Road issues that irritate me.......

murpho999

Heard a story in work about an incident some colleague's family member had and said that the main worry was that he was driving alone on a 'provisional' (now learner) licence.

I said he should not be on the road as he's not qualified to drive and everybody disagreed with me and found it fine to drive on a learner licence.

This is just so wrong. Shows how the system does not work.

ohnonotgmail

murpho999 wrote: »

Heard a story in work about an incident some colleague's family member had and said that the main worry was that he was driving alone on a 'provisional' (now learner) licence.

I said he should not be on the road as he's not qualified to drive and everybody disagreed with me and found it fine to drive on a learner licence.

This is just so wrong. Shows how the system does not work.

surely that just shows you that people are idiots? no system can fix that.

Shenshen

NiallBoo wrote: »

So don't go 80, or 50. Happy days.

The fact remains that you can't waste effort assigning an individual limit for every little bit of the 100,000km of our road network - 78,000km of which are L roads.

I'll remember that next time I get shouted down for stating that the speed limit on the vast majority of roads it too high rather than too low.
And next time I've got someone sitting in my boot because they feel that if they don't reach the designated limit, people might make assumptions about the size of their genitalia.

NiallBoo

Shenshen wrote: »

I'll remember that next time I get shouted down for stating that the speed limit on the vast majority of roads it too high rather than too low.
And next time I've got someone sitting in my boot because they feel that if they don't reach the designated limit, people might make assumptions about the size of their genitalia.

Heh, well...hmmm

Well as I said in another comment, you have to use judgment...(though sitting up someone's årse is always a bit dim IMO)

Aside from that, most roads != most journeys. honestly, L roads get too much resources as it is.

murpho999

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

surely that just shows you that people are idiots? no system can fix that.

Yes, but I was surprised that about 90% of 10 people found it ok.

I do wonder how many are out alone on roads driving on learner permits.

km991148

murpho999 wrote: »

Yes, but I was surprised that about 90% of 10 people found it ok.

I do wonder how many are out alone on roads driving on learner permits.

That seems to be a specific attitude in Ireland, where after a few lessons people are happy to jump in and drive themselves unaccompanied.

chewed

Cars that overtake you on the motorway then pull in front of you and slow down so that you have to overtake them!!!

Kintarō Hattori

As a cyclist and road user both parties are hardly angels but I was particularly irked by the lack of etiquette displayed by some Drogheda cyclists a few weeks back. It was around 10am on a Saturday morning I was heading up the road in the picture to the retail park. There was a large-ish group of cyclists, about 20-30 in a group and they were cycling 4 wide on the road.
I understand the need to take command of the road if you feel it's dangerous but this is a wide, clear, smooth section of road and it was simply bad manners. They hogged the whole width of the road not allowing anyone to pass safely.

citytillidie

People who in wet conditions drive as if the road is dry, people speeding up to get out of a junction causing those on the main road to slow down

Boom_Bap

When you are in waiting at a roundabout in the left lane at the curved line.
A car beside you pulls up on the right lane and goes over the curved line and blocks your view.

Stay behind the line ya p0x.

citytillidie

Speaking of roundabouts, people using the left lane to turn right blocking those trying to go straight ahead

NiallBoo

murpho999 wrote: »

Yes, but I was surprised that about 90% of 10 people found it ok.

I do wonder how many are out alone on roads driving on learner permits.

Could be a bit of group psychology there.

I'd say if you asked them one-to-one you'd get different results.

duffman3833

from glancing through this tread i think the top complaints are between roundabouts and indicators

MetzgerMeister

People who call it "road tax"

People who call it "the fast lane"

People who forget to cancel their indicators and then give you the finger because you pulled out in front of them

Basically people in general :pac:

Son Of A Vidic

Driving along and then there's a monsoon-like downpour, suddenly a lot of drivers pick up the speed and start tail-gating each other. Why?... probably because some fúcktards just haven't a clue what they're at behind the wheel.

Zubeneschamali

NiallBoo wrote: »

So don't go 80, or 50. Happy days.

The fact remains that you can't waste effort assigning an individual limit for every little bit of the 100,000km of our road network - 78,000km of which are L roads.

Grand so, let's just set the limit everywhere to 200 kph, and we'll all use our judgement.

Since clearly the limit is nothing to do with how fast it is safe to travel on a given road.

AndrewJRenko

NiallBoo wrote: »

It would be better to say that you should drive at the (quickest*) speed suitable to the road/vehicle/conditions or to the speed limit - whichever one is slower.

Or in other words - the limit should be a target, unless there's a reason it shouldn't.

