars in front etc, nice steady speed.

RubyXI

Burts Bee wrote: »

Any word on the buses? Particularly the No 6 from Frankfield into town?

Cork Area(Updated 11:15am)

Cork City Services are operating as normal with the following exceptions:
Route 3 Farranree – Ballyphehane – not serving Parklands
Route 6 Grange - South Mall is operating to Douglas only
Route 7 Donnybrook – Ballyvolane is operating to Douglas only
Route 14 Wilton S Centre –Patricks St. . is operating to Doughcloyne
Route 19 South City Orbital Route CIT to Mahon Point is not serving Sarsfield Roa
Route 221 Cork - Knockraha - service is operating to Riverstown only
Route 222 Cork Crosshaven - service is not operating via Maryborough Hill
Route 223 Cork - Haulbowline - service is operating, but not service Carrigmahon or Maulbawn
Route 224 Cork - Tower/Cloghroe - service is operating
Route 226 City - Airport - service is cancelled
Route 232 Cork - Ballincollig - service is operating
Route 230 Cork – Ballingeary - Service operating as normal
Route 233 Cork – Macroom - Service operating as normal
Route 235 Cork-Stuake- Rylane - Service operating as normal
Route 236 Cork - Bantry/Glengarriff - Service cancelled
Route 237 Cork - Skibbereen/Goleen -service not operating -(10.00 Skibbereen to Baltimore not operating)
Route 238 Cork – Butlerstown – not serving Butlerstown
Route 239 Cork – Bandon - service not operating via crossbarry
Route 240 Cork – Cloyne - Service operating as normal
Route 241 Cork – Whitegate - Service operating as normal
Route 243 Cork-Buttevant- Newmarket - Service operating as normal
Route 245 Cork – Mitchelstown - Service operating as normal
Route 246 Cork - Sarsfield's Court - Service operating as normal
Route 248 Cork -Carrignavar-Glenville - Service operating as normal
Route 249 Cork – Kinsale – operating to BELGOOLY ONLY
Route 251 Baltimore – Drimoleague – Service cancelled
Route 257 Macroom-Millstreet-Killarney – not operating
Route 260 Cork – Youghal - Service operating as normal
Route 261 Cork-Ballinacurra - Service operating as normal

corblimey

Yeah, dangerous driving tips there from the guy who'll fix your bodywork.

j/k.

A bit of common sense and we'll all be fine. I was lucky this morning. 4 cars ahead of me on the flyover went into each other, and I managed to screech to a stop after about 50 yards. It was the suddeness that caught people off guard.

poconnor16

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Bah, this is going to descend into a tit-for-tat boards battle. I can sense it in the air ... do whatever you feel you need to do people, ignore anything I've said.

No tit for tat.....as I just quoted, your advice is sound in terms of staying back from other cars, common sense etc. Sorry, I'm a little over sensitive after my little spinning car experience.

simu

I was going to do some Christmas shopping in town but had to give up and come home - the footpaths in the Lough/Bandon Road area are deadly.

PaintDoctor

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Things aren't all that bad, despite the hysteria that the media is trying to create.

+1, also the rain that fell in the last hour or two has not frozen, the moisture has just made the existing surface slippy. The fly over is closed because there was few crashes due no doubt to folks not having a clue how to drive in the conditions, rain freezing on impact with the ground, come on folks ffs.

poconnor16

RoverJames wrote: »

+1, also the rain that fell in the last hour or two has not frozen, the moisture has just made the existing surface slippy.

I'm sure that little science lesson has made all those who crashed this morning feel much better!