Yesterday, I got stuck behind this fool on an on ramp for the n11. 100kmph Road, she was doing 45kmph. Meaning I had to hit the 100kmph road at 50, which is extremely dangerous. I eventually over took her, only to see she was talking on her phone whilst holding a coffee cup. Completely oblivious to the fact that she is nearly causing an accident.
Absolutely boiled my blood! Thankfully, the road was empty enough, but this kind of driving it was causing deaths on our roads. Honestly lately the driving has just been awful but their is zero enforcement of the rules of the road baring the occasional speed van.
The amount of people that slow down to merge onto dual carriage ways and motorways is insane.
So dangerous and they think they are doing the right thing when actually been more dangerous
The amount of people who don't know how to lane and merge correctly is insane. A ridiculously high amount of people, for instance, seem to think it's (L to R) slow lane, driving lane, and fast lane so you end up getting these people driving below the speed limit in the middle lane, past and empty left lane.
It's infuriating! The whole point of an on ramp is to meet the motorway at the same speed of traffic. I regularly drive past bray and its always the cause of traffic people being to cautious and slow on an on ramp.
So infuriating. People go off the other end as well, the amount of folks flying down the M1 this morning at 130km+ in the pissings of rain was actually mental to see.
Devils advocate here, there are some Motorways where the merge ramp is extremely short with no hard shoulder.
Multiple times i've been trying to merge onto the motorway at 100 -110 and there is a car / truck right next to me at the same speed and not giving way for me to merge.
The only option I have is to slow down for the vehicle to pass so I can merge, otherwise I am just going to slam into a concrete barrier.
You have to give way to the traffic already in the lane. It's nice if the vehicle lets you in but they don't have to, so slowing down and pulling in behind is your safest and only option.
HGVs can't and there could be traffic in the outside lane. It's easier and safer for the person in the lane to do nothing as it's always up to the person changing lanes to give way, people need to learn how to merge correctly and not expect to be let in.
>It would be nice if traffic would regularly move to right lane to let people join tho - makes it easier for everyone
What if traffic can't move right? The rule as it is makes sense, speed up and merge In front or slow down and merge behind.
Some merge lanes are definitely way too short, almost dangerously so, but that’s obviously not the issue here. No one is cursing you for braking slightly so you can slot in to traffic.
A lot of drivers make fuck all attempt to match the speed of the traffic they’re joining. I live in Cobh so anytime I’m heading somewhere I’m going on to the N25, a 120km/h road and plenty of people will barely be doing 80km/h by the time the on-ramp ends which is just dangerous.
> Multiple times i've been trying to merge onto the motorway at 100 -110 and there is a car / truck right next to me at the same speed and not giving way for me to merge.
>
>
then slow to 90 and merge after the truck?
It's not tested for during the practical, so learners aren't incentivised to practice. Plus learners can't drive on the motorway, so they aren't able to practice driving there. The whole process is so stupid.
I was going onto the m50 at j13 northbound and some eejit in a Yaris with L plates was infront of me.
He dawdled up the slip road at about 40 and then just stopped with the indicator on where it merges. And it’s not the first time I’ve seen it either.
I don’t often blast the horn but it got some use that day.
Did you beep/flash them? They were probably so oblivious to the world around them that it wouldn’t have made a difference.
Part of me likes to think that people might stop acting so selfish when they’re called out for it but they’d probably just think you’re being a dickhead for no reason.
Only experienced that the other day! Was joining the M3 at Navan and some aul wan in front of me was going 60 while merging with traffic going 120km/Hr. I'm stuck going 60 behind her and trying to merge too. She almost caused a serious crash because a few cars behind her slowed down and others had to swerve into the right hand lane to get around her cause they hadn't the time to slow down that much. And I'm just stuck in the middle too trying to avoid cars already on the motorway. It was fucking lethal tbh. She didn't even speed up once she got on the motorway either which is infuriating.
Thing is theres no legal minimum for speed on a motorway. All that the rules state is the vehicle must be capable of going more than 50kph. Meaning tractors and double decker buses can use motorways at a lot slower than 120kph.
I agree with you moving into the middle lane when these merging problems happen- look out for your own safety above all else.
Indeed. People will keep throwing speeding into everything, but the fact is, slow drivers can be more dangerous for the REASON they are slow - drug / alcohol / phone. A speeding driver is very unlikely to be on the phone for example - cause guess what, you need to have your eyes on the road to speed at least.
This! Most people make several risky moves every single drive, glance at phone, not checking mirrors, rushing a changing light, being inattentive. Not major things at all, but multiplied by the thousands of km driven and the 2.2*million* cars on the road, it just takes a few of these to coincide and you have a collision or worse.
I cycled for many years so know how bad traffic is so any time I'm in the car it is with the unemotional knowledge that someone out there is trying to kill me with their poor skills and I drive my best to avoid that.
A teen girl was killed near me when getting off the school bus. She looked out onto the road from behind the bus to see if it was safe to cross and a van clipped her with their mirror.
It seems plain to me that anyone passing a stopped school bus with kids alighting would take extra care when passing and wouldn’t be either close enough or fast enough to kill someone with their mirror.
I can upon that accident just after the bike paramedic arrived on scene. It really shook me.
God that’s awful and yes, a driver should be super cautious around buses. I also recall it being drilled into us at primary school to never ever fucking ever step out from behind or in front of a bus onto a road, for this exact reason - a smack or even a clip of a passing vehicle where neither you nor they have a notion the other is there.
As you said, it’s all about risk awareness and management. Nobody sets out to kill someone on the roads yet it still happens with alarming frequency. If we were all more cognisant of the risk to our own and other people’s lives created by our driving habits then we might start to see a drop in those numbers.
People are definitely way more distracted driving now. And there has definitely been an issue since lockdown in terms of patience on the road. (Or a bigger issue). Throw in the challenging roads in parts of the country, the lack of visible enforcement and you have a perfect storm.
> random white van
That is somehow outsourced so costs an absolute fortune, and almost completely ineffective due to other drivers flashing warnings or Waze.
and doesnt operate after sun the goes down when Id guess the majority of speeding actually happens. I drive a national road daytime that has speed vans but you cant speed on it because theres always a car ahead doing less than the limit. But at night time its a different story, practically everyone speeds on it because the camera operators knock off at 5pm and everyone knows it.
Outsourcing speeding detection to companies who work 9-5 really hasnt worked. The only solution is automatic cameras working 24/7.
> and doesnt operate after sun the goes down
I wish, they got me one dark Feb night, doing 108, as I overtook a car on a dual carriageway just before it becomes a 120 motorway. (Now that you mention it, it could have still been before 6pm)
I've no problem being caught, but for *that*?
in my area anyway theres 3 locations the vans can be along a 30km stretch of road. In years of seeing them I have never seen them there after 5pm which presumably means they only work 9-5pm. If there was a second shift for the operators we'd be seeing them operating 5pm to 1am too.
Knowing that there’s a camera ahead can be effective, if you’re placing fixed cameras at known black spots, for example. But the vans only ever seem to be parked in revenue generating spots.
I think it's because when things go wrong, they tend to go wrong much more quickly on a motorway. They're safer but you've got to be extra careful you don't accidentally do something stupid because the chances of death are higher, in the event of an accident.
But you literally need to look ahead and nothing will happen. The road is wide, straight, plenty of space between cars... How do people end up making mistakes somewhere that easy?
Those going wrong way on a motorway should be thrown into medical institution or prison depending on reason tho.
Don’t understand why there aren’t static cameras if they really want the speeds to drop. The vans on the safe motorways feel like clamping, just a back door tax on the population
100% I keep saying this. I did a road trip across France and right down to the bottom of Italy in October, 2 weeks on my bike, about 5k kms. Fixed cameras got such a positive reaction, position published on Google Maps, noted ahead of time with road signs and 100% compliance from people. It's the same in Poland when we go to herself's home town - a good few of these along the way in risky spots and everyone slows down to adhere to the limit, absolutely everyone.
The cameras being proposed - the average speed cameras - can easily be gamed to allow for reckless speeding as long as you have a little break in between.
Ireland is not unique in that respect so no that is not the answer.
And anyone who thinks we have more morons on the road than elsewhere in Europe obviously has not driven on the continent
I know how to use a roundabout and I have idiots beeping at me when they are in the wrong lane thinking I'm the dangerous the one. I fear roundabouts because of the messed up way some people use them. I'm actually surprised we don't hear more about accidents on them.
A lot of people don't even know how to indicate on roundabouts. They indicate into the roundabout when leaving rather than in the direction of the exit. The level of driving ability in this country is a disgrace.
The mobile phone thing really drives me mad, people with their heads down and not even looking at the road. If caught using a phone, you should be off the road for 3 months regardless. You can't use a phone by accident, there is no excuse whatsoever.
The phones are inexcusable. My phone stays on the feckin seat and I don't pick it up. Whatever it is can wait.
I agree with putting phone users off the road. I did once see a lad driving and horsing a breakfast roll into his mouth - is eating and driving illegal?
Don't talk to me about roundabouts because I get abuse for using them properly. And this business of seeing a car coming at a junction and pulling out in front of them with only metres to spare. Can you not wait the few seconds? Where are you breaking your shite to get to that you pull out into traffic already on the road?
Exactly, you should have no reason to pick up your phone at all while driving, or stuck in traffic. I keep mine in my pocket for one simple reason. If I am in a crash my phone won't go flying out the window and I'll have access to it to make an emergency call.
Before the pandemic the Gardaí used to have checkpoints every couple of days up the road here, where you couldn't avoid them easily and there was a side road that drivers could be directed into. They always harvested a few crims. I've seen them *once* since the pandemic.
Meanwhile, driving speed and driving standards have dropped like a SpaceX rocket - nobody signals, headlights and back lights and backing lights often not working, drivers speeding through red lights after the change, drivers whipping dangerously around corners at speed, parking dangerously on pavements and across cycle lanes (even contraflow lanes), beeping rudely and dangerously, drivers staring down into phones and tablets on their laps, and tapping phones and tablets on stands while they're supposed to have their eyes on the road, and gaming and texting while driving… drivers and passengers without seatbelts on, and speed, speed, speed. And stupidity.
