Incident on Anglesea Street

The_Mac

Was walking by a few minutes ago and see that theres a section of the road on that junction by the Crawford closed off, with some cardboard and film appearing to be covering something in the middle. Anyone have any idea what happened? Gardaí around it too.

mean gene

Was there someone knocked down

ofcork

Someone knocked down on south terrace on Wednesday night too.

mean gene

People in Cork don't wait for the green man to walk on the roads

ofcork

Patrick Street is the worst street for people just walking out in front of traffic.

robinbird

ofcork wrote: »

Patrick Street is the worst street for people just walking out in front of traffic.

Yeah. Particularly during the Panaban. Do the idiots not realise that it is not enforced and that city centres are for cars?

the beer revolu

mean gene wrote: »

People in Cork don't wait for the green man to walk on the roads

There's a huge problem with cars not stopping at red lights.
It's an epidemic.
I wish there could be something done about it.

I have no idea what happened in this case but I see cars flying through pedestrian lights on a daily basis.

D'Agger

mean gene wrote: »

People in Cork don't wait for the green man to walk on the roads

That's certainly one side of an argument

mean gene

people walk out on the street in front of cars the whole time all over cork surprised theres not more casualties =watch the junction at finns corner on pana madness

Pen Rua

I’ve said it over and over - the lights by Albert Quay/City Hall are treacherous. Cars, lorries constantly break the red on the bridge going from Clayton going toward Albert Quay/City Hall. It’s not even orange going into red - it’s purely breaking the red.

If you walk the same routes, you get to learn the patterns of the lights. Some of the lights on the city are ridiculous for pedestrians (e.g. St Patrick St, Opera House lights, Washington St crossing by Daybreak/barbershop).

sheff_

mean gene wrote: »

people walk out on the street in front of cars the whole time all over cork surprised theres not more casualties =watch the junction at finns corner on pana madness

Inadequate green man sequence for such a busy junction though. Same at the other end of grand parade by the monument and again at Patrick's bridge. Miss a green man and you've a stupidly long wait for a city centre location with lots of people walking.

whisky_galore

D'Agger wrote: »

That's certainly one side of an argument

Takes an eternity for a green man to come on.

When it does, you have to go like a rocket across if you have any kind of big distance to cover before it goes red again. I dont know how any elderly or infirm person is supposed to do this dash. I've never been anywhere else where pedestrian lights are this user unfriendly and just plain fcuked up.

Itssoeasy

Merchants quay is like an Olympic sport at times with people trying to get across to buses on either side of the quay and how there hasn't been people killed there I'll never know. As others have said once the lights go green the time starts going and its madness.

whisky_galore

Itssoeasy wrote: »

Merchants quay is like an Olympic sport at times with people trying to get across to buses on either side of the quay and how there hasn't been people killed there I'll never know. As others have said once the lights go green the time starts going and its madness.

One of the worst imo are across the river from the opera house, barely give you enough time to cross on the straight. I have to sprint to cross diagonally in the time given by those bloody lights. Clearly whatever idiot set them up never had to use them as a pedestrian.

D'Agger

whisky_galore wrote: »

Takes an eternity for a green man to come on.

When it does, you have to go like a rocket across if you have any kind of big distance to cover before it goes red again. I dont know how any elderly or infirm person is supposed to do this dash. I've never been anywhere else where pedestrian lights are this user unfriendly and just plain fcuked up.

Agreed, I'm more concerned about people immediately pointing out that pedestrians cross the roads on red, after hearing of a potential knocking down incident i.e. knows nothing of the incident but immediately points at pedestrian behavior

namloc1980

The sequencing of lights all over the city is primarily geared towards motor traffic. Pedestrians are an after thought. The crossing at Finn's Corner (one of, if not the busiest crossing in the city) and you have to wait stupidly long for a green man. Then when it does go green it's beeping and getting ready to go red again within seconds.

