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Another LUAS crash on O'Connell St.

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    #2
    SunnyDub1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,439 ✭✭✭SunnyDub1


    I feel sorry for the Luas drivers.
    To be fair to them, the amount of times I see cars cutting in front of them and breaking the lights so they don't have to wait for the Luas to pass, you would think that would be left waiting ages :rolleyes:
    I don't think some people understand how speedy the luas actually goes.

    The Luas stop at Busáras is the worse, cars constantly breaking the red light and left stopped in the yellow box which leaves the Luas unable to pass and having to wait for the car to move :rolleyes:


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    #3
    AnonoBoy
    Closed Accounts Posts: 22,559 ✭✭✭✭AnonoBoy


    SunnyDub1 wrote: »
    I feel sorry for the Luas drivers.

    I do too. If you ride up the front of the LUAS any day going through town you'll see pedestrians skipping out ahead of it all the time.


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    #4
    Mr Simpson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,332 ✭✭✭Mr Simpson


    Time for Red light and Yellow box cameras at every junction with the luas line imo. I saw a very near miss in the Docklands last night, car in front of me broke the red light and was narrowly missed by the luas


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    #5
    SubBusted
    Site Banned Posts: 224 ✭✭SubBusted


    It's the LUAS' fault, they should be each fitted with one of these:

    CowCatcher.jpg


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    #6
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users Posts: 24,995 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    I was stopped at the lights on O'Connell Street on me bike when that incident occurred. Fairly dramatic alright. I wouldn't have believed that the Luas had the momentum to spin the car around and drive it across the street as it wasn't going particularly fast. I thought it was going to take me out but it stopped on the island. Male driver and three female passengers. The passengers seemed pretty traumatized at the time.


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    #7
    squishykins
    Registered Users Posts: 2,338 ✭✭✭squishykins


    While I agree that people should have more patience and stop breaking the red lights for the LUAS, I think it's a joke how the lights are set up. They're not in sync with any other lights on the street, and as a result you can be waiting at one set of lights, and just as they go green, the next set of lights for the LUAS will be going red. It's really badly organised and I can imagine people get frustrated. I understand that the whole point of the tram is to get people from A to B quickly but it could definitely be better organised.


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    #8
    flikflak
    Registered Users Posts: 981 ✭✭✭flikflak


    Break the red light and you deserve everything you get. There is no excuse for breaking lights and I see it every day around town. This is simply a case of a driver thinking the red light does not apply to them and crusing on through paying no attention to their surroundings.

    Agree with the sympathy for the drivers of the Luas though - those lads should get danger money!


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    #9
    highdef
    Registered Users Posts: 6,243 ✭✭✭highdef


    I don't think frustration is an excuse to break a red light though. Wishbone Ash, do you know what actually happened to cause the collision? ie, did the car driver decide to break the red light?


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    #10
    senordingdong
    Registered Users Posts: 10,673 ✭✭✭✭senordingdong


    As stupid and easily avoidable as these accidents are, they were inevitable once it was decided to put the luas on ground level.


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    #11
    Pace2008
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,587 ✭✭✭Pace2008


    Wishbone Ash wrote: »
    I wouldn't have believed that the Luas had the momentum to spin the car around and drive it across the street as it wasn't going particularly fast.
    Well if you consider that momentum takes into account mass as well as velocity, and that a LUAS weighs between 35 and 50 tons depending on model, it isn't really all that surprising...


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    #12
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users Posts: 24,995 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    highdef wrote: »
    Wishbone Ash, do you know what actually happened to cause the collision? ie, did the car driver decide to break the red light?
    It seemed to me that he was unaware of the red light. I don't think he made a conscious effort to break it. He wasn't travelling that fast.
    Pace2008 wrote: »
    Well if you consider that momentum takes into account mass as well as velocity, and that a LUAS weighs between 35 and 50 tons depending on model, it isn't really all that surprising...
    I could understand the momentum of the tram striking the car and pushing it to one side but the car was propelled diagonally from the left lane northbound across the other lane and up onto the central median (spinning around in the process). I'd say the tram was doing no more than 15-20km/h.

    EDIT: Just to add that the tram driver was aware of the car as he sounded his horn a second or two prior to impact. It was his horn which drew my attention.


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    #13
    Baneblade
    Registered Users Posts: 426 ✭✭Baneblade


    i would not assume they broke a red light, more likely saw a yellow light and thought he would speed through but found there was not enough space to clear the box.


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    #14
    P_1
    Registered Users Posts: 14,681 ✭✭✭✭P_1


    The problem with using traffic lights at the moment is that the lights are generally set up with motor traffic as the priority, untill they're set up with the Luas as priority you'd always have the risk of something like this happening.


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    #15
    Wishbone Ash
    Registered Users Posts: 24,995 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    Baneblade wrote: »
    i would not assume they broke a red light, more likely saw a yellow light and thought he would speed through but found there was not enough space to clear the box.
    No- the light had been red for some time before the car approached. That's why I think he may just have been unaware of it.


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    #16
    Baneblade
    Registered Users Posts: 426 ✭✭Baneblade


    well in that case he is lucky it did not turn out a lot worse


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    #17
    squishykins
    Registered Users Posts: 2,338 ✭✭✭squishykins


    highdef wrote: »
    I don't think frustration is an excuse to break a red light though.

    Oh I completely agree, I was just saying that this is probably why this happens so much.
    pithater1 wrote: »
    The problem with using traffic lights at the moment is that the lights are generally set up with motor traffic as the priority, untill they're set up with the Luas as priority you'd always have the risk of something like this happening.

    They are set up with LUAS priority, 9 times out of 10 as soon as a LUAS is heading towards a junction the light will go green for it, otherwise they're waiting for a very short period.


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    #18
    SunnyDub1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,439 ✭✭✭SunnyDub1


    Reports of another crash at Jervis street today!


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    #19
    Dodge
    Registered Users Posts: 10,288 ✭✭✭✭Dodge


    SunnyDub1 wrote: »
    Reports of another crash at Jervis street today!

    Not a Luas crash. Car drove up on path and into 5/6 pedastrians. Very nasty I believe.

    http://www.broadsheet.ie/2013/01/11/jervis-street-luas-right-now/


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    #20
    Mr Simpson
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,332 ✭✭✭Mr Simpson


    Dodge wrote: »
    Not a Luas crash. Car drove up on path and into 5/6 pedastrians. Very nasty I believe.

    http://www.broadsheet.ie/2013/01/11/jervis-street-luas-right-now/

    1 Fatality unfortunately.


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    #21
    LXFlyer
    Registered Users Posts: 17,744 ✭✭✭✭LXFlyer


    squishykins wrote: »
    They are set up with LUAS priority, 9 times out of 10 as soon as a LUAS is heading towards a junction the light will go green for it, otherwise they're waiting for a very short period.

    The priority for LUAS was switched off some time back at most of the junctions between Blackhall Place and Busaras.

    It was causing too much disruption to the general traffic flow.


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    #22
    squishykins
    Registered Users Posts: 2,338 ✭✭✭squishykins


    lxflyer wrote: »
    The priority for LUAS was switched off some time back at most of the junctions between Blackhall Place and Busaras.

    It was causing too much disruption to the general traffic flow.

    Are you sure? I get the LUAS from Busaras to the Four Courts most days for work and it seems to hit all greens (I know it's not a colour but you catch my drift) most days. The one it'd stop for would mostly be crossing O'Connell St from my experience...


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