Yet another 'wrong way' motorway accident

Bigcheeze

Another good reason to keep left unless overtaking.

cerastes

cerastes wrote: »

Your then going to have the problem of removing the car and that would be a hazard, the immobilised vehicle and removing it. Would the teeth maybe be considered to create a hazard if they were being driven over at speed routinely? Arent these designed to prevent access where vehicles would usually be driving slowly? or is there a precedent of them being used elsewhere (abroad) where they are successful.

**** em. Have it done at their expense and allow private claims against them by others.

Also not sure about the idea of emergency vehicles going the wrong way down the motorway, of all the times I've seen them they've been in the right carriageway. Have seen them go past on the right, loop at the next junction and then pass on the hard shoulder as well, as one would expect.

Aineoil

What do ye all regard as an older driver?

I sat my driving test in 1997.

We didn't have many motorways then (in Ireland), but as I lived abroad for a few years I learned how to use them.

The road system in Ireland has changed so much in the last 25 years. When I started driving there was one dual carriage and roundabouts were as scarce as hen's teeth.

So I do think drivers should have to undergo a course they have to pass in competence for driving in order to keep the licence - every 10 years.

I like to think I am a competent as a driver.......but don't we all.

Jesus.

coolbeans wrote: »

I'm not gonna bother engaging with you as you seem to get a rise out of people by going against the grain with your seemingly total opposition to road traffic law enforcement. You'll follow up with questions rather than answers, then refer to a high horse

Fair enough

coolbeans wrote: »

and finally round it off with some lameass self referential Jesus joke that nobody finds funny. Yawn.

I don't have to. The nordie lad has done it for me

ardmacha wrote: »

Jesus. You may favour turning the other cheek, but others of us prefer to see law enforcement.

Esel

Didn't read thread, so maybe this has been said already...

One penalty point for this offence afaik - driving the wrong way on a one-way road. Same for going the wrong way around a roundabout.

Voodoomelon

Man this was sad to read about, I originally thought the wrong way driver had just killed themselves, that's where speed reading gets you.

I wonder what her punishment will be. She'll almost certainly loose her license for good, but I wonder about a fine/prison?

yogimotorsport

I believe no matter how old you are surely you could clearly see you are driving the wrong way down a motorway

The fact that there would be no lane to your right hand side and the fact that there is a barrier and 2 other lanes all to your left,
This woman has caused the death of a young man and caused his family and friends a incredible amount of grief.
I am aware accidents happen and humans made mistakes but regardless she should be charged with dangerous driving causing death and certainly face a prison sentence
I doubt very much this will ever happen though, on the other side I can only imagine the headlines if it was a young male driving on wrong side of the road that killed a elderly woman the country would be in up roar

R.I.P young man

blackwhite

Jesus. wrote: »

And that was the end of it. Lesson learned.

You sorted it out yourself and that's the way it should be done.

And someone who's shown themselves to be incapable of understanding road signs, and willing to put other people in mortal danger is happily allowed go on their merry way to hopefully kill somebody the next time :rolleyes:

Drummerboy08

I'd probably be willing to wager a weeks wages that she wont lose her licence.

No doubt a local councillor/TD will petition the judge and claim she would be socially cut off without her vehicle etc.

Doubt she'll even see the inside of a prison cell.

blackwhite

yogimotorsport wrote: »

I believe no matter how old you are surely you could clearly see you are driving the wrong way down a motorway

The fact that there would be no lane to your right hand side and the fact that there is a barrier and 2 other lanes all to your left,
This woman has caused the death of a young man and caused his family and friends a incredible amount of grief.
I am aware accidents happen and humans made mistakes but regardless she should be charged with dangerous driving causing death and certainly face a prison sentence
I doubt very much this will ever happen though, on the other side I can only imagine the headlines if it was a young male driving on wrong side of the road that killed a elderly woman the country would be in up roar

R.I.P young man

This


If someone is so stupid, so unaware of what's going on around them, that their response is to continue driving the wrong way along the motorway at speed, then there is no way at all that they should be on the road. They clearly aren't fit to be driving, and should be kept off the road until they can demonstrate otherwise.

seamus

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

I'd probably be willing to wager a weeks wages that she wont lose her licence.

