Are Irish roads akin to Mad Max

The only thing you should be concerned with is that speed kills. Everything else is just noise.

I've driven in Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia and Rome.. now those are mad Max type driving countries.

Ireland is grand

Never drive during rush hour, so can't comment, but I find driving during the day or evenings around Dublin fine. The layout of the city, traffic, planning is horrific etc, but never really experience any road rage from other users, nor do I ever feel angry on my part.

Yes, there are some suicidal cyclists, and e-scooters etc should be banned (incredibly dangerous and usually ridden by toddlers in adult bodies), but you just have to laugh.

Having driven for 25+ years I think the level of driving in general has improved. Back in the day cars regularly drove as fast as they could possibly go with little fear of being caught speeding. They would overtake on blind bends, on bad roads and pass at twice the speed of sound.

Braking red lights has definitely got worse recently but general madness on the road is nothing like it was.

Well we have some of the safest roads in Europe (and therefore the world) and the general trend is that our roads get safer most years that go by.

So…no, calling it Mad Max is pretty overblown

Been like this for decades. Little or no Garda enforcement. Slowly getting worse reach year.

The stats are getting better because cars are getting safer despite people and the lack of enforcement.

But driving around Ireland and Dublin is a piece of cake compared to other countries. But its noticeable how few drivers in Ireland obey speed limits compared to say the UK.

The lack of action on minor stuff will come back to bite us.

They really aren't. That's reflected in the lack of adherence to things like speed limits.

I regularly drive Louth to Cork and rarely see a cop car. I think its a stretch to use the word omnipresent when it come to the TC

In the Netherlands, they have speed cameras everywhere, and they don't give much of an allowance over the limit.

They don't have penalty points, and getting speeding tickets. I'd just considered part and parcel of driving.

I can't find the link, but there was a Dutch article on a gov website, staying what the average total € of fines a driver would get on a particular year.

Over there, it's a simply seen as an idiot tax, you get caught, you pay.

Unlike here, where when someone get caught speeding, it was fish in a barrel, the Garda was hiding, the van wasn't visible, etc.

Dunno where in going with this, but the driving standard in Ireland is pretty good by my experiences of international driving. Irish drivers are generally courteous.

Flashing your headlights generally means, you can go ahead, speed trap ahead etc.. in Germany.. flashing your headlights means, I'm here. Get out of my way , or I'm here, I have right of way.

The UK. Most cars seem to do 80+ mph on the motorway, they tailgate, and cut in front , not giving much space.

Italy.. pure madness.

North America. They can't drive, but have plenty of space.

SE Asia. Completely nuts, but they all know that, and somehow it works.

Germany, even the speed limit drops, you drop the anchor, there will be a camera at the new limit.

Belgium, all I can remember is the sh it roads, concrete.

Austria, similar to Germany.

Iceland. They are courteous, and the roads are heated.

Spain, they like their speed.

Poland.. I drove there 20yrs ago.. the roads were sh it and it was madness.. absolute madness.

Here in Ireland, we don't know how to merge, we hog the outside lane, but by in large, we aren't bad. We don't have much enforcement, so I don't get it when someone complains about being caught.. it just means you got away with it for far too long .

You didn’t seem too bothered about ratios when you were going on about “suicidal cyclists “ yourself.

Suicidal? Really? Was somebody suicidal for the 95% of road deaths that had no cyclist involved?

"...The UK. Most cars seem to do 80+ mph on the motorway, they tailgate, and cut in front , not giving much space..."

I don't fully agree.

Due to the automatic cameras they seem to follow the speed limits a lot better in the UK. Also they have variable limits quite often.

They also seem to weave, cut in and tailgate, but while a few do that, the majority are actually staying left and moving left once after overtaking. They also have far high traffic density and lanes closer together. So they tend to be more tightly packed. It seems like they move around a lot but they are just working within their rules differently.

Some obviously know where the speed cameras are and ignore the limits only to suddenly slow down seemingly at random.

You definitely need higher concentration driving in the UK than here. You see a lot more police on the roads. At least where I've been. Feels strangely Claustrophobic.

Odd lack of hard shoulders on A roads and rural roads.

Odd lack of hard shoulders on A roads and rural roads.

What rural roads have Hard shoulders. Not here in Ireland anyway and yes in the UK the done away with a lot if the hard shoulders on there motorways which is complete madness and called them smart roads. Smart alright if you want more deaths. That's all taking away the hard shoulders has done its caused more deaths on there motorways pure crazy.

Exactly I think its a general cultural thing about authority and rules.

Safe and good driving / road usage is a culture.

currently there is an absolute epidemic of the following…

cyclists blasting through red lights and coming into conflict with traffic and pedestrians.

escooter users traveling at excess speed and on pathways, some of them can reach up to 25 kmph.

escooter users blasting through red lights and coming into conflict with traffic and pedestrians …

when the above road user groups disregard the safety and regulations and the wellbeing and safety of fellow road users they really can’t be taken seriously when they start attempting to espouse road safety and are critical of others…

unfortunately both groups are adept at paying lip service to safety and blowing everyone else out of the water and that I don’t mind…but when the culture of you and your peers ( cyclists ) contributes to making roads and indeed pathways less safe for other road and pathway users and adds to an unsafe culture full stop… when they go on about motorists I’m just inclined to give them no more then a smile.

Maybe you'll post some stats to prove your point about how the various road users impact the welling being of others. There must an "epidemic" of injuries and deaths caused by one group to another relative to the other.

I'd be interested to see what comparisons you have in your data.

Statistically they are not much different. You probably notice it more.

The only recent Irish study I'm aware of ...

"...During the full near 18-month period of the trial, some 32 per cent of red light offenders were on bicycles and 68 per cent were in vehicles..."

I would say (guess) it's highly dependant on route and location. Some routes and junctions have more cars and some more bicycles.

While no one should be breaking red lights, the consequences of a car doing it vs a bicycle are quite different. Also it's not automatically dangerous some jurisdictions allow a left turn (or equivalent) on red for both cyclists or cars.

But obviously there is the issue of complacency and culture of rule breaking that is problematic for other reasons as in respecting other road users which then causes conflict.

I think we agree everyone does it. While I can quote statistics,

It would be good if everyone was more respectful on the road. It takes the stress and risk out.

I think we are bad a capturing data in Ireland, enforcing the rules and following up with a post enforcement study.

The only reason there isn't more deaths is that people are scared to use rural roads for walking or cycling. It's an absolutely horrendous experience most of the time to walk on the road with the endemic motorist behaviours of driving too fast, not giving enough passing distance (usually because they won't slow to pass safely because of on-coming traffic), distracted driving, and not driving to a speed they can safely stop in the distance they can see.

The only way to change the culture is through enforcement - either directly by policing, State camera's and perhaps most easily done through online portals for dashcam/ bikecam/ personcam* footage, and rigorous (outsourced from the Gardai prosecution). Fear of being caught, not the fear of human consequences is what is needed in this State.

But sure, instead, the RSA launch another victim blaming intiative to target children on the same day they have to increase fines for people driving ignoring School Crossings.

*I've taken to carrying my phone out front when walking on the road - you can actually see drivers spot the phone and rethink a close pass, and slow and wait for it to be safe.

No, no, NO! Don’t you see?? It’s insane out there - you’re taking your life in your hands with those mass murder machines.

The sooner they’re banned outright and the Lycra-clad übermenschen can inherit the Earth, the better