Another one that drives me mad is the traffic island at Penrose Quay/Michael Collins bridge junction. There is no coordination between the pedestrian lights so your guaranteed to be stranded on the traffic island for 3/4 minutes every time. A traffic island is nobody's destination.

And the crossing outside the Clayton on Lapp's Quay?! You'd grow old waiting for that to turn green for Pedestrians.

the beer revolu

Others have mentioned the lights by the Opera House.
There is an inordinately long wait for pedestrian lights and on almost every sequence of the lights, at least one car goes through a red - not an amber - a red light. It's madness.

I drive a car almost daily, I am a pedestrian in the city daily and I very occasionally cycle.

When I'm driving I have a bigger problem with the behaviour of other motorists than I do with cyclists or pedestrians, in general.

When I'm walking, I have a much bigger problem with the behaviour of motorists than I do with cyclists or pedestrians.

I probably don't cycle enough to really have an opinion of other road users but over the years, I have found some motorists to be completely ignorant of cyclists.

I don't understand the mentality of people who, just because they drive a car, they have to castigate cyclists and pedestrians and defend other motorists. Most motorists are regularly pedestrians and some are also cyclists.

As a motorist, I have no problem saying that, in general, motorists are the most dangerous road user, the least considerate of other road users (including other motorists) and the most self entitled group on our roads. This is, of course, just an opinion formed from observation.

who_me

Yeah, the Opera House junction isn't great.

Not directly related, but it's a shame too that they removed the pedestrian crossing on the river side of the quayside too (both ends of the bridge). It means if you're walking along by the river, it now requires 2 extra road crossings, with the aforementioned long waiting times and short green lights.

zilog_jones

the beer revolu wrote: »

There's a huge problem with cars not stopping at red lights.
It's an epidemic.
I wish there could be something done about it.

Red light cameras with fines.

the beer revolu

zilog_jones wrote: »

Red light cameras with fines.

I don't know why this isn't done.

I also think the delay between one side going red and the other turning green should be done away with. Drivers know that they have 2 or three seconds grace before the other side turns green.
If they knew that they'd be hit by a car coming the other way if they broke the lights, drivers would break the habit pretty quickly, I reckon.
This would need to be well publicised, obviously, before making the changes.

JeffKenna

the beer revolu wrote: »

I don't know why this isn't done.

I also think the delay between one side going red and the other turning green should be done away with. Drivers know that they have 2 or three seconds grace before the other side turns green.
If they knew that they'd be hit by a car coming the other way if they broke the lights, drivers would break the habit pretty quickly, I reckon.
This would need to be well publicised, obviously, before making the changes.

Get traffic flowing better as well.

who_me

the beer revolu wrote: »

I also think the delay between one side going red and the other turning green should be done away with. Drivers know that they have 2 or three seconds grace before the other side turns green.
If they knew that they'd be hit by a car coming the other way if they broke the lights, drivers would break the habit pretty quickly, I reckon.
This would need to be well publicised, obviously, before making the changes.

I know this probably was tongue in cheek, but no. The above change would kill people, and there's no guarantee those killed would be the ones running the red lights. And dead drivers learn no lessons.

But the issue definitely need to be addressed. Obviously it's not just about the red lights either. Drivers need to treat ambers like they treat the first few seconds of the red lights now. Stop, unless it's unsafe to do so. Plus, you know, it's no harm to remind drivers that green doesn't mean "Go", it means proceed with caution.

The worst scenarios are where you have a junction of two straight, wide one-way streets, with walls/buildings in between. High speeds and no visibility of cars coming the other way until too late. (A good example is the junction of Brian Boru St. and Patrick's Quay, you could have a car in the left lane coming down the street and in the right lane driving along the quay, can't see the other until the very last second. It's worse again if the driver who has the green isn't stationary (i.e. they're approaching the lights when they go green, so already at speed), it greatly increases the violence of the impact. I've seen some big hits there in recent years.

whisky_galore

Are there any pedestrian lobby groups? The country is full of pressure groups representing motorist and cycling interests. The crossings are poor, likewise the fancy paving - like an ice rink when wet - and you would get more light from a penny candle compared to those designer street lamps.

