Dangerous Driving - Red Lights

I still think seizing the car would be the best deterrent. Ditto for drink driving. And as those with the most money usually drive the most expensive cars it would tick the "progressive" box...
 
There are a couple of junctions in Dublin where it happens regularly, enough so I've learned to be careful.
 
Five people died on our roads this weekend as a result of road traffic accidents. All of them could have been prevented. Will we ever learn?
 
How do you know all them could have been prevented? Seen the accident reports ruling out blown tyres, vehicle malfunction already? I am sure most accidents are preventable but sometimes people make mistakes because they are human. Not because they are speeding, being reckless or driving dangerously. Unfortunately because of the nature of road accidents, some people pay the ultimate price for their own or other people's mistakes. There is not one person here who has never made a mistake or lost concentration when driving. We are just the lucky ones. Five people lost their lives in the past couple of days. I know but the grace of god, it could be me anytime I get in a car. Yesterday, I saw a woman panic at a junction when she heard sirens. She went straight through the junction just as the ambulance was coming through. She was two seconds from being smashed side on. That same woman could have had a full licence, middle aged,never speeded or drive recklessly but could have died from making one simple mistake. It was preventable. Yes. But how do you stop humans from making bad decisions? Unfortunately there will always be some level of accidents and deaths. By the way, this is no defence of dangerous, reckless drunk, rubbish drivers that use of words. These people though will never learn until they kill or cripple themselves or someone else. Until then, they are the best drivers in the world and accidents are for crap drivers.
 
Sorry Sunny and Purple, I don't see it your way. Accidents happen by accident, that's why they are called accidents. Nobody sets out to drive himself into danger or others into danger for that matter. Unfortunately, we all have "moments" and they result in danger to others. We have tried everything with tv ads showing people confined to wheelchairs begging to people to drive more safely, we've had cameras filming from the bottom of graves showing the result of what can happen as a result of bad driving, we've had hospital scenes showing dreadful injuries, we've had gardaí visiting homes informing parents that a loved one has died on the road etc etc. It's all going nowhere as the accidents continue to occur.

During icy conditions we all drive more safely. Suddenly, the ice is gone and we are back to our old habits. Why can we not continue driving in a more safe way?

Until road users change the way they behave we will continue to see carnage on our roads. I don't wish to sound like somebody hogging the high moral ground but we have to start somewhere. Perhaps now is the time to change the bad road using habits most of us have got ourselves used to?

The alternative is unthinkable . . . and each one of us has the choice.
 
I think that's Sunny's point; we need to look at ourselves first. We all do the odd dangerous thing on the road, not necessarily because we are speeding or aggressive or drunk etc but because we are not concentrating enough. We can't change other people but we can change ourselves.
 
Leper said:
Nobody sets out to drive himself into danger or others into danger for that matter.
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Breaking red lights has become the norm so people are knowingly putting themselves and others at risk on a daily basis. We've hit saturation point re TV adverts. It's time to start mandatory impounding of cars which would eradicate the problem overnight IMO. Ditto for phone use - if caught, the Garda simply takes and destroys the phone on the spot. No lengthy tv campaign needed!
 
Firefly said:
. Ditto for phone use - if caught, the Garda simply takes and destroys the phone on the spot. No lengthy tv campaign needed!
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Being on the phone while driving a car is dangerous. Whether or not you are holding the phone is irrelevant. Having a conversation with someone who is not in the car with you is what is distracting, not what's in your hand otherwise eating a bar of chocolate or smoking or picking your nose should also be banned.
Japan has banned the use of phones while driving, as have other countries. We should do the same. Until then we should stop with the PR exercise of banning holding a phone while driving.
 
Purple said:
Whether or not you are holding the phone is irrelevant. Having a conversation with someone who is not in the car with you is what is distracting.
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Wonder what the reason for that is or has it actually been proven . You are essentially speaking to someone you cannot see just as a taxi driver might hold a conversation with someone sitting directly behind them . I am not convinced of the danger associated with such behaviour .
On the other hand the danger of drinking coffee or tea while driving are very obvious . The consequences of dropping a cup of hot coffee on ones lap could be dramatic !!.
 