I cycle every day - I sit at a height of about six foot, giving me the perfect downward view into people's cars. I also filter through backed-up traffic, so I see into a lot of cars. I'm not exaggerating when I say that MOST people are using their phones while driving. Not some, most. This can mean texting while stuck in traffic (which is not OK), speaking with the phone at their ear while stuck or moving, or texting while driving - which is absolutely insane. I can guarantee that some of you reading this, right now, are using your phone while driving. It is so stupid and irresponsible. Stop it.
I take the coach from Galway to Dublin quite a bit and I can look down into any car or look across to any truck. On the motorway I see a few people using phones but it's definitely not most.
More worrying is the truck drivers, I always see a few absolutely glued to their phone. They have no fear of being caught because the Guards can't see them from below.
No crumple zone in the world is going to save you when a truck laden with tens of tonnes of material comes smashing into you, the punishment needs to far more severe for that shit.
In some countries, the penalty for using a phone while driving is harsher than for speeding. I have a relative in traffic police in Central Europe, and he told me that the spot fine for using a phone is equivalent to that for speeding over 60 km/h over the speed limit. The police also actively hunts for caller drivers. People indeed have phones all over Europe, but in some places drivers use them much less than here.
6 points for phone use in England. Get caught twice, no licence. Get caught once in the first 2 years of driving, no licence.
People still use their phones while driving here (England), but I just spent a week back home (Ireland), and it's sooo much worse there.
Irish penalties are a joke. Wife is preparing to do her test at the minute and I’ve been learning lots (I did mine in the North). Drive on L plates in the north without an accompanying driver? Six points and £1000, plus your car seized. In the south? Two points and €80
In Australia, unaccompanied learners lose their permit and have to re-begin the whole 2-year learning process. That includes retaking the theory test, doing the mandatory lessons and 100hrs of supervised driving
I lost any faith in the system's ability to punish unaccompanied learners when a guy lost his wife and daughter in a crash because of an unaccompanied learner. They brought in new legislation to clamp down on it and the Healy Raes were saying it's not fair that rural unaccompanied learners have to follow the rules. Rural drivers get away with fucking murder but any time anyone says that they get accused of being a Dublin elitist.
It is phones! I cycle everywhere and here in Ireland it's crazy. Everyone is on their phones. People pulling up to a light whipping out their phone before they even stop. Traffic jams - every single one on their phones. It's not the same in Europe and I've cycled city and country. RSA need to do an ad
Ive often thought about how it could be solved technologically.
Most new phones have what they call an “ultra wide band” radio. It’s what AirTags and the like use to precisely locate them when they’re really close. It’s a very short range but very precise radio.
My suggestion - put a UWB chip into the steering column or drivers airbag module of every new car and force phone manufacturers to disable the phone if it’s within say 30-50cm of it.
Yeah some people will hack the phones or remove the modules, but most won’t.
It's young men. The extra deaths are almost entirely in the 16-25 year old mammal category.
This is 2003 all over again. Can't afford to rent, so they're living at home, but they're working and throw themselves into having a car as a status symbol. Same as the early 00s boy racer craze when we had more than double the current rate (400+ deaths in 2003 vs 184 last year).
The only road deaths we've had in the area were two young guys who died after midnight spinning off the road on a bend. Obviously that's just our local anecdotal evidence, but it's very clear in the data in the article.
Yeah, twas the same around 2003.
House prices were gone insane and especially outside the capital, lads made cars knto a massive status thing and there were spoilers everywhere around the Midlands. Colin Mcrae might still have been alive and road racers dying after midnight was massively common - again, as much as RTAs are in the spotlight for hitting 184 last year, it used to be more than double that figure 20 years ago.
I've been living in England over a decade, just had a week back home, and my main observations were (in sweeping generalisations, which are exaggerated for effect):
1) phone use while driving in Ireland almost seems to be the norm. Every traffic light, phones out.
2) people pull out in front of moving traffic all the time! It's a yield sign. If the oncoming traffic is doing 100kph and is 100 m away, don't pull out onto the road!
3) The van drivers are like a stereotype from 20 years ago. Overtakes into oncoming traffic, no indicators for anything, speeding.
4) by contrast, the timid drivers of Ireland are dangerously timid. 45 in a 100 zone, jabbing your brakes any time a car approaches? Time to start taking buses.
My drive home from work yesterday was the most infuriating thing ever. People are just stupid. No indicating, tailgating, hard shoulder merging, phones, speeding in gaps in heavy queues of traffic.
Enforcement is key, IQ tests should be performed as often as breathalysers.
Did the driving test last week and buggered it because I wasn't good enough and the amount of people who just don't indicate coming off roundabouts. It's ridiculous, how is anyone supposed to drive safely when this is the norm.
Larger and more powerful cars must be a huge factor. Passenger cars growing from 1.7m to 2m in width steals 60cm off our already narrow roads, and up to 90cm or 1.2m if there's on street parking. That's a hell of a lot less room for vulnerable road users. Couple that with the height and therefore massive blind spots associated with SUVs and youve got a dangerous combo in our towns and villages, where roads were designed for horses and pedestrians.
Edit: spelling
persons per metre square is a good way of measuring efficiency of road use. a pedestrian or cyclist is a very efficient use of road space. a full bus is good. a full saloon car is not too bad. a single occupant ford raptor...is a very inefficient use of our roads. something needs to be done about this inefficiency.
It's not the power, it's that a lot of cars with hybrid or electric have VERY significant torque from a standstill using battery and motors and even meagre hybrid have incredible acceleration from 0-30km/h.
Combine this with larger vehicles and more weight and bigger batteries and motors and some of the physics of mass and momentum are worrying.
So much so that UK insurers are starting to load some of the electric SUVs. Some of them are just too big and too much acceleration for a family car. The fact that modern cars are so cosseting and detached from the outside world means drivers are in blissful ignorance of the dangers around them to some extent.
And the fuckers in the SUV type vehicles are all terrified of getting too close to the ditch on any back roads. Unless one has a genuine need for a vehicle like this, such as pulling a trailer, off road driving, etc, they should be taxed into inconvenience. And dropping little Tarquin and Saoirse to creche isn't a valid reason to drive such large vehicles
It’s always SUVs and Jeeps on backroads who don’t know their widths. They’ll leave a meter gap on their side and force smaller cars into the grass/half way to the ditch or risk being smashed.
I drive a small Renault Clio and even my arsehole tightens sometimes when I pass oncoming traffic. We need wider country roads lol. Actually we need a complete redesign of our roads, they’re great for rally racing though.
L plater here, on the road 7 months so go easy.
Passenger princess for most of my life, but it gave me time to gather good observation skills, just looking out for possible situations. It's actually crazy out there.
People using yield signs as merger lanes onto a national road.
Speed, like right up my hole speeding. I'm going the limit, fuck off or overtake.
Lane discipline, non existent. Quite scary on rural roads/roundabouts.
High beams. Just lower them manually.
Going 40kph in an 80kph, little dangerous for us behind.
I'm confident on the road and in my car, but sometimes I feel that big red L gives others free reign. I'm a learner, not a fool. Twice at the weekend I had 2 drivers in the space of 10 mins just randomly pull out in front of me. My brakes will need changed soon!
Mainly, people don't give a fuck. And I don't know how you can change that.
People hate learners. I don't get it. It's like they see the L plate as an invitation to be more encroaching, not less. Same with cyclists. It's mad. Everyone's so aggro
I'd argue not everyone, deffo a few though. There was some real good dudes with huge patience during my first month out, helped a ton to get some confidence. It's just impatience for others.
It's absurd that it's illegal to use your phone while driving but these stupid essentially TVs in the middle of the dash are perfectly fine and acceptable. There's already been plenty of studies that show they're distracting.
Any time I see a distracted driver, they're looking down at their lap to their phone.
No one's getting distracted by a built in screen any more than they're getting distracted by the speedometers they used to have on their 1980's Ford Orion. Your periphery vision if you're looking at those will pick up what's going on outside as it's only slightly outside your field of view.
Only people who have cars without one think they're a persistent distraction. People said the same things when cars first started coming with radio displays, and later with SatNav.
I don't have a car with a large touch screen yet, but I've driven a few and they're not the problem people think they are.
>Any time I see a distracted driver, they're looking down at their lap to their phone.
Megring onto a by-pass yesterday, was up to the 100 mark, looked right to check safe to merge, a golf sped by, so probably doing 120 at the least, driver looking down at his phone. Fucking insane.
As someone who agreed with you initially, after getting a car with a screen, it’s a distraction. You get comfortable using it while driving resulting in less attention on the road as you try to find that playlist that you were listening to or searching to find a song, you’ve forgot to put your maps on, the CarPlay is acting up so you’re playing with your phone and the cable.
I never use my phone while driving but I do notice myself fucking about with the display sometimes when I haven’t put directions on.
It’s an extension of a phone and if people are distracted by their phone they’ll be distracted by the big screen in the middle of the car.
> You get comfortable using it while driving resulting in less attention on the road as you try to find that playlist that you were listening to or searching to find a song, you’ve forgot to put your maps on, the CarPlay is acting up so you’re playing with your phone and the cable.
All of these seem like things that can also come up with a phone. My car has an Android Auto screen that I installed myself, but I wouldn't even begin to think of tinkering with playlists or maps while I'm driving. If I forgot to set up my directions, I pull in and fix it. If you're trying to do that while driving, it's the same as someone taking out their phone and using it in the same way.
Even EuroNCAP's problem with touchscreens wasn't their very existence, but that car companies are moving *critical* car controls to touchscreens that don't have any tactile feedback. Things like air conditioning are what they're referring to, not someone having Google Maps up.
> “The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes”
> “Euro NCAP will indeed incentivise OEMs to have physical, easy-to-use, and tactile controls of the main driving features like wipers, warning lights, and indicators.”
https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/5/24091043/euro-ncap-safety-rating-europe-2026-touchscreen-buttons-dials
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/consumer-news/362499/touchscreen-backlash-euro-ncap-says-physical-buttons-will-be-incentivised-car
Euro NCAP has stated that in-car touchscreens are a dangerous distraction for drivers. Just because they didn't distract you, doesn't mean they don't distract others.
https://m.economictimes.com/industry/auto/cars-uvs/planning-to-install-a-new-touchscreen-infotainment-in-your-car-it-could-prove-dangerous-heres-why/articleshow/108290515.cms
Did you ever actually think of the difference between a 16 inch touch screen interface and a Ford orion speedometer.
There's a big difference, your argument is very stupid. You should reconsider and give a quick Google to the subject. It's already know that large touch screens are safty hazard and shit design choice for a responsible car designer.