*out of consideration to other road users

Just to clarify - other road users aren't just inside motor vehicles. There are road users outside road vehicles who you need to consider too. The quickest speed is probably not showing consideration to vulnerable road users.

NiallBoo

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Just to clarify - other road users aren't just inside motor vehicles. There are road users outside road vehicles who you need to consider too. The quickest speed is probably not showing consideration to vulnerable road users.

I agree with what you're saying and would consider all of that to be covered under "road conditions".
I take it to be a catch-all term that includes stuff like weather, road surface, slower moving cars, tractors, bikes, drunk people...whatever.

So when I say the fastest speed allowing for conditions, I mean taking into account what you can see and what you can't.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

red ears

People pulling out in front of you and leaving you to hit the breaks to avoid a crash. They know you have seen them and have plenty of time to slow down but its really annoying all the same.

durtybit

red ears wrote: »

People pulling out in front of you and leaving you to hit the breaks to avoid a crash. They know you have seen them and have plenty of time to slow down but its really annoying all the same.

If you have plenty of time to slow down how does the crash scenario appear? Sound like an issue with merging traffic

red ears

durtybit wrote: »

If you have plenty of time to slow down how does the crash scenario appear? Sound like an issue with merging traffic

I've seen it done on to main roads with traffic travelling at 100km. Its dangerous.

durtybit

red ears wrote: »

I've seen it done on to main roads with traffic travelling at 100km. Its dangerous.

Dangerous if you have to swerve to avoid, but it if you have plenty of room slow down to the merging traffic where is the danger?

red ears

durtybit wrote: »

Dangerous if you have to swerve to avoid, but it if you have plenty of room slow down to the merging traffic where is the danger?

I probably shouldn't have said plenty of time because sometimes it is very late.

picturehangup

Was driving on narrow country road earlier today, possibly some icy patches still there from yesterday.
Was on my side, close to verge, driving slowly. Idiot coming towards me, at three times my speed, I was practically stopped when I saw it/her speeding towards me, as person walking with dog my side, Idiot passed me, in opposite direction, and blew me with horn off the road, as if I had been the speeding vehicle. xxudking idiot.

Means Of Escape

Hazard warning lights used to "thank " a driver who has pulled in (illegally )over the hard shoulder line to let them pass .

Atlantic Dawn

My new irritation is bellends who have fitted electric gates to their property that don't have enough room for them to move in from the road and wait for them to open, instead they hold up all the traffic while they await entry to their pad, selfish c words.

mikeymouse

durtybit wrote: »

Dangerous if you have to swerve to avoid, but it if you have plenty of room slow down to the merging traffic where is the danger?

He said 'People pulling out in front of you and leaving you to hit the breaks to avoid a crash ,nothing about merging.
if someone causes you to hit the brakes it is dangerous.

Sam Kade

red ears wrote: »

I've seen it done on to main roads with traffic travelling at 100km. Its dangerous.

Yeah fools parked on the hard shoulder then decide to merge onto the driving lane with traffic approaching at 100 kph, idiots.

durtybit

mikeymouse wrote: »

He said 'People pulling out in front of you and leaving you to hit the breaks to avoid a crash ,nothing about merging.
if someone causes you to hit the brakes it is dangerous.

He also said he had plenty of time to slow down, but has since cleared that up.

Sam Kade

durtybit wrote: »

Dangerous if you have to swerve to avoid, but it if you have plenty of room slow down to the merging traffic where is the danger?

The dope merging is supposed to keep their eyes open to oncoming traffic, why should aproaching traffic have to take action?

Sam Kade

red ears wrote: »

People pulling out in front of you and leaving you to hit the breaks to avoid a crash. They know you have seen them and have plenty of time to slow down but its really annoying all the same.

What are these breaks people keep referring to?

mikeymouse

Sam Kade wrote: »

The dope merging is supposed to keep their eyes open to oncoming traffic, why should aproaching traffic have to take action?

Courtesy

durtybit

Sam Kade wrote: »

The dope merging is supposed to keep their eyes open to oncoming traffic, why should aproaching traffic have to take action?

If it safe to merge the can. Frankly if you don't take action you might cause an accident.

Sam Kade

mikeymouse wrote: »

Courtesy

durtybit wrote: »

If it safe to merge the can. Frankly if you don't take action you might cause an accident.

But it isn't safe to merge.

mikeymouse

If merging from a slip road ie. at speed. then you either move out or slow down to let them on.
If they are joining from a standstill , they must wait and not cause you to hit the brakes.

durtybit

Sam Kade wrote: »

But it isn't safe to merge.