No doubt a local councillor/TD will petition the judge and claim she would be socially cut off without her vehicle etc.

Doubt she'll even see the inside of a prison cell.

She'll probably lose her licence and on account of her age they won't bother taking her to court for anything else.

Basically the exact same thing was on the RTE Garda programme, except thankfully without any problems.

TL;DW: Old man, wrong way down the M7, not a clue what he's doing. When stopped, turns out he's uninsured. Special disqualification order is obtained against him and no other charges.

The clip also shows that emergency service do not drive the wrong way down the motorway to handle an incident

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcpUNwmMArY

spurious

Families bear a large portion of responsibility in cases like these.

I have a friend originally from that part of the country. When I heard of the accident, my first thought was that it was her elderly mother involved. 80 odd - practically blind and the doctor has said she should not be driving, in response to which, her eldest son bought her a new 'better' (i.e. bigger) car. No amount of pleading would stop him. He thought it was a great idea.

It's laughable - until some unfortunate meets one of them beetling along the wrong way.

RIP the poor bloke minding his own business and unlucky enough to meet one of them.

jimd2

Jesus. wrote: »

Well that's one way of looking at it. Another would be someone who made a one-off mistake and had it corrected by another vigilant motorist.

Of course you could say we're all potential killers in one form or another but it sensationalises things out of all proportion.



How do you know they do?

Listen man, you dont seem to get it. The incident was very well dealt with it and , in the poster's opinion, the lady was still a risk. She had made one (almost) catastrophic error and was now stopped and confused. I think the right decision was to contact the gardai and, hopefully, she will be contacted. No harm done if she is contacted about the incident, erring on the right side i think.

EazyD

It's things like this that make me terrified not for myself, but my family and friends who regularly drive. Their is an extraordinary amount of moron motorists in Ireland, from the risk takers to the downright inept.

curiosity

yogimotorsport wrote: »

I believe no matter how old you are surely you could clearly see you are driving the wrong way down a motorway

The fact that there would be no lane to your right hand side and the fact that there is a barrier and 2 other lanes all to your left,

From the newsclip, it looks as if she was in the overtaking lane, which she took as being the southbound lane heading towards Cork. Anything coming towards her for the first few kms must have been lucky enough to be in the driving lane (just 4km, I think. Not long enough for someone to have called the Guards). Given her age, I suppose it'll just be a loss of her licence?

EazyD

curiosity wrote: »

From the newsclip, it looks as if she was in the overtaking lane, which she took as being the southbound lane heading towards Cork. Anything coming towards her for the first few kms must have been lucky enough to be in the driving lane (just 4km, I think. Not long enough for someone to have called the Guards). Given her age, I suppose it'll just be a loss of her licence?

I don't understand that though, why should age dictate the possibility of conviction? 20 or 70, the end result is the same.

Mo60

EazyD wrote: »

It's things like this that make me terrified not for myself, but my family and friends who regularly drive. Their is an extraordinary amount of moron motorists in Ireland, from the risk takers to the downright inept.

I agree - most of them are not elderly either.

ardmacha

There are a few dimensions to this kind of thing.
Some sort of retesting, if only for rules of the road, is a no-brainer. It is irresponsible not to have introduced this when the requirement to visit the NDLS centres was introducted.

There needs to be harsh action taken against medics falsely certifying people who are grossly unfit.

However, many people can drive perfectly well but may fall ill or be affected by medication etc. Some sort of in car device may be needed, e.g. a small screen on which you have to do something, this would weed out the drunk and spaced out as well.

Chimaera

ardmacha wrote: »

There are a few dimensions to this kind of thing.
Some sort of retesting, if only for rules of the road, is a no-brainer. It is irresponsible not to have introduced this when the requirement to visit the NDLS centres was introducted.

There needs to be harsh action taken against medics falsely certifying people who are grossly unfit.