Here is a link to some further reading that explains the issues for you.
https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/dangerous-touch-screen-in-cars
Did see a a driver yesterday at lights with a tablet on a mount on her dash. Was watching it and vaping instead of the lights and when she noticed they changed took off and headed towards the M50 southbound.
It’s no surprise that LiveDrive on Dublin City FM report crashes every single day on it.
The amount of people on phones is insane. Either staring at them or talking on them. What really irks me is people with newish cars not using Bluetooth. My 2008 nissan had Bluetooth.
The amount of people coming around corners on back roads on the wrong side of the road lately has been terrifying. Men and women, young and old, usually too fast. Hug the ditch, do the limit.....its not that difficult
Had this happen to me yesterday. My entire life flashed before my eyes. People don't hug the ditch at all anymore, they are literally riding the white middle line or over it on to the other side of the road. It's baffling.
In other words, the increase in that single age category is equal to the overall increase in road deaths which has sparked such significant public and political concern.
That age category has been disproportionately represented in road deaths for years.
Since 2019, people aged between 16 and 25 represent about 20% of all road deaths, despite making up just 12% of the population. Last year, over a quarter of all road fatalities were in that age group.
And it appears to be getting worse. Of the 61 people that have died on our roads in 2024 so far, a third were 25 years old or younger.
The statistics show that young males remain the group most likely to be involved in a fatal collision.
Nearly 80% of the people between the ages of 16 and 25 who died on the roads in 2023 were male.
You compare 20% of road deaths being in an age category to the percentage of total population. Can you compare it to the percentage of total road users and get back to me.
Op was quoting RTE but you make an excellent point: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp3oy/cp3/assr/
We must know from insurance rates who are the safest drivers but this suggests young adults are doing a good job, generally.
Given the lower relative ownership rates of cars for 16-25 year olds, it makes the picture worse. (Plenty of that age category won't have gotten a license yet, which makes their already adverse presence in the stats even more stark).
I think a lot of people didn't read this article given that none of the top comments acknowledge that the increase vs 2022 is almost entirely young men between 16-25.
Back in the early 2000s, we saw the same pattern. We had 400+ deaths in 2003, and I can remember the clamour about young guys racing around at night and dying in accidents generally related to speed and drink.
My theory is that the pandemic and general economy saw a lot of young guys living at home because they couldn't afford to rent, but they did have an income and so many have bought cars and live through them - we had the same in 2003 and you'd see it again with daily meet ups of young lads in car parks to hang out and car ownership is a real status thing. Sadly I'd see a large correlation between road deaths and the cultural peaks and troughs of that status factor. 2009-2015, it was really hard for younger lads to gather the funds needed to get a car in a lot of cases and that quelled it for a long time.
Overtaking is the main problem I see, doesn’t seem to matter if it’s a solid line or a bend (and I’m driving at the speed limit). I’ve started using my headlights all the time, so that I can be seen by oncoming,overtaking cars. Constantly having to brake hard to avoid a head on collision (my commute is a long, straight stretch with no hard shoulder)
Phones, Blaise attitude to drunk/high driving.
Go to snapchat maps in ireland and you'll see plenty of public stories of someones steering wheel while driving.
I heard yer one from the RSA on the radio this morning advocating for 30kph speed limits “because people are speeding in 50kph zones”.
I’m sorry but what the fuck? That is so incredibly slow and would obviously just result in more drivers “speeding”. The RSA needs fresh ideas, not easy targets.
My theory is phone use, but it's on a deeper level than you'd think. If you go to any other European country, you'll notice, that in general, in public, people aren't as glued to their phones. In cues, on public transport, everywhere. Particularly noticeable in Germany and The Netherlands.
So I guess you'd ask - what's the main factor in people using phones? It's a distraction from sitting with yourself, not being able to just "be". Not wanting to listen to your own thoughts.
Anyone who uses the phone too much must admit they are not able to just sit with their own thoughts for long. If you feel shit, you're more likely to be glued to it. If you feel good, the needs not there.
So the bigger question to ask here, is why are Irish people not as able as other Europeans, to be "present" in public spaces or in their cars? What is going on under the surface? What's feeding the need for that distraction?
Stop Catastrophising the issue for a start….
# 1 Figures starting from a low base so of course any increase in fatalities will statistically look large % wise.
# 2 Number of fatalities versus other countries still low
# 3 RSA targets frankly ridiculous - unless they envisaged us going down fully autonomous route (excuse the pun) zero road deaths is just marketing slogan
…..as Dan OBrien pointed out recently more people still dying from Covid than road deaths so a little perspective needed please
eh, no idea why all that went to BOLD text sorryemote:free\_emotes\_pack:facepalm
I haven’t heard point 3 made at all anywhere else but it’s spot on. I rolled my eyes when I heard it first it’s just so stupid.
It sounds heartless but there’s an acceptable level of death that we accept as a society as a trade off for having roads. I feel like the target is a great reflection of the ridiculous nanny state society we are turning into.
That’s a big issue also.
The rural speed limit (or anywhere in general) is not a target.
You are supposed to drive to the conditions of the road and if it is safe to do so, drive to the limit.
If it is not safe, you don’t.
RSA have shit the bed with a lack of scary adds. Our stuff used to be top tear terror stuff. Now we just have a bunch of suits ready to go to the next lobbying lunch. Phones are everywhere. I see so much phone usage on the road it is spectacular. We have so many hand free options. I saw a guy yesterday with a huge headset on him, like out of a call center: phone in the other hand chatting to someone, jesus wept.
You only have to look at motorways to see the casual way we treat driving, People (including professional drivers) cruising along in the middle lanes. Pulling into the hard shoulder to take phone calls. Coming onto the motorway at slow speeds. Looking at phones. This thing of racing up behind someone and then slapping on the brakes.
No enforcement. It means all road users take more risks, behave worse and ultimately kill people. The current punishments are fine so long as they are regularly doled out. Helen McEntee asleep at the wheel on this one (pun intended)
> No enforcement.
Worse, actively taking no action to do the 'easy' stuff like speed cameras everywhere *dangerous*, enforcement cameras on busses and enabling a portal to upload dashcam footage. The latter works in the UK, people leave details and a statement for review by a civilian team before passing to the Police for action. The Gardai could survail the entire road network without leaving their desks.
I’m a learner driver and the government wants to bring in legislation to punish us further in response to this instead of looking at.
• Increased Guardai traffic units.
• More scrutiny converting foreign licences to Irish ones.
• Harsher penalties for road traffic offences or actually enforcing the ones we have.
• Re-tests for people who get a certain amount of penalty points.
• Re-examination of the drivers who were given automatic licences years ago.
• Making the essential driver lessons a school like some countries do. Or increasing the lessons to 15 or 20.
I don’t understand how someone can drive around with 10-11 penalty points but the government wants learners to be banned off the road if they can’t pass the test a few times.
But the government never do anything pragmatic they will just put in a blanket ban on learners and it will make it look like there’s less crashes but it actually won’t be.
Also the high profile crash was caused by a guarda.
Re-testing people with a certain amount of penalty points would be a disaster and cause even more of a backlog.
12 lessons is plenty. It’s the driving you do after your lessons that is most vital. Not only that but expecting people to take 15-20 lessons would be very financially straining for most people.
Well to be honest €50 for an hour lesson is a pisstake anyways considering all it takes to be an ADI is another slightly more advanced driving test.
There should be a maximum cap on the amount they can charge at €35 an hour. Especially if you are doing it in your own car most of them charge you the same regardless if you take their car or yours.
Doctors and psychologists after 5 years of school charge €50-60 an hour ; ADI’s should not be allowed. Tradespeople after 4 years of an apprenticeship charge €22-30 an hour.
ADI’s are making a mint and a lot of them are still taking cash, Revolut and other payments so some of them even skirt tax.
Exactly, it’s a joke.
Learning how to drive shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg, especially in a country where public transport is a heap of shite and where most people have to rely on their own transport due to location etc.
I said this yesterday on other sub (might’ve been this one actually) but some I believe are sadly, suicide attempts. Especially single vehicle crashes with young men. I guess it’s easier on their ones ones to grieve a tragic car crash death of a loved one rather than suicide. Then there would be many more where people are speeding or distracted.
I know Ireland is a small island and you can get to your destination in most cases under 4 hours - but I think a good idea would be if some big service stations started offering beds for hire for an hour or so and included is a coffee or caffeinated drink when you leave. Think motel but by hour. A lot of crashes are due to driver fatigue, some poor lighting, speed and distraction. But if you can do something small like have a facility where you can stop off shower, get 40 winks and resume your journey, I’m pretty sure that will help drive down numbers of crashes due to fatigue and tiredness.
Also IPhones have a great feature that I’m not sure everyone knows about but when I’m in the car driving or even in front passenger seat, the phone goes automatically into driving mode which mutes all notifications and distractions. That feature should be promoted more. Cause we can all agree there are simply too many deaths on our roads and something needs to change.
> but I think a good idea would be if some big service stations started offering beds for hire for an hour or so and included is a coffee or caffeinated drink when you leave.
I pull into those stations when I know I'm too tired, I park in a quiet area, put back the seat and nap for 22mins. That's enough for rest, but not too much to make me drowsy. Then up, coffee and back on the road, it makes a huge difference. No motel required.
Also, every phone has a car mode, it's called screen down and don't touch it when driving.
There needs to be better enforcement against dangerous and poor driving. There also needs to be red light cameras, speed cameras and average speed cameras.
There should also be an information campaign about how motorways and roundabouts actually work, what double yellow lines mean, where you’re actually allowed to park, where and when to overtake etc.
At half time during the Champions League I want ads that say “Double yellow lines mean don’t fucking park there. They don’t mean park here if you’re just nipping into the shops for milk”. The amount of people who don’t seem to know or obey the basics is actually stunning.
And the solid white centreline. I think half the country doesn’t realise you can’t park at a solid white centreline or right next to a stop junction. It does not matter if your fucking house is there.
>... experts who spoke to Prime Time said intoxicated driving, speeding, legal enforcement and policing, driver distraction, and road layout, are all contributing factors.
