Dun Laoghaire Thread. No traffic, commuting, transport chat.

ted1 · 21-02-2022 9:14pm

Are you a qualified economist?

patrickbrophy18 · 22-02-2022 12:05am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118669613#Comment_118669613

Another cheap shot. You don't have to be qualified to make observations on matters like economics and other matters which affect the country. I'm just a concerned consumer knowing that my choices are being dictated and limited by a certain poster here. I am a strong proponent of free market capitalism given the opportunities and wealth it creates. Many of the other political ideologies penalize success and reward failure.

AndrewJRenko · 22-02-2022 8:34am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118670416#Comment_118670416

And if free market capitalists just happen to kill a few older people along the way, that's just collateral damage and we should all be grateful to the nice capitalists for providing all that nice wealth for business owners presumably?

patrickbrophy18 · 22-02-2022 9:01am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671186#Comment_118671186

You probably didn't read my point a couple of posts back where I agreed that trucks should have equipment installed. Here's a refresher:

"When I see smart assed comments about scrutinizing the existence of trucks (the life blood of many brick and mortar companies) in the suburban fabric with social justice causes like health and safety, I will call you out on it. Yes, collision detection instruments and surveillance equipment should be retro-fitted to all trucks to alert their drivers of hidden dangers and thus, minimize recurrences of the tragic accident previously mentioned. Outside of that, any other form of contempt with their presence in suburbia is obnoxious and myopic."

AndrewJRenko · 22-02-2022 9:28am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671240#Comment_118671240

You weren't too bothered about whether the equipment actually solved the problem and stopped killing people. In fact, you were quite clear that the equipment was the limit of changes, with your 'outside of that'. So no staffing changes to have extra crew on watch, no schedule changes to make sure that drivers aren't rushing through their deliveries, nothing else to interfere with the onward march of capitalism, regardless of the damage done.

patrickbrophy18 · 22-02-2022 10:58am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671312#Comment_118671312

Well extra crew and time costs money and with sensors on a vehicle, it can be a one man job. Those that fail to read their instruments obviously shouldn't be in a job like truck driving.

There could also be an external speaker to warn people who walk within a meter or 2 of a truck to say they are entering a delivery zone reinforced with flashing lights if they are hard of hearing.

Aside from that, the rest of your comment is just mollycoddling on a commercial scale and results in further extortion from people operating businesses.

Left wing policies with ever increasing compliances and the costs incurred make it more of a risk for entrepreneurs to set up brick and mortar business.

I think pedestrians and cyclists have become complacently unobservant due the amount of onus placed on motorists. Many pedestrians are lawless enough as it is without giving them the freedom to be a nuisance to motorists.

Seriously, what is the point on putting stickers on trucks about blindspots or having pedestrian lights if no one heeds them?

The amount of times I see some numpties with their heads buried in their phones while walking blindly across the road is kind of a double standard when one considers that it is illegal to do so while driving.

We should reinstate guard rails on paths to prevent people from being able to walk willy nilly into the path of cars. The next step would then be to ban jay-walking.

markpb · 22-02-2022 12:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671721#Comment_118671721

TfL did a study on this recently and found that streets with guard rails are less safe overall. Drivers feel more secure so they drive faster on average and pay less attention to their surroundings. When the guard rails end, driver behaviour doesn't (because of the road design) and accidents happen. And that's without mentioning the horrible injuries that cyclists receive when they're squeezed into the guard rails or bounced back onto the road by someone not paying attention.

Human behaviour isn't straight-forward and isn't always obvious. This is why road traffic engineers are trained to do their jobs and can back up their decisions with science, not gut.

AndrewJRenko · 22-02-2022 12:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671721#Comment_118671721

It’s a good question to ask - what is the point of stickers about blind spots. Do you really think businesses get away with operating dangerous machinery in crowded public spaces by putting a sticker on it? It is down to the truck operators to find safe ways of working in public spaces. I don’t really care whether they use cameras or crew or a man waving a red flag. They have to make their work safe, and stop killing people.

If you think pedestrians are lawless, wait till you hear about drivers.

ted1 · 22-02-2022 12:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671721#Comment_118671721

guard rails? That’s why no one takes you serious. You make comments without understanding consequence. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/rip-out-safety-railings-to-cut-road-deaths-say-experts-2p2z0jrb3

Many guard rails were removed after Donna Fox was killed in Dublin

https://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/new-photos-show-cyclist-killed-by-truck-in-dublin-had-no-way-out/

patrickbrophy18 · 22-02-2022 1:42pm

I often allude to the fact that motorists are criminally dangerous on these threads.

Okay, I stand corrected on the issue of guard rails and what happened with the cyclist there is nothing short of horrific.

Perhaps the ultimate solution in that case is road sensors on the cycle lane which detect cyclists approaching and turns the light red for trucks until the cyclist has safely passed before allowing the truck to take the turn.

Anyway, can we move on from this topic as it has now become commuting related?

Nice to see Walters is back. Has anyone been there since it re-opened?

Mav11 · 04-03-2022 10:51am

Does anybody know if there are plans in the pipeline to re-pedestrianise Lr Georges st. for the coming summer?

AndrewJRenko · 04-03-2022 11:13am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118730116#Comment_118730116

Best addressed in the other thread perhaps?

Mav11 · 04-03-2022 1:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118730236#Comment_118730236

Hard to know Andrew.

IMHO its a bit ridiculous having 2 threads, both equally moribund at this point, as opposed to reverting back to one with perhaps a bit more life in it?

Larbre34 · 05-03-2022 7:01pm

Robert Burns has moved on from DLR Council, having led a one man crusade to divide and cause upset.