Exactly W200, we've all courted bad driving habits and we think that we are in total control and think we cannot possibily be a danger to other road users and ourselves. We have to start somewhere and perhaps now is the time?

Just a question for any road user:- Would you like other road users to behave 100% the way you do? If the answer is "No" - then start improving your performance and lead by example.
 
No, the danger is from having a conversation with someone who is not in the same vehicle as you. Whether you are holding the phone or not is irrelevant. See here for details.
 
Walking my dog from Cork's Douglas Road this week:- Before the roundabout for Douglas Village there is a junction where traffic from Well Road and a feeder road from the South Ring Road meet traffic from and to the city on Douglas Road. Heavy traffic from Douglas is emerging to for city centre. There is a large Yellow Box there.

Lights are red on Well Road, but Dumb-Dumb edges forward onto the Yellow Box to turn left and manages to block two lanes into Douglas as his route is full of traffic. Seconds later Dopey from the feeder road enters the Yellow Box to turn right and blocks the two lanes heading out of Douglas. It didn't stop there; Crazy Guy going straight into Douglas from Douglas Road now creeps forward. Hey Presto! These three fools are now blocking four busy roads simultaneously and the three are still in the Yellow Box. Now nobody could drive forward even on the green lights. There was a couple of changes of lights before any exit was clear and build up of traffic on three roads because of the stupidity of three "well heeled" drivers.

Us good drivers know what happened here. The three fools (I bet) will swear that they did nothing wrong and are probably driving the same way every day. Nobody was hurt. There were build ups of traffic in all directions which would have caused agitation to rules-obeying motorists. The incidence was not unusual as it happens in one way or another every hour there. . . . . and all because three stupid motorists could not wait 60 seconds.
 
Leper said:
Lights are red on Well Road, but Dumb-Dumb edges forward onto the Yellow Box...
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Remember shortly after the Luas was launched and the operators brought in a team to review why there were so many accidents compared to other tram systems. They published the findings that Irish drivers ignore red lights and yellow boxes. That was ~12 years ago now, things have only gotten worse.
 
Luas have put some videos on YouTube showing car drivers ignoring red lights. Please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ZjuK1JW-s.
 
Firefly said:
I was only thinking yesterday about getting a dashcam. Anyone know if footage can be used in a court case?
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I got one as insurance companies may look at footage to assign blame, and at least knowing video evidence exists might dissuade the other party from being too fanciful in their recollection of events. Take a look at the 'Video Recordings' section here.
 
I don't know if Dash-Cams evidence can be used in court, but I think I'll get one for our car. My brother has two dash-cams, one pointed straight ahead and the other pointed back at the driver's side window and has sound included. I should point out the brother is a bit of a character and has taken to cyclists like the users of a brothel to a dose of the clap. He sees it as a kind of levelling the odds against cyclists who wear helmet-cams. A tap on his car window is an appearance on his home movies addiction for some unsuspecting cyclist and any stupid motorist in front of him. After seeing some recorded evidence from both cams, I think the brother would need to drive more carefully too.
 
Compared to the past we have massively reduced the carnage on our roads .
Generally drivers are nowadays much more clued in than they were in the past and roads are better engineered for safety .

could always be better though.
 
Gerry Canning said:
Compared to the past we have massively reduced the carnage on our roads .
Generally drivers are nowadays much more clued in than they were in the past and roads are better engineered for safety .

could always be better though.
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I agree. I started cycling through Dublin last year after not doing so for about 15 years. The difference is remarkable; motorists are now much more considerate and aware, roads are generally better and there are cycle paths in place.
Road deaths have been cut by almost two thirds since 1997.
If we go back to 1972 there were 620 people killed on the roads. The population then was just over 3 million. The population now is 4.75 million. If the per capita figures had stayed the same we'd have 972 people killed each year on the roads now or, looking at it another way, we have reduced the per capita deaths by just over 80%. If we look at the deaths per kilometer traveled they are much better again since car ownership and usage are now much higher.
Road deaths per kilometer (or mile) traveled in the USA are more than twice as high as here. Given how rampant drink driving is in the USA I'd say that's a major factor.
 
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