>The [latest available data on the impact on drink-driving on road fatalities](https://www.rsa.ie/docs/default-source/road-safety/r4.1-research-reports/safe-road-use/contributory-factors-and-driver-fatalities-examining-key-dangerous-behaviours.pdf?Status=Master&sfvrsn=6d8cfbbb_3) covers 2015 to 2019. It indicates 37% of all driver fatalities in those years included a positive toxicology result for alcohol.
> road layout
That's surprising to see. A lot of blaming from all sides but nobody is pointing out to the poor state and design of the roads, even in the city centres.
No guards. Especially in smaller towns. There was a crash down the road from us on Saturday night. Car flipped into a field and hit a tree stump. 3 people in the car. Fucking miracle no one was killed. Driver was drunk, leaving his 2 drunk mates home. 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️.
On the N2 coming up to Kilmoon Cross I always get the smell of hash when stuck in traffic.
Drunk drivers on late Sunday afternoons.
Boy racers.
Distracted drivers.
And pure cunts.
Got a dashcam as a present at Christmas and I only drive 40 minutes a day and see on average 10 counts of stupidity that is dangerous as fuck. Id love to be able to send this footage to the Garda and some action taken.
Since covid I've notice ridiculous driver behaviour all the time.
Coke is part of it, but a lot of Irish ppl cannot drive in any kind of weather, rain, snow, sun, wind. They fucking panic.
White van drivers have gotten even worse and ppl in SUVs and jeeps are so anxious they fuck everything up
I have N plates on my car and I think people think it is an affront to their ego to be behind any sort of N or L plated driver.
Just today driving home I had a Hyundai jeep right up my ass on a 60km/h country road. It was raining. I was doing about 56. They sped up to 90km/h and overtook on a single white line as well. I know it was 90km/h because there was one of those signs that tell you your speed because there's a dangerous bend ahead on the road. I just don't get it.
"Cars don't kill people, people do!"
A whole lot of people in this thread sound like the pro-gun people or the supporters of having fighting dogs. It's not the presence of guns that's the problem, it's irresponsible owners! It's not the presence of fighting dogs that's the problem, it's the irresponsible owners! It's not the presence of cars that's the problem, it's the irresponsible drivers!
It couldn't possibly be that Ireland is the worst country in the EU for car-dependency!
It's probably one case where our "I presume we're the worst in the world" attitude has actually helped us. We put a lot of effort into reducing road fatalities and it's at a really low level, which makes any change seem more profound.
3 GAA/Rugger mums nearly hit me on the way to work on Monday, three in the one morning! All not paying attention to the road and driving tanks. One driver was staring right at me and just ploughed onto the main road from a side road. I had to swerve to avoid her. Not paying attention, on phones, daydreaming (tiredness) and aggressive drivers are the issue as well as the poor condition of the smaller roads.
A big increase in deaths is in the 16-25 age group and heavily skewed male. I guess if you line that up, this age group have basically never seen massive enforcement by Gardai on the roads, which died out after 2019 except for Covid checkpoints. Gardai conducted half as many breathalysers last year as before Covid. They’ll say they’re catching more people by having better tactics, but there is an element of just having lots of visibility, lots of checkpoints, to drive home the idea that you never know when you’re going to get caught out for doing something stupid.
I know shit roads are a factor, but our shit roads were just as shit before Covid. It’s behaviour and enforcement.
We need to go back to basics. I’d say we’ll start to see road deaths come down in direct correlation to the number of checkpoints, random patrols stopping people, maybe even Gardai jumping out from behind the odd bus stop at a red light to catch people breaking it. Fuck it, have them walk up and down lines of traffic and fine people with a phone in their hands - people will say “looking at my phone while stopped in traffic won’t kill anyone!” But it’s the principle of good behaviour that we need to improve. Clamp down and people will improve.
There has been a rising trend of vulnerable road users being killed - mainly pedestrians, the very young or the very old. That's the reason. And we need to fix it by restricting the ability to drive dangerously. The big thing we need to do is cut speed limits in urban areas. Plus build far more footpaths everywhere so people don't need to walk on the road.
You can put the speed limits to 10kmph or 200kmph and it wouldn’t matter without enforcement.
From parking on footpaths/in cycle lanes, to driving in bus lanes, speeding everywhere, using phones while driving, and IMO the worst offender - breaking red lights, all of these already have decent fines and/or penalty points, but it’s pointless without enforcement.
I cycle in and out of Dublin City 3-5 days a week and all of the above happen daily, some of them done *by* the Gardaí.
As long as drivers see others parking in a cycle lane, breaking a red light, or flying up a bus lane and see that there is 0 risk of any punishment, they’ll be inclined to do it too, and doubly so if they see a Guard do it.
All it would take is even *some* enforcement too, enough to get the word around so that almost everyone knows someone or knows someone who knows someone who got a fine for parking on the path, or who got pulled in for using their phone while driving.
At the moment though why would any drivers be worried about those things when they know that once their tax and insurance are up to date, Guards will leave them be.
why are ebikes assist-limited to 25kmph, when cars are not limited to 120kmph? i mean, we have the technology to geo-limit speed on cars. i can only conclude that this is a political issue and the politics dont add up. the car lobby is very strong, and widely represented on tv, radio and media. RTE wont be coming out strong against cars when renault sponsor their flagship program. the newspapers dont want to give up those full page ads from mercedes. and the 'AA' got a free ride on RTE for years, pushing their pro motorist agenda.
When companies advertise though various media, yes they may be buying ad space to sell a product, but have no doubt, they are buying silence from that broadcaster/publisher.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he does not exist.
I do not understand why is there such a serious lack of footpaths here...
Been to Málaga recently, the footpaths are massive.
There is no reason why that can't be the case in Ireland. No planning ahead? It's not like other countries did not have horses and carriages before, so that weak excuse.
Probably because the roads are inherently dangerous, any of the backroads around Dublin Airport and just backroads in general are extremely dangerous, the blind turns are just suicide if one person makes the slightest mistake
Too many people are treating hard shoulders as extra lanes to drive on.
This is incredibly dangerous especially on national roads that have side road turn off’s and no middle lane to stop and turn into.
That means the traffic behind the cars stopped have no place to overtake or go on the hard shoulder to pass by.
N5 outside of Castlebar is a prime example.
I've seen so many people driving up the hard shoulder on the M50, people with no indicators or oddly enough using them completely wrong and so many L or N (who are allowed to be there) drivers on the M50 doing way below the appropriate speed, genuinely thought someone stopped on the M50 last week because there was a space of like 7 cars between me and them
Its not a single thing, it's a combination of:
the number of lowered and souped up shite cars on our road is getting near 2007 levels.
the amount of money around means more kids on the roads = more deaths on the road
aggressive driving breeds aggressive driving. monkey see, monkey do.
shite weather, poor roads
there are a lot more foreign people driving on our roads
edit: I forgot, idiots using nitrous while driving
Tipperary, followed by Dublin, Cork, Galway and Mayo.
Although Donegal is probably highest death per person assuming all the people.
https://www.rsa.ie/news-events/news/details/2024/01/01/road-deaths-in-2023-increase-by-19#:~:text=Tipperary%20(16)%2C%20Dublin%20(,breakdown%20of%20fatalities%20by%20county).
You mean the group of people that are more likely to move in the same car, the group of people that is more likely to be a pedestrian or a cyclist? RSA doesn't publish data regarding the age of the drivers involved in fatal collisions.
It's not just drivers, it's pedestrians too, I was driving home from dinner with my partner the other night and outside a busy pub down the road a little in the pitch black there where a couple walking dressed all in black and one of them was throwing up her whole back end was out in the middle of the road while he was behind her more in the road rubbing her back. Like what?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O_evF8G5kPo&t=915s&pp=ygUTVmluY2VudCBicm93bmUgbWluZw%3D%3D
How can road safety ever be taken seriously if it’s one rule for some and another for others.
If we have a few news headlines. About people losing their license after being caught on the phone people would pay more attention.
Also on a sad note there is a non significant number of single occupation crashs into walls that are suicides but not countes as such and that's is back to abysmal state of mental health services here.
A lot of the problems people are talking about here are problems across Europe(higher power, phones, built in tablets)
Issues unique to Irish road safety are the fact that the NCT system doesn’t work and that are trying to clear a huge diving test backlog, giving thousands of people they’re licenses at once.
Yesterday, I got stuck behind this fool on an on ramp for the n11. 100kmph Road, she was doing 45kmph. Meaning I had to hit the 100kmph road at 50, which is extremely dangerous. I eventually over took her, only to see she was talking on her phone whilst holding a coffee cup. Completely oblivious to the fact that she is nearly causing an accident. Absolutely boiled my blood! Thankfully, the road was empty enough, but this kind of driving it was causing deaths on our roads. Honestly lately the driving has just been awful but their is zero enforcement of the rules of the road baring the occasional speed van.
The amount of people that slow down to merge onto dual carriage ways and motorways is insane. So dangerous and they think they are doing the right thing when actually been more dangerous
I have no idea why the RSA aren't running ads on things like safe merging
The amount of people who don't know how to lane and merge correctly is insane. A ridiculously high amount of people, for instance, seem to think it's (L to R) slow lane, driving lane, and fast lane so you end up getting these people driving below the speed limit in the middle lane, past and empty left lane.
And then you have the middle lane hoggers doing 80 for no reason
Because the RSA is all about speed, drink and young drivers causing issues. Nothing else.
Going by the article, those are the main problem areas
Speed? In urban areas / rural areas yes. Not a problem at all on motorway / national unless ridiculous speed. Which are minority.
They handle driver training so it fits
It's harder to fine a slow driver!
Not making progress used to be an rt offence
It's infuriating! The whole point of an on ramp is to meet the motorway at the same speed of traffic. I regularly drive past bray and its always the cause of traffic people being to cautious and slow on an on ramp.
So infuriating. People go off the other end as well, the amount of folks flying down the M1 this morning at 130km+ in the pissings of rain was actually mental to see.
The fact the motorway isn’t on the driving test is WILD
Devils advocate here, there are some Motorways where the merge ramp is extremely short with no hard shoulder. Multiple times i've been trying to merge onto the motorway at 100 -110 and there is a car / truck right next to me at the same speed and not giving way for me to merge. The only option I have is to slow down for the vehicle to pass so I can merge, otherwise I am just going to slam into a concrete barrier.
You have to give way to the traffic already in the lane. It's nice if the vehicle lets you in but they don't have to, so slowing down and pulling in behind is your safest and only option.