Pen Rua

whisky_galore wrote: »

Are there any pedestrian lobby groups? The country is full of pressure groups representing motorist and cycling interests. The crossings are poor, likewise the fancy paving - like an ice rink when wet - and you would get more light from a penny candle compared to those designer street lamps.

There's a whole host of issues I've identified as a someone who walks 95% of the time (using the bus on occasion).

Traffic lights (already well documented in this thread), poor footpaths (e.g. the footpaths on St Patrick's Quay are absolutely atrocious - had a friend trip on them 30 seconds after arriving into Cork!), lack of suitable crossing point (e.g. Sunday's Well Rd/Shankiel Road junction)

the beer revolu

who_me wrote: »

I know this probably was tongue in cheek, but no. The above change would kill people, and there's no guarantee those killed would be the ones running the red lights. And dead drivers learn no lessons.

Nope. Not tongue in cheek at all.
Drivers break lights because they know that there are no consequences from doing so.

If drivers knew that breaking red lights just was not an option, they would not do it.
Just like now, if a driver comes to a light that is already red, they will stop. They won't just keep going because they know traffic can be coming the other way. It should be the same for a light just turned red. It's a red light and you cannot proceed.
Why build in a delay which facilitates drivers in breaking red lights?

who_me

the beer revolu wrote: »

Nope. Not tongue in cheek at all.
Drivers break lights because they know that there are no consequences from doing so.

If drivers knew that breaking red lights just was not an option, they would not do it.
Just like now, if a driver comes to a light that is already red, they will stop. They won't just keep going because they know traffic can be coming the other way. It should be the same for a light just turned red. It's a red light and you cannot proceed.
Why build in a delay which facilitates drivers in breaking red lights?

Because that change would result in peoples' injury and deaths.

The entire basis of road safety is assuming the worst case scenario, and mandating a margin of error to enable drivers to deal with it. You don't speed down the motorway inches behind the car ahead of you "I'll be ok as long as he/she never does anything stupid". You don't drive to 120Kph through a busy city centre street "I'll be ok as long as long as no one crosses the street without looking". You don't overtake cyclists with an inch to spare "I'll be ok as long as they stay perfectly straight as I zoom past them".

In this case, the margin is the insertion of a delay between one light going red and the other, green.

Those safety margins have to be there, or you'll increase the number of accidents. Now, as you say, there will always be idiots who'll eat into any safety margins. "Ah sure, who'd stop for an amber light?" "You can run a red light for the first few seconds... it doesn't go green for a while" Those definitely need to be dealt with, through fines / penalty points / bans.

the beer revolu

who_me wrote: »

Because that change would result in peoples' injury and deaths.
.

To use your style of arguing.
No it wouldn't.

Or more reasonably, I just don't agree.
People breaking red lights are a danger on our roads. The current system facilitates and encourages this behaviour.
We need a different system.

I would also add in an amber light before the green like UK has.

JackieChang

ofcork wrote: »

Patrick Street is the worst street for people just walking out in front of traffic.

A friend of mine who has been living in Canada for the last 4 years came back home recently and said driving up Patrick street was like being in Bangladesh. People walking all over the road.

the beer revolu

JackieChang wrote: »

A friend of mine who has been living in Canada for the last 4 years came back home recently and said driving up Patrick street was like being in Bangladesh. People walking all over the road.

Considering that there are around 6 pedestrian crossings on St. Patrick's Street (a good thing, imo) there is no excuse for walking in front of traffic on that street.

Pen Rua

the beer revolu wrote: »

Considering that there are around 6 pedestrian crossings on St. Patrick's Street (a good thing, imo) there is no excuse for walking in front of traffic on that street.

Pedestrianise all of St Patrick St (and Oliver Plunkett while we're at it)?

the beer revolu

Pen Rua wrote: »

Pedestrianise all of St Patrick St (and Oliver Plunkett while we're at it)?

Not even allow the busses up and down??