However, many people can drive perfectly well but may fall ill or be affected by medication etc. Some sort of in car device may be needed, e.g. a small screen on which you have to do something, this would weed out the drunk and spaced out as well.

I don't think there's any sane way to handle cases where someone suddenly becomes seriously ill/incapacitated while driving. It's one of those variables that's impossible to control for. You can only hope that someone recognises when they're in difficulty and stops.

Drunk/drug driving is something everyone is well aware of by now and anyone who persists in doing it is an idiot, end of story.

I agree we need to take a harder line on those who are medically unfit to drive, but in the land of winks and nods, that's easier said than done.

I past the that poor boys car and the jeep when they were on the recovery trucks the other night. Only just reading about it now. God it's just awful. I had wondered did anyone survive in the car. Hope the girl in the passengers seat will be ok.

Voodoomelon

The scene from RTE Player:



On a bend too, they wouldn't have seen each other until the last second. 120kph+ combined with her likely 80-100kph, game over.

curiosity

EazyD wrote: »

I don't understand that though, why should age dictate the possibility of conviction? 20 or 70, the end result is the same.

Well, she may be prosecuted, with the end result being a ban from driving. At 71, and after being injured, it's likely she's not ever going to be medically fit to drive again anyway. She probably got confused, but wasn't acting out of recklessness.

hoodie6029

That is an horrific looking crash. Surprised anyone survived. How many of these have happen before retesting is brought in??
You should have to do a theory test at every renewal. If you pass get you get your licence, If you fail that you must resit it until you pass and sit a practical test too.

Vologda69

A family member works with NDLS. She told me in the last few weeks they had several people over the age of 90 being certified by doctors as fit to drive. One lady was 97. Most were deaf and could barely sign their name. Others were in their 70s with conditions like Parkinson's and Huntingdons. She was shocked to find that in most cases the doctors had signed them fit for a 3 year licence.

jackofalltrades

Senseless loss of life. RIP to the young lad.

The real tragedy is that nothing will be done about this.
The driver of the jeep will more than likely just lose her licence.
After that it'll just be back to usual with elderly unfit drivers putting everyone else at risk until they're taken off the road.

curiosity wrote: »

She probably got confused, but wasn't acting out of recklessness.

We don't know as yet, it could have been something sudden that she didn't know about that impaired her driving.
But if she's had incidents before or knew she wasn't up to driving then it's definitely reckless driving.

johnayo

Interesting programme on itv now. Britains 100 year old drivers.

djimi

Seeing the picture of the scene it has just properly dawned on me how scary a situation that is. Utterly terrifying.

djimi

Vologda69 wrote: »

She was shocked to find that in most cases the doctors had signed them fit for a 3 year licence.

Perhaps some day a doctor will be prosecuted for this, lose their medical license, maybe even end up in prison (not sure on what charge however). Maybe then the rest of the doctors who sign their friends off when they are unsafe to drive will think twice about. Happens all too regularly.

dr.fuzzenstein

If there is one thing that has to be eradicated on Irish roads, its the attitude of "I Am Entitled To Be On The Road!".
People regard is as a god given right and that also leads to the next problem: people make up their own ROTR for themselves and won't listen to anybody, because "I Know How To Drive!".
But as long as the cops don't give a flying fcuk about these things and basically do nothing but point a hairdryer down the road and harass young male drivers and ignore everyone and everything else, nothing is going to change.
Because "ah sure, its grand, how else is poor, auld Mary going to get to the shops?".
The sooner those doddery old fools are taken off the road, the better.

curiosity

curiosity wrote: »

She probably got confused, but wasn't acting out of recklessness.

jackofalltrades wrote: »

We don't know as yet, it could have been something sudden that she didn't know about that impaired her driving.
But if she's had incidents before or knew she wasn't up to driving then it's definitely reckless driving.

What I mean by reckless is an element of knowing that you're taking a risk (driving while intoxicated, speeds far in excess of what is safe, overtaking on bends etc). Would anyone knowingly drive the wrong way on a motorway? I drove to Cork today via that road, and the collision was on my mind as I neared the spot. It chilled me to think of it.