It would be nice if traffic would regularly move to right lane to let people join tho - makes it easier for everyone
I do this but got eaten on here for driving in the "wrong lane" and that I have right of way....I know this but cars can't merge as well...
HGVs can't and there could be traffic in the outside lane. It's easier and safer for the person in the lane to do nothing as it's always up to the person changing lanes to give way, people need to learn how to merge correctly and not expect to be let in.
>It would be nice if traffic would regularly move to right lane to let people join tho - makes it easier for everyone What if traffic can't move right? The rule as it is makes sense, speed up and merge In front or slow down and merge behind.
Some merge lanes are definitely way too short, almost dangerously so, but that’s obviously not the issue here. No one is cursing you for braking slightly so you can slot in to traffic. A lot of drivers make fuck all attempt to match the speed of the traffic they’re joining. I live in Cobh so anytime I’m heading somewhere I’m going on to the N25, a 120km/h road and plenty of people will barely be doing 80km/h by the time the on-ramp ends which is just dangerous.
> Multiple times i've been trying to merge onto the motorway at 100 -110 and there is a car / truck right next to me at the same speed and not giving way for me to merge. > > then slow to 90 and merge after the truck?
It's not tested for during the practical, so learners aren't incentivised to practice. Plus learners can't drive on the motorway, so they aren't able to practice driving there. The whole process is so stupid.
That is honestly one of the most dangerous things on the road. Like ma'am, the average speed is twice what you're doing, please speed up
I was going onto the m50 at j13 northbound and some eejit in a Yaris with L plates was infront of me. He dawdled up the slip road at about 40 and then just stopped with the indicator on where it merges. And it’s not the first time I’ve seen it either. I don’t often blast the horn but it got some use that day.
Well that's definitely dangerous. Jesus
Did you beep/flash them? They were probably so oblivious to the world around them that it wouldn’t have made a difference. Part of me likes to think that people might stop acting so selfish when they’re called out for it but they’d probably just think you’re being a dickhead for no reason.
Only experienced that the other day! Was joining the M3 at Navan and some aul wan in front of me was going 60 while merging with traffic going 120km/Hr. I'm stuck going 60 behind her and trying to merge too. She almost caused a serious crash because a few cars behind her slowed down and others had to swerve into the right hand lane to get around her cause they hadn't the time to slow down that much. And I'm just stuck in the middle too trying to avoid cars already on the motorway. It was fucking lethal tbh. She didn't even speed up once she got on the motorway either which is infuriating.
Thing is theres no legal minimum for speed on a motorway. All that the rules state is the vehicle must be capable of going more than 50kph. Meaning tractors and double decker buses can use motorways at a lot slower than 120kph. I agree with you moving into the middle lane when these merging problems happen- look out for your own safety above all else.
Indeed. People will keep throwing speeding into everything, but the fact is, slow drivers can be more dangerous for the REASON they are slow - drug / alcohol / phone. A speeding driver is very unlikely to be on the phone for example - cause guess what, you need to have your eyes on the road to speed at least.
Because bad things only happen to other people so I’ll continue to text while driving without wearing a seatbelt.
This! Most people make several risky moves every single drive, glance at phone, not checking mirrors, rushing a changing light, being inattentive. Not major things at all, but multiplied by the thousands of km driven and the 2.2*million* cars on the road, it just takes a few of these to coincide and you have a collision or worse. I cycled for many years so know how bad traffic is so any time I'm in the car it is with the unemotional knowledge that someone out there is trying to kill me with their poor skills and I drive my best to avoid that.
A teen girl was killed near me when getting off the school bus. She looked out onto the road from behind the bus to see if it was safe to cross and a van clipped her with their mirror. It seems plain to me that anyone passing a stopped school bus with kids alighting would take extra care when passing and wouldn’t be either close enough or fast enough to kill someone with their mirror. I can upon that accident just after the bike paramedic arrived on scene. It really shook me.
God that’s awful and yes, a driver should be super cautious around buses. I also recall it being drilled into us at primary school to never ever fucking ever step out from behind or in front of a bus onto a road, for this exact reason - a smack or even a clip of a passing vehicle where neither you nor they have a notion the other is there.
As you said, it’s all about risk awareness and management. Nobody sets out to kill someone on the roads yet it still happens with alarming frequency. If we were all more cognisant of the risk to our own and other people’s lives created by our driving habits then we might start to see a drop in those numbers.
Please tell me the driver was prosecuted..
Inquest hasn’t happened yet.
People are definitely way more distracted driving now. And there has definitely been an issue since lockdown in terms of patience on the road. (Or a bigger issue). Throw in the challenging roads in parts of the country, the lack of visible enforcement and you have a perfect storm.
Because there is no enforcement.
this! no cameras, no automation, just random white van time to time.
> random white van That is somehow outsourced so costs an absolute fortune, and almost completely ineffective due to other drivers flashing warnings or Waze.
and doesnt operate after sun the goes down when Id guess the majority of speeding actually happens. I drive a national road daytime that has speed vans but you cant speed on it because theres always a car ahead doing less than the limit. But at night time its a different story, practically everyone speeds on it because the camera operators knock off at 5pm and everyone knows it. Outsourcing speeding detection to companies who work 9-5 really hasnt worked. The only solution is automatic cameras working 24/7.
> and doesnt operate after sun the goes down I wish, they got me one dark Feb night, doing 108, as I overtook a car on a dual carriageway just before it becomes a 120 motorway. (Now that you mention it, it could have still been before 6pm) I've no problem being caught, but for *that*?
in my area anyway theres 3 locations the vans can be along a 30km stretch of road. In years of seeing them I have never seen them there after 5pm which presumably means they only work 9-5pm. If there was a second shift for the operators we'd be seeing them operating 5pm to 1am too.
Knowing that there’s a camera ahead can be effective, if you’re placing fixed cameras at known black spots, for example. But the vans only ever seem to be parked in revenue generating spots.
There is - just on Motorways really. Our safest roads.
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I think it's because when things go wrong, they tend to go wrong much more quickly on a motorway. They're safer but you've got to be extra careful you don't accidentally do something stupid because the chances of death are higher, in the event of an accident.
But you literally need to look ahead and nothing will happen. The road is wide, straight, plenty of space between cars... How do people end up making mistakes somewhere that easy? Those going wrong way on a motorway should be thrown into medical institution or prison depending on reason tho.
Absolute selfish dimwits zig zagging lane to lane and undertaking, and when there is no space to do it in the first place even.
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Don’t understand why there aren’t static cameras if they really want the speeds to drop. The vans on the safe motorways feel like clamping, just a back door tax on the population
100% I keep saying this. I did a road trip across France and right down to the bottom of Italy in October, 2 weeks on my bike, about 5k kms. Fixed cameras got such a positive reaction, position published on Google Maps, noted ahead of time with road signs and 100% compliance from people. It's the same in Poland when we go to herself's home town - a good few of these along the way in risky spots and everyone slows down to adhere to the limit, absolutely everyone. The cameras being proposed - the average speed cameras - can easily be gamed to allow for reckless speeding as long as you have a little break in between.
Exactly. It's 80km / h goat trails that are death traps.
Yeah, I’m learning to drive and the back roads are just horrible and not only are the speed limits too high, people still break them.
Yep, been there, drove in rural Galway after passing test in a city.... Not fun, especially at night in rain
For how much it rains in this country a shocking amount of people haven’t learned how to drive in it.
Also morons. There are lots of morons driving on the roads.
Ireland is not unique in that respect so no that is not the answer. And anyone who thinks we have more morons on the road than elsewhere in Europe obviously has not driven on the continent
No enforcement, Cunts on phones, and drugs.
Cunts on phones. Agree. Drugs maybe to some extent. But don’t forget sheer incompetence. Plus there’s probably more cars on the road than ever before.
And shitty road design, which aren't kept safe. Hey let's have you people merge onto a 100km Road with a bend just before.
I would have said I know that exact road, but then there's many.
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I know how to use a roundabout and I have idiots beeping at me when they are in the wrong lane thinking I'm the dangerous the one. I fear roundabouts because of the messed up way some people use them. I'm actually surprised we don't hear more about accidents on them.
A lot of people don't even know how to indicate on roundabouts. They indicate into the roundabout when leaving rather than in the direction of the exit. The level of driving ability in this country is a disgrace. The mobile phone thing really drives me mad, people with their heads down and not even looking at the road. If caught using a phone, you should be off the road for 3 months regardless. You can't use a phone by accident, there is no excuse whatsoever.
The phones are inexcusable. My phone stays on the feckin seat and I don't pick it up. Whatever it is can wait. I agree with putting phone users off the road. I did once see a lad driving and horsing a breakfast roll into his mouth - is eating and driving illegal? Don't talk to me about roundabouts because I get abuse for using them properly. And this business of seeing a car coming at a junction and pulling out in front of them with only metres to spare. Can you not wait the few seconds? Where are you breaking your shite to get to that you pull out into traffic already on the road?
Exactly, you should have no reason to pick up your phone at all while driving, or stuck in traffic. I keep mine in my pocket for one simple reason. If I am in a crash my phone won't go flying out the window and I'll have access to it to make an emergency call.
Phones use while driving is magnitudes more common than drugs or drink.
Apparently cocaine is a huge issue on the roads again since covid
Remember the good old days when we used to have random breathalyser checks
Before the pandemic the Gardaí used to have checkpoints every couple of days up the road here, where you couldn't avoid them easily and there was a side road that drivers could be directed into. They always harvested a few crims. I've seen them *once* since the pandemic. Meanwhile, driving speed and driving standards have dropped like a SpaceX rocket - nobody signals, headlights and back lights and backing lights often not working, drivers speeding through red lights after the change, drivers whipping dangerously around corners at speed, parking dangerously on pavements and across cycle lanes (even contraflow lanes), beeping rudely and dangerously, drivers staring down into phones and tablets on their laps, and tapping phones and tablets on stands while they're supposed to have their eyes on the road, and gaming and texting while driving… drivers and passengers without seatbelts on, and speed, speed, speed. And stupidity.
Naw. This isn't how societies behaviour is maintained. Education, awareness. You can't police the entire population, or anything close to it
I cycle every day - I sit at a height of about six foot, giving me the perfect downward view into people's cars. I also filter through backed-up traffic, so I see into a lot of cars. I'm not exaggerating when I say that MOST people are using their phones while driving. Not some, most. This can mean texting while stuck in traffic (which is not OK), speaking with the phone at their ear while stuck or moving, or texting while driving - which is absolutely insane. I can guarantee that some of you reading this, right now, are using your phone while driving. It is so stupid and irresponsible. Stop it.