I'm sure plent of people have merged safely

dr.fuzzenstein

Means Of Escape wrote: »

Hazard warning lights used to "thank " a driver who has pulled in (illegally )over the hard shoulder line to let them pass .

It is not illegal. It is illegal to drive on the hard shoulder on the motorway , but on a normal road you are allowed to pull in and let traffic pass.

NiallBoo

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

It is not illegal. It is illegal to drive on the hard shoulder on the motorway , but on a normal road you are allowed to pull in and let traffic pass.

It's legal, but can still be a bad a bad idea.

You often see people pulling in where there's bend coming up or the road is about to narrow.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Pinch Flat

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

It is not illegal. It is illegal to drive on the hard shoulder on the motorway , but on a normal road you are allowed to pull in and let traffic pass.

I don't believe this is true. You're allowed to pull into the hard shoulder to pass a car turning right. Its not legal to drive in it, if I'm doing the limit or close to it and someone wants to pass me, there's no obligation on me to pull over and let them pass.

NiallBoo wrote: »

It's legal, but can still be a bad a bad idea.

You often see people pulling in where there's bend coming up or the road is about to narrow.

The hard shoulder is also used by cyclists and pedestrians.

NiallBoo

Pinch Flat wrote: »

The hard shoulder is also used by cyclists and pedestrians.

kind of the point I was making. When someone pulls in on a bend they don't know what's around the corner and could cause themselves to be pinned on the hard-shoulder with someone in their path.

AndrewJRenko

Sam Kade wrote: »

What are these breaks people keep referring to?

Ask the Irish Times and/or AA Roadwatch
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/ice-and-snow-still-an-issue-on-routes-across-country-aa-1.2935754

MadDog76

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Ask the Irish Times and/or AA Roadwatch
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/ice-and-snow-still-an-issue-on-routes-across-country-aa-1.2935754

Sam was referring to the word "breaks" when it should be "brakes".

AndrewJRenko

MadDog76 wrote: »

Sam was referring to the word "breaks" when it should be "brakes".

Yes so was the Irish Times. :rolleyes:

maudgonner

MadDog76 wrote: »

Sam was referring to the word "breaks" when it should be "brakes".

Yes, and that article has advice from the AA that makes the same mistake:

AA Roadwatch also advised drivers to use major routes where possible as they are more likely to have been gritted than secondary roads. If drivers skid on the roads, they should not break fast, but reduce acceleration and gears to stop gradually.

MadDog76

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Yes so was the Irish Times. :rolleyes:

maudgonner wrote: »

Yes, and that article has advice from the AA that makes the same mistake:

*shrug* Wasn't ar5ed reading the link ......... but thanks anyway. :cool:

dr.fuzzenstein

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I don't believe this is true. You're allowed to pull into the hard shoulder to pass a car turning right. Its not legal to drive in it, if I'm doing the limit or close to it and someone wants to pass me, there's no obligation on me to pull over and let them pass.

The hard shoulder is also used by cyclists and pedestrians.

Yes, the hard shoulder can be used by cyclists or pedestrians. It's not always a good idea to drive in it. But it's not illegal and the ROR makes specific mention of it:

This road contains a hard shoulder, which is normally only for pedestrians and cyclists.
If a driver wants to allow a vehicle behind them to overtake, they may pull in to the hard shoulder briefly as long as no pedestrians or cyclists are already using it and no junctions or entrances are nearby.
Different rules exist for hard shoulders on motorways. See Section 11 for details

http://www.rotr.ie/Rules_of_the_road.pdf

As for your obligation to pull over, well, if you're trailing 20 cars for an hour, yes, you are obliged to pull over:

https://www.joe.ie/news/a-farmer-in-mayo-has-been-banned-from-driving-for-12-months-after-causing-a-massive-tailback/492297

edit:
A slightly better link than Joe(groan).ie
http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/tractor-driver-who-caused-11km-tailback-banned-from-driving-672090.html


But that is an extreme example.

Means Of Escape

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

It is not illegal. It is illegal to drive on the hard shoulder on the motorway , but on a normal road you are allowed to pull in and let traffic pass.

If you strike someone or a stationary vehicle driving on the hard shoulder on either a motorway or primary road your insurance will wash their hands of you
Furthermore a truck pulling in to let you pass when clearly you should wait until you can pass without the truck pulling in .
It may have to pull out suddenly if a vehicle appears as it pulls out of a minor road junction which is inherently dangerous
Hard shoulders are not to be driven on and are designed to facilitate people to pull in and stop .

Sam Kade

MadDog76 wrote: »

*shrug* Wasn't ar5ed reading the link ......... but thanks anyway. :cool:

Same here Who has time for reading links?