He was the main instigator behind the summer pedestrianisation last year, so I'm not sure the Council will have that same zealotry behind it this summer.

It caused a lot of problems last years, especially as regards bus services being diverted away from the busiest parts of the town, to the detriment of the least mobile in our community. If memory serves, the peak increase in recorded pedestrian movements through the cordon area was 13%. Hardly a ringing endorsement.

Also, bicycles weren't supposed to travel through the pedestrianised area either which we know was absolutely stupid and almost universally ignored, creating hazards of priority in the process.

Covid restrictions are now over, one of the main justifications for the closure at the time, so we can cross that off.

My feeling is that the businesses won't accept another seasonal closure in the fashion that it was carried out last year. They want Dun Laoghaire to be equally accessible to visitors and shoppers on all modes, especially to their local customers using the bus from the shopping centre and from Bloomfields.

Personally, I'd like to see George's Street Lower returned to bus and bike only, as it was at points in the past, I think it served the best balance of needs.

Mav11 · 06-03-2022 11:45am

It will be a pity if they don't pedestrianise it again this summer. IMHO it quickly went from a destination area i.e. somewhere in it self that was pleasant to visit, to a grotty, congested and dangerous street when traffic was allowed back in.

I would have an open mind on allowing bike and bus access.

markpb · 06-03-2022 1:08pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118737577#Comment_118737577

Your bitterness and constant personal tirades against someone doing their job are over the top. The man has lived rent-free in your head for the last two years for such crimes against humanity as wanting to make it easy and safe for people to walk and cycle in and around south Dublin‘s villages. The level of anger you have for him personally is bordering on obsessive.

Larbre34 · 06-03-2022 1:59pm

I've no time for empire builders. No time for zealots.

He was chased off anyway, problem solved. My point now is that his mistakes should not be repeated by sleepwalking officials and do-gooder Councillors.

markpb · 06-03-2022 3:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118740471#Comment_118740471

I won’t argue with your first point at all but I get the impression that you are equally zealous in your opposition to his work. Calling anyone who does the same (letting people walk and cycle safely) do-gooders says a lot about your open-mindedness to those changes.

Larbre34 · 06-03-2022 3:51pm

So, two years on, where is the Part 8 process to make the Coastal Mobility Route official or to remove it?

How can the public have any trust in the words behind these schemes. They are put in at the whim of unelected officials, who chose to ignore the laws that are supposed to be there to deliver a balance of outcomes.

If I am considered a zealot for due process and best practice, I take it as a compliment.

Mav11 · 06-03-2022 3:52pm

It would be nice if we could play the ball and not the man on this thread?? Just sayin'!

AndrewJRenko · 06-03-2022 5:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118740960#Comment_118740960

Though in fairness, your zealotry for due process does not stretch to reporting dangerous drivers to the Gardai. You tried to intimidate those who do make such reports with your 'snitches get stitches' comment.

It's hard to take your zealotry for due process and best practice as good faith.

Larbre34 · 06-03-2022 5:43pm

I don't really care Andrew. Your penchant for whataboutery gives me no faith in you at all.

But whatever about me, it was, apparently, fine for you to debate the semantics of the word 'accident' for days on end while not once acknowledging the tragic death of the person involved or her bereaved family or community. My zealotry seems to only be of an amateur level by comparison.

Tell you what, let's you and I not engage directly at all, in my opinion only one of us operates in the real World and hint hint, it isn't you.

AndrewJRenko · 06-03-2022 5:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118741389#Comment_118741389

It doesn't really matter whether you care or not.

What matters is the breathtaking hypocrisy of positioning yourself as a 'zealot for due process and best practice' while actively trying to intimidate those who report traffic offences to the Gardai. The mask slipped.

I don't need your approval or agreement to post, so I'll make my own decisions about that, thanks.

patrickbrophy18 · 08-03-2022 12:52am

Generally, there is a lot of sanctimony on this thread when it comes to expectations between the different road user groups with some that are entirely one-sided.

Indeed, many members from road user groups including motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and everyone in between would certainly win the Darwin Award due to obliviousness to their surroundings.

In any case, the bulk of this responsibility is shouldered by motorists with cliches like "expect the unexpected" and "a car or other motorised vehicle is a weapon". In my opinion, this serves to obsolve pedestrians and cyclists from being observant.

I realize that motorized vehicles are a weapon in the wrong hands i.e. if the operator is impatient or uses it to intimidate pedestrians and cyclists which is deplorable. I still see large numbers of motorists on their phones while in motion which has increasingly become a pet peeve of mine.

Having said all of that, the amount of times I have seen parent pedestrians pushing their prams out into the path of moving traffic is shocking. Then, there are those who are off their face on methadone or hammered who walk out on to the road without even looking both ways.

In all cases when there is even a hint of this, I prepare to stop or pull out into the middle of the road when it is safe to do so in case a junky falls road-ward into my path.

Now, lately I have seen an upward trend of obedient cyclists who are far more observant than half a decade ago as a rule of thumb. So, not as much of a beef there as there used to be.

Anyway, enough about traffic, commuting and transport. I see that Daata Tandoori is now open in Glasthule. They have branches here in Bray and Greystones. Are they any good?

08-03-2022 12:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118741456#Comment_118741456

There is a lot that's breathtaking about larbre, not least that he never replies when someone takes the time to debunk his nonsensical theories & claims or his purported expertise as a 'town planner'. If you include references/quotes, you're guaranteed that larbre won't reply. It's actually the best way to get him to stop posting for a few days, it has a 100% success rate.