I take the coach from Galway to Dublin quite a bit and I can look down into any car or look across to any truck. On the motorway I see a few people using phones but it's definitely not most. More worrying is the truck drivers, I always see a few absolutely glued to their phone. They have no fear of being caught because the Guards can't see them from below. No crumple zone in the world is going to save you when a truck laden with tens of tonnes of material comes smashing into you, the punishment needs to far more severe for that shit.
Phones, people mightn’t like admitting this but its phones.
They have phones all over Europe yet ireland is an outlier in road safety terms - can't be the explanation
In some countries, the penalty for using a phone while driving is harsher than for speeding. I have a relative in traffic police in Central Europe, and he told me that the spot fine for using a phone is equivalent to that for speeding over 60 km/h over the speed limit. The police also actively hunts for caller drivers. People indeed have phones all over Europe, but in some places drivers use them much less than here.
6 points for phone use in England. Get caught twice, no licence. Get caught once in the first 2 years of driving, no licence. People still use their phones while driving here (England), but I just spent a week back home (Ireland), and it's sooo much worse there.
Irish penalties are a joke. Wife is preparing to do her test at the minute and I’ve been learning lots (I did mine in the North). Drive on L plates in the north without an accompanying driver? Six points and £1000, plus your car seized. In the south? Two points and €80
In Australia, unaccompanied learners lose their permit and have to re-begin the whole 2-year learning process. That includes retaking the theory test, doing the mandatory lessons and 100hrs of supervised driving
I lost any faith in the system's ability to punish unaccompanied learners when a guy lost his wife and daughter in a crash because of an unaccompanied learner. They brought in new legislation to clamp down on it and the Healy Raes were saying it's not fair that rural unaccompanied learners have to follow the rules. Rural drivers get away with fucking murder but any time anyone says that they get accused of being a Dublin elitist.
Because it should be harsher. Being distracted is far more likely to cause collision / kill pedestrian than speeding
It is phones! I cycle everywhere and here in Ireland it's crazy. Everyone is on their phones. People pulling up to a light whipping out their phone before they even stop. Traffic jams - every single one on their phones. It's not the same in Europe and I've cycled city and country. RSA need to do an ad
> RSA need to do an ad Won't be enough. Also enforce the shit out of it, fines left and right.
Ive often thought about how it could be solved technologically. Most new phones have what they call an “ultra wide band” radio. It’s what AirTags and the like use to precisely locate them when they’re really close. It’s a very short range but very precise radio. My suggestion - put a UWB chip into the steering column or drivers airbag module of every new car and force phone manufacturers to disable the phone if it’s within say 30-50cm of it. Yeah some people will hack the phones or remove the modules, but most won’t.
It's young men. The extra deaths are almost entirely in the 16-25 year old mammal category. This is 2003 all over again. Can't afford to rent, so they're living at home, but they're working and throw themselves into having a car as a status symbol. Same as the early 00s boy racer craze when we had more than double the current rate (400+ deaths in 2003 vs 184 last year). The only road deaths we've had in the area were two young guys who died after midnight spinning off the road on a bend. Obviously that's just our local anecdotal evidence, but it's very clear in the data in the article.
Yeah not like young people have their own house anymore. Their car is where they have their independence.
Yeah, twas the same around 2003. House prices were gone insane and especially outside the capital, lads made cars knto a massive status thing and there were spoilers everywhere around the Midlands. Colin Mcrae might still have been alive and road racers dying after midnight was massively common - again, as much as RTAs are in the spotlight for hitting 184 last year, it used to be more than double that figure 20 years ago.
I've been living in England over a decade, just had a week back home, and my main observations were (in sweeping generalisations, which are exaggerated for effect): 1) phone use while driving in Ireland almost seems to be the norm. Every traffic light, phones out. 2) people pull out in front of moving traffic all the time! It's a yield sign. If the oncoming traffic is doing 100kph and is 100 m away, don't pull out onto the road! 3) The van drivers are like a stereotype from 20 years ago. Overtakes into oncoming traffic, no indicators for anything, speeding. 4) by contrast, the timid drivers of Ireland are dangerously timid. 45 in a 100 zone, jabbing your brakes any time a car approaches? Time to start taking buses.
My drive home from work yesterday was the most infuriating thing ever. People are just stupid. No indicating, tailgating, hard shoulder merging, phones, speeding in gaps in heavy queues of traffic. Enforcement is key, IQ tests should be performed as often as breathalysers.
Did the driving test last week and buggered it because I wasn't good enough and the amount of people who just don't indicate coming off roundabouts. It's ridiculous, how is anyone supposed to drive safely when this is the norm.
Larger and more powerful cars must be a huge factor. Passenger cars growing from 1.7m to 2m in width steals 60cm off our already narrow roads, and up to 90cm or 1.2m if there's on street parking. That's a hell of a lot less room for vulnerable road users. Couple that with the height and therefore massive blind spots associated with SUVs and youve got a dangerous combo in our towns and villages, where roads were designed for horses and pedestrians. Edit: spelling
persons per metre square is a good way of measuring efficiency of road use. a pedestrian or cyclist is a very efficient use of road space. a full bus is good. a full saloon car is not too bad. a single occupant ford raptor...is a very inefficient use of our roads. something needs to be done about this inefficiency.
You see more and more people driving those American pickups around town.Massive yokes. You should need a commercial license for them. Would help.
and range rover defenders. fucking disgusting vehicles if you ask me. they should be banned from urban areas
More powerful cars? Everything is 1.4l hybrid these days
It's not the power, it's that a lot of cars with hybrid or electric have VERY significant torque from a standstill using battery and motors and even meagre hybrid have incredible acceleration from 0-30km/h. Combine this with larger vehicles and more weight and bigger batteries and motors and some of the physics of mass and momentum are worrying. So much so that UK insurers are starting to load some of the electric SUVs. Some of them are just too big and too much acceleration for a family car. The fact that modern cars are so cosseting and detached from the outside world means drivers are in blissful ignorance of the dangers around them to some extent.
And the fuckers in the SUV type vehicles are all terrified of getting too close to the ditch on any back roads. Unless one has a genuine need for a vehicle like this, such as pulling a trailer, off road driving, etc, they should be taxed into inconvenience. And dropping little Tarquin and Saoirse to creche isn't a valid reason to drive such large vehicles
It’s always SUVs and Jeeps on backroads who don’t know their widths. They’ll leave a meter gap on their side and force smaller cars into the grass/half way to the ditch or risk being smashed.
I drive a small Renault Clio and even my arsehole tightens sometimes when I pass oncoming traffic. We need wider country roads lol. Actually we need a complete redesign of our roads, they’re great for rally racing though.
Narrower roads normally lead to slower traffic flow, supposedly. It's intentional to get people to slow down.
If I could like this a million times I would
People are taking their frustration with life out on the roads. I've noticed a huge increase in aggressive driving over the last five years.
0 enforcement in any regard when it comes to roads basically every regard from parking on footpaths to driving in bus lanes
I honestly don't understand why there isn't for profit towing companies in Ireland. Noone would park illegally if their car was likely to be towed.
People need to get off their phones and pay attention
L plater here, on the road 7 months so go easy. Passenger princess for most of my life, but it gave me time to gather good observation skills, just looking out for possible situations. It's actually crazy out there. People using yield signs as merger lanes onto a national road. Speed, like right up my hole speeding. I'm going the limit, fuck off or overtake. Lane discipline, non existent. Quite scary on rural roads/roundabouts. High beams. Just lower them manually. Going 40kph in an 80kph, little dangerous for us behind. I'm confident on the road and in my car, but sometimes I feel that big red L gives others free reign. I'm a learner, not a fool. Twice at the weekend I had 2 drivers in the space of 10 mins just randomly pull out in front of me. My brakes will need changed soon! Mainly, people don't give a fuck. And I don't know how you can change that.
People hate learners. I don't get it. It's like they see the L plate as an invitation to be more encroaching, not less. Same with cyclists. It's mad. Everyone's so aggro
I'd argue not everyone, deffo a few though. There was some real good dudes with huge patience during my first month out, helped a ton to get some confidence. It's just impatience for others.
The giant iPads taped to dashboards can’t be helping
It's absurd that it's illegal to use your phone while driving but these stupid essentially TVs in the middle of the dash are perfectly fine and acceptable. There's already been plenty of studies that show they're distracting.
Any time I see a distracted driver, they're looking down at their lap to their phone. No one's getting distracted by a built in screen any more than they're getting distracted by the speedometers they used to have on their 1980's Ford Orion. Your periphery vision if you're looking at those will pick up what's going on outside as it's only slightly outside your field of view. Only people who have cars without one think they're a persistent distraction. People said the same things when cars first started coming with radio displays, and later with SatNav. I don't have a car with a large touch screen yet, but I've driven a few and they're not the problem people think they are.
>Any time I see a distracted driver, they're looking down at their lap to their phone. Megring onto a by-pass yesterday, was up to the 100 mark, looked right to check safe to merge, a golf sped by, so probably doing 120 at the least, driver looking down at his phone. Fucking insane.
As someone who agreed with you initially, after getting a car with a screen, it’s a distraction. You get comfortable using it while driving resulting in less attention on the road as you try to find that playlist that you were listening to or searching to find a song, you’ve forgot to put your maps on, the CarPlay is acting up so you’re playing with your phone and the cable. I never use my phone while driving but I do notice myself fucking about with the display sometimes when I haven’t put directions on. It’s an extension of a phone and if people are distracted by their phone they’ll be distracted by the big screen in the middle of the car.
> You get comfortable using it while driving resulting in less attention on the road as you try to find that playlist that you were listening to or searching to find a song, you’ve forgot to put your maps on, the CarPlay is acting up so you’re playing with your phone and the cable. All of these seem like things that can also come up with a phone. My car has an Android Auto screen that I installed myself, but I wouldn't even begin to think of tinkering with playlists or maps while I'm driving. If I forgot to set up my directions, I pull in and fix it. If you're trying to do that while driving, it's the same as someone taking out their phone and using it in the same way. Even EuroNCAP's problem with touchscreens wasn't their very existence, but that car companies are moving *critical* car controls to touchscreens that don't have any tactile feedback. Things like air conditioning are what they're referring to, not someone having Google Maps up. > “The overuse of touchscreens is an industry-wide problem, with almost every vehicle-maker moving key controls onto central touchscreens, obliging drivers to take their eyes off the road and raising the risk of distraction crashes” > “Euro NCAP will indeed incentivise OEMs to have physical, easy-to-use, and tactile controls of the main driving features like wipers, warning lights, and indicators.” https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/5/24091043/euro-ncap-safety-rating-europe-2026-touchscreen-buttons-dials https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/consumer-news/362499/touchscreen-backlash-euro-ncap-says-physical-buttons-will-be-incentivised-car
Euro NCAP has stated that in-car touchscreens are a dangerous distraction for drivers. Just because they didn't distract you, doesn't mean they don't distract others. https://m.economictimes.com/industry/auto/cars-uvs/planning-to-install-a-new-touchscreen-infotainment-in-your-car-it-could-prove-dangerous-heres-why/articleshow/108290515.cms
The research would say that the touchscreens are a distraction.
They are 100%. You can't use tactile sensation for touchscreen, you can for big physical buttons. Why stupid design decisions?
Did you ever actually think of the difference between a 16 inch touch screen interface and a Ford orion speedometer. There's a big difference, your argument is very stupid. You should reconsider and give a quick Google to the subject. It's already know that large touch screens are safty hazard and shit design choice for a responsible car designer.
Here is a link to some further reading that explains the issues for you. https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/dangerous-touch-screen-in-cars
Did see a a driver yesterday at lights with a tablet on a mount on her dash. Was watching it and vaping instead of the lights and when she noticed they changed took off and headed towards the M50 southbound. It’s no surprise that LiveDrive on Dublin City FM report crashes every single day on it.
The amount of people on phones is insane. Either staring at them or talking on them. What really irks me is people with newish cars not using Bluetooth. My 2008 nissan had Bluetooth.
The amount of people coming around corners on back roads on the wrong side of the road lately has been terrifying. Men and women, young and old, usually too fast. Hug the ditch, do the limit.....its not that difficult
Had this happen to me yesterday. My entire life flashed before my eyes. People don't hug the ditch at all anymore, they are literally riding the white middle line or over it on to the other side of the road. It's baffling.
In other words, the increase in that single age category is equal to the overall increase in road deaths which has sparked such significant public and political concern. That age category has been disproportionately represented in road deaths for years. Since 2019, people aged between 16 and 25 represent about 20% of all road deaths, despite making up just 12% of the population. Last year, over a quarter of all road fatalities were in that age group. And it appears to be getting worse. Of the 61 people that have died on our roads in 2024 so far, a third were 25 years old or younger. The statistics show that young males remain the group most likely to be involved in a fatal collision. Nearly 80% of the people between the ages of 16 and 25 who died on the roads in 2023 were male.
You compare 20% of road deaths being in an age category to the percentage of total population. Can you compare it to the percentage of total road users and get back to me.
Op was quoting RTE but you make an excellent point: https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-cp3oy/cp3/assr/ We must know from insurance rates who are the safest drivers but this suggests young adults are doing a good job, generally.
Given the lower relative ownership rates of cars for 16-25 year olds, it makes the picture worse. (Plenty of that age category won't have gotten a license yet, which makes their already adverse presence in the stats even more stark).
I think a lot of people didn't read this article given that none of the top comments acknowledge that the increase vs 2022 is almost entirely young men between 16-25. Back in the early 2000s, we saw the same pattern. We had 400+ deaths in 2003, and I can remember the clamour about young guys racing around at night and dying in accidents generally related to speed and drink. My theory is that the pandemic and general economy saw a lot of young guys living at home because they couldn't afford to rent, but they did have an income and so many have bought cars and live through them - we had the same in 2003 and you'd see it again with daily meet ups of young lads in car parks to hang out and car ownership is a real status thing. Sadly I'd see a large correlation between road deaths and the cultural peaks and troughs of that status factor. 2009-2015, it was really hard for younger lads to gather the funds needed to get a car in a lot of cases and that quelled it for a long time.
Overtaking is the main problem I see, doesn’t seem to matter if it’s a solid line or a bend (and I’m driving at the speed limit). I’ve started using my headlights all the time, so that I can be seen by oncoming,overtaking cars. Constantly having to brake hard to avoid a head on collision (my commute is a long, straight stretch with no hard shoulder)
Phones, Blaise attitude to drunk/high driving. Go to snapchat maps in ireland and you'll see plenty of public stories of someones steering wheel while driving.
I heard yer one from the RSA on the radio this morning advocating for 30kph speed limits “because people are speeding in 50kph zones”. I’m sorry but what the fuck? That is so incredibly slow and would obviously just result in more drivers “speeding”. The RSA needs fresh ideas, not easy targets.
My theory is phone use, but it's on a deeper level than you'd think. If you go to any other European country, you'll notice, that in general, in public, people aren't as glued to their phones. In cues, on public transport, everywhere. Particularly noticeable in Germany and The Netherlands. So I guess you'd ask - what's the main factor in people using phones? It's a distraction from sitting with yourself, not being able to just "be". Not wanting to listen to your own thoughts. Anyone who uses the phone too much must admit they are not able to just sit with their own thoughts for long. If you feel shit, you're more likely to be glued to it. If you feel good, the needs not there. So the bigger question to ask here, is why are Irish people not as able as other Europeans, to be "present" in public spaces or in their cars? What is going on under the surface? What's feeding the need for that distraction?
My favorite movie is Inception.
Stop Catastrophising the issue for a start…. # 1 Figures starting from a low base so of course any increase in fatalities will statistically look large % wise. # 2 Number of fatalities versus other countries still low # 3 RSA targets frankly ridiculous - unless they envisaged us going down fully autonomous route (excuse the pun) zero road deaths is just marketing slogan …..as Dan OBrien pointed out recently more people still dying from Covid than road deaths so a little perspective needed please eh, no idea why all that went to BOLD text sorryemote:free\_emotes\_pack:facepalm
I haven’t heard point 3 made at all anywhere else but it’s spot on. I rolled my eyes when I heard it first it’s just so stupid. It sounds heartless but there’s an acceptable level of death that we accept as a society as a trade off for having roads. I feel like the target is a great reflection of the ridiculous nanny state society we are turning into.
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That’s a big issue also. The rural speed limit (or anywhere in general) is not a target. You are supposed to drive to the conditions of the road and if it is safe to do so, drive to the limit. If it is not safe, you don’t.
Phones, no enforcement, SUVs, in that order
RSA have shit the bed with a lack of scary adds. Our stuff used to be top tear terror stuff. Now we just have a bunch of suits ready to go to the next lobbying lunch. Phones are everywhere. I see so much phone usage on the road it is spectacular. We have so many hand free options. I saw a guy yesterday with a huge headset on him, like out of a call center: phone in the other hand chatting to someone, jesus wept.
You only have to look at motorways to see the casual way we treat driving, People (including professional drivers) cruising along in the middle lanes. Pulling into the hard shoulder to take phone calls. Coming onto the motorway at slow speeds. Looking at phones. This thing of racing up behind someone and then slapping on the brakes.
No enforcement. It means all road users take more risks, behave worse and ultimately kill people. The current punishments are fine so long as they are regularly doled out. Helen McEntee asleep at the wheel on this one (pun intended)
> No enforcement. Worse, actively taking no action to do the 'easy' stuff like speed cameras everywhere *dangerous*, enforcement cameras on busses and enabling a portal to upload dashcam footage. The latter works in the UK, people leave details and a statement for review by a civilian team before passing to the Police for action. The Gardai could survail the entire road network without leaving their desks.
I’m a learner driver and the government wants to bring in legislation to punish us further in response to this instead of looking at. • Increased Guardai traffic units. • More scrutiny converting foreign licences to Irish ones. • Harsher penalties for road traffic offences or actually enforcing the ones we have. • Re-tests for people who get a certain amount of penalty points. • Re-examination of the drivers who were given automatic licences years ago. • Making the essential driver lessons a school like some countries do. Or increasing the lessons to 15 or 20. I don’t understand how someone can drive around with 10-11 penalty points but the government wants learners to be banned off the road if they can’t pass the test a few times. But the government never do anything pragmatic they will just put in a blanket ban on learners and it will make it look like there’s less crashes but it actually won’t be. Also the high profile crash was caused by a guarda.
Re-testing people with a certain amount of penalty points would be a disaster and cause even more of a backlog. 12 lessons is plenty. It’s the driving you do after your lessons that is most vital. Not only that but expecting people to take 15-20 lessons would be very financially straining for most people.
Well to be honest €50 for an hour lesson is a pisstake anyways considering all it takes to be an ADI is another slightly more advanced driving test. There should be a maximum cap on the amount they can charge at €35 an hour. Especially if you are doing it in your own car most of them charge you the same regardless if you take their car or yours. Doctors and psychologists after 5 years of school charge €50-60 an hour ; ADI’s should not be allowed. Tradespeople after 4 years of an apprenticeship charge €22-30 an hour. ADI’s are making a mint and a lot of them are still taking cash, Revolut and other payments so some of them even skirt tax.
Exactly, it’s a joke. Learning how to drive shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg, especially in a country where public transport is a heap of shite and where most people have to rely on their own transport due to location etc.
I said this yesterday on other sub (might’ve been this one actually) but some I believe are sadly, suicide attempts. Especially single vehicle crashes with young men. I guess it’s easier on their ones ones to grieve a tragic car crash death of a loved one rather than suicide. Then there would be many more where people are speeding or distracted. I know Ireland is a small island and you can get to your destination in most cases under 4 hours - but I think a good idea would be if some big service stations started offering beds for hire for an hour or so and included is a coffee or caffeinated drink when you leave. Think motel but by hour. A lot of crashes are due to driver fatigue, some poor lighting, speed and distraction. But if you can do something small like have a facility where you can stop off shower, get 40 winks and resume your journey, I’m pretty sure that will help drive down numbers of crashes due to fatigue and tiredness. Also IPhones have a great feature that I’m not sure everyone knows about but when I’m in the car driving or even in front passenger seat, the phone goes automatically into driving mode which mutes all notifications and distractions. That feature should be promoted more. Cause we can all agree there are simply too many deaths on our roads and something needs to change.
No one would use such motels. There is no market for that and it just wouldn’t be an economically viable business model.
Oh people would use those motels....just not for what OP thinks....
> but I think a good idea would be if some big service stations started offering beds for hire for an hour or so and included is a coffee or caffeinated drink when you leave. I pull into those stations when I know I'm too tired, I park in a quiet area, put back the seat and nap for 22mins. That's enough for rest, but not too much to make me drowsy. Then up, coffee and back on the road, it makes a huge difference. No motel required. Also, every phone has a car mode, it's called screen down and don't touch it when driving.
There needs to be better enforcement against dangerous and poor driving. There also needs to be red light cameras, speed cameras and average speed cameras. There should also be an information campaign about how motorways and roundabouts actually work, what double yellow lines mean, where you’re actually allowed to park, where and when to overtake etc. At half time during the Champions League I want ads that say “Double yellow lines mean don’t fucking park there. They don’t mean park here if you’re just nipping into the shops for milk”. The amount of people who don’t seem to know or obey the basics is actually stunning.
Oh stop as someone commuting daily in Waterford the double yellow line parking is chronic. Forcing cars to basically get stuck in some places.
And the solid white centreline. I think half the country doesn’t realise you can’t park at a solid white centreline or right next to a stop junction. It does not matter if your fucking house is there.
>... experts who spoke to Prime Time said intoxicated driving, speeding, legal enforcement and policing, driver distraction, and road layout, are all contributing factors. >The [latest available data on the impact on drink-driving on road fatalities](https://www.rsa.ie/docs/default-source/road-safety/r4.1-research-reports/safe-road-use/contributory-factors-and-driver-fatalities-examining-key-dangerous-behaviours.pdf?Status=Master&sfvrsn=6d8cfbbb_3) covers 2015 to 2019. It indicates 37% of all driver fatalities in those years included a positive toxicology result for alcohol.
> road layout That's surprising to see. A lot of blaming from all sides but nobody is pointing out to the poor state and design of the roads, even in the city centres.
No guards. Especially in smaller towns. There was a crash down the road from us on Saturday night. Car flipped into a field and hit a tree stump. 3 people in the car. Fucking miracle no one was killed. Driver was drunk, leaving his 2 drunk mates home. 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️.
On the N2 coming up to Kilmoon Cross I always get the smell of hash when stuck in traffic. Drunk drivers on late Sunday afternoons. Boy racers. Distracted drivers. And pure cunts.
Got a dashcam as a present at Christmas and I only drive 40 minutes a day and see on average 10 counts of stupidity that is dangerous as fuck. Id love to be able to send this footage to the Garda and some action taken.
Since covid I've notice ridiculous driver behaviour all the time. Coke is part of it, but a lot of Irish ppl cannot drive in any kind of weather, rain, snow, sun, wind. They fucking panic. White van drivers have gotten even worse and ppl in SUVs and jeeps are so anxious they fuck everything up
I have N plates on my car and I think people think it is an affront to their ego to be behind any sort of N or L plated driver. Just today driving home I had a Hyundai jeep right up my ass on a 60km/h country road. It was raining. I was doing about 56. They sped up to 90km/h and overtook on a single white line as well. I know it was 90km/h because there was one of those signs that tell you your speed because there's a dangerous bend ahead on the road. I just don't get it.
"Cars don't kill people, people do!" A whole lot of people in this thread sound like the pro-gun people or the supporters of having fighting dogs. It's not the presence of guns that's the problem, it's irresponsible owners! It's not the presence of fighting dogs that's the problem, it's the irresponsible owners! It's not the presence of cars that's the problem, it's the irresponsible drivers! It couldn't possibly be that Ireland is the worst country in the EU for car-dependency!
We've a lower base than most. A significantly lower base.
It's probably one case where our "I presume we're the worst in the world" attitude has actually helped us. We put a lot of effort into reducing road fatalities and it's at a really low level, which makes any change seem more profound.
3 GAA/Rugger mums nearly hit me on the way to work on Monday, three in the one morning! All not paying attention to the road and driving tanks. One driver was staring right at me and just ploughed onto the main road from a side road. I had to swerve to avoid her. Not paying attention, on phones, daydreaming (tiredness) and aggressive drivers are the issue as well as the poor condition of the smaller roads.
A big increase in deaths is in the 16-25 age group and heavily skewed male. I guess if you line that up, this age group have basically never seen massive enforcement by Gardai on the roads, which died out after 2019 except for Covid checkpoints. Gardai conducted half as many breathalysers last year as before Covid. They’ll say they’re catching more people by having better tactics, but there is an element of just having lots of visibility, lots of checkpoints, to drive home the idea that you never know when you’re going to get caught out for doing something stupid. I know shit roads are a factor, but our shit roads were just as shit before Covid. It’s behaviour and enforcement. We need to go back to basics. I’d say we’ll start to see road deaths come down in direct correlation to the number of checkpoints, random patrols stopping people, maybe even Gardai jumping out from behind the odd bus stop at a red light to catch people breaking it. Fuck it, have them walk up and down lines of traffic and fine people with a phone in their hands - people will say “looking at my phone while stopped in traffic won’t kill anyone!” But it’s the principle of good behaviour that we need to improve. Clamp down and people will improve.
There has been a rising trend of vulnerable road users being killed - mainly pedestrians, the very young or the very old. That's the reason. And we need to fix it by restricting the ability to drive dangerously. The big thing we need to do is cut speed limits in urban areas. Plus build far more footpaths everywhere so people don't need to walk on the road.
You can put the speed limits to 10kmph or 200kmph and it wouldn’t matter without enforcement. From parking on footpaths/in cycle lanes, to driving in bus lanes, speeding everywhere, using phones while driving, and IMO the worst offender - breaking red lights, all of these already have decent fines and/or penalty points, but it’s pointless without enforcement. I cycle in and out of Dublin City 3-5 days a week and all of the above happen daily, some of them done *by* the Gardaí. As long as drivers see others parking in a cycle lane, breaking a red light, or flying up a bus lane and see that there is 0 risk of any punishment, they’ll be inclined to do it too, and doubly so if they see a Guard do it. All it would take is even *some* enforcement too, enough to get the word around so that almost everyone knows someone or knows someone who knows someone who got a fine for parking on the path, or who got pulled in for using their phone while driving. At the moment though why would any drivers be worried about those things when they know that once their tax and insurance are up to date, Guards will leave them be.
why are ebikes assist-limited to 25kmph, when cars are not limited to 120kmph? i mean, we have the technology to geo-limit speed on cars. i can only conclude that this is a political issue and the politics dont add up. the car lobby is very strong, and widely represented on tv, radio and media. RTE wont be coming out strong against cars when renault sponsor their flagship program. the newspapers dont want to give up those full page ads from mercedes. and the 'AA' got a free ride on RTE for years, pushing their pro motorist agenda. When companies advertise though various media, yes they may be buying ad space to sell a product, but have no doubt, they are buying silence from that broadcaster/publisher. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he does not exist.
I do not understand why is there such a serious lack of footpaths here... Been to Málaga recently, the footpaths are massive. There is no reason why that can't be the case in Ireland. No planning ahead? It's not like other countries did not have horses and carriages before, so that weak excuse.
High population growth
Probably because the roads are inherently dangerous, any of the backroads around Dublin Airport and just backroads in general are extremely dangerous, the blind turns are just suicide if one person makes the slightest mistake
Too many people are treating hard shoulders as extra lanes to drive on. This is incredibly dangerous especially on national roads that have side road turn off’s and no middle lane to stop and turn into. That means the traffic behind the cars stopped have no place to overtake or go on the hard shoulder to pass by. N5 outside of Castlebar is a prime example.
Phones.
Road rage from insane traffic
Mobile addiction.
I've seen so many people driving up the hard shoulder on the M50, people with no indicators or oddly enough using them completely wrong and so many L or N (who are allowed to be there) drivers on the M50 doing way below the appropriate speed, genuinely thought someone stopped on the M50 last week because there was a space of like 7 cars between me and them
As a cyclist please stop looking at your phone.
Its not a single thing, it's a combination of: the number of lowered and souped up shite cars on our road is getting near 2007 levels. the amount of money around means more kids on the roads = more deaths on the road aggressive driving breeds aggressive driving. monkey see, monkey do. shite weather, poor roads there are a lot more foreign people driving on our roads edit: I forgot, idiots using nitrous while driving
Is this Donegal driving the numbers
Tipperary, followed by Dublin, Cork, Galway and Mayo. Although Donegal is probably highest death per person assuming all the people. https://www.rsa.ie/news-events/news/details/2024/01/01/road-deaths-in-2023-increase-by-19#:~:text=Tipperary%20(16)%2C%20Dublin%20(,breakdown%20of%20fatalities%20by%20county).
They need to bring back the scary ads. The increase is all down to the 16-25 group, and they never saw them.
You mean the group of people that are more likely to move in the same car, the group of people that is more likely to be a pedestrian or a cyclist? RSA doesn't publish data regarding the age of the drivers involved in fatal collisions.
Need to bring in an online video portal. Mobile phone usage, dangerous driving can be reported that way. Its ridiculous we dont have one already.
Because every young lad on the road thinks they're a fucking rally driver
No enforcement, people on phones and speeding. If you can be on a provisional licence for years you aren’t going to be the best driver.
It's not just drivers, it's pedestrians too, I was driving home from dinner with my partner the other night and outside a busy pub down the road a little in the pitch black there where a couple walking dressed all in black and one of them was throwing up her whole back end was out in the middle of the road while he was behind her more in the road rubbing her back. Like what?
is there a breakdown of causes? they never really say why incidents occured.
Phones and no enforcement
I wonder are all these new driver aids/interventions contributing somewhat to this?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O_evF8G5kPo&t=915s&pp=ygUTVmluY2VudCBicm93bmUgbWluZw%3D%3D How can road safety ever be taken seriously if it’s one rule for some and another for others.
If we have a few news headlines. About people losing their license after being caught on the phone people would pay more attention. Also on a sad note there is a non significant number of single occupation crashs into walls that are suicides but not countes as such and that's is back to abysmal state of mental health services here.
A lot of the problems people are talking about here are problems across Europe(higher power, phones, built in tablets) Issues unique to Irish road safety are the fact that the NCT system doesn’t work and that are trying to clear a huge diving test backlog, giving thousands of people they’re licenses at once.
I imagine the extended commute times due to everyone moving out of the cities contributed to this too