I spend a lot of time driving around West Cork. It is a beautiful part of the world and I feel lucky that Im not stuck in traffic jams in the middle of the city. However, my nerves are shot to pieces and this is my attempt to aleviate my stress by telling you all about it! I have decided to list my experiences in order of severity and frequency:
 1. I am sick and tired of being driven off the road by vans, lorries, etc who come around a corner on MY side of the road. As far as I know the white line divides the road into two equal halves. I have lost count of the amount of times I have met cars, vans, SUVs, lorries coming around a corner on my side of the road. The logical thing to do to avoid hitting these half wits is to head for the ditch. Its happening so often now that Im beggining to wonder if there is something I missed during my driving lessons. Is it ok to do this? What the hell is going on?
2. West Cork attracts a lot of tourists. These people are on holidays and clearly don’t need to rush. Fine. I, on the other hand, am not on holidays and cannot afford to travel at 30 kph. I was recently stuck behind 6 U.K registered cars. They were travelling in a convoy, bunched up together with no gaps between vehicles to allow others to overtake. From what I remember from the rules of the road – if you cannot maintain the correct speed limit, you should pull in and allow other vehicles to overtake safely.
 3. Parking on a blind corner to talk on the phone. I was pleased when the ban on mobile phones was introduced. An unfortunate knock on effect is that now people feel they can park just about anywhere, stick on the magic (hazard) lights and chat away on the mobile. I was travelling to work one morning at about 50kph. It was raining heavily. I rounded a very blind corner and suddenly theres a car parked, hazard lights on and the driver is on the phone. I slammed on the brakes and managed to stop in time. My point is, if I had hit the stupid cow, I would have been at fault. I rolled down the window to try and communicate with her but she turned her head and continued her chat on the phone.
West Cork is over run with SUVs, massive four wheel drives which are simply not practical on many of the roads around these parts. I have decided that I will no longer be bullied into pulling in to the ditch to allow these big B*****ds to pass. Im not talking about your genuine farmer who uses a four wheel drive for the purpose it was intended. I’m talking about people who drive these abominations purely for status reasons. You know who you are! And dont bother posting defensive, self righteous comments about your right to drive a massive vehicle. Yes you can drive whatever you like, just dont expect me to scratch the shite out of my car because I have to pull in to allow you to pass. Your driving an off road vehicle so….. GO OFF ROAD THEN!
On a final note, can anyone tell me what the protocol is if you knock down a sheep? I did one day. It was in a pretty remote place so there was no one to ask. I phoned the Guards and they thought I was a nutball! The sheep was dead so I just left it in the ditch.¼/p>
8 Comments
Also from West Cork: Conwest I did see an 07 D reg 4WD/ Off-road
vehicle with two wheels on grass…is this a record? My favourites in West Cork at the moment however are the Bus Eireann Drivers who leave their hazard lights on for mile after mile after mile while JUST exceeding the speed limit… are they supposed to be professional drivers or are they part of a decentralisation scheme…i.e. send idiots to the country?
Conwest, I can understand your problem with white lines and blind corners, there is no excuse for suv and jeep drivers to be at wrong side of road, one possible reason that a high sided truck might be is the dam hedges, thanks to the lack of Cork County Council makeing people cut the road hedges it forces high sided things out to the white line and over it to get past over hanging trees ect. Another problem i have notice and really bugs the crap out of me is home owners placing stones on the grass on side of roads out side there homes. In fact if the morans realised, it is illegal to do so and they are liable if it causes an accident or damages a car ect.
As for the sheep thing, the responsibility of the farmer to keep all stock fenced in and not be a danger to humans. If the sheep did damage to your car, the farmer is liable. There should be an identifaction tag on the sheep, which if you give to the Garda they can trace the owner through the dept of Agriculture and food.
On September 3rd, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Richard26 said: “In fact if the MORANS realised, it is illegal to do so and they are liable if it causes an accident or damages a car ect.”
Them bloody Morans are at it every where in Ireland. Their cousins the O’ Malleys do it when the Morans are on holidays.
Seriously though.
Richard26 has got it spot on.
Cut the ear off the sheep with the ear tag intact (when it is dead of course) and keep it in order to prove ownership of the animal. Bring it to the Guards when you are making your complaint and notifying your insurance company.
Should SUV drivers be made to have ear tags…
Harry-My current favourite is the mobile library, I was behind this vehicle recently and his right indicator light was on from castletownbere to Dunmanway! I was afraid to pass him in case he was going to turn right at some point- maybe its a ploy he uses to prevent others from trying to pass him out because he never drives faster than 30kph.
I would guess Conwest that he was planning on turning LEFT!!
lol harry! thanks for the tips on sheepgate richard26!
my friend in the southwest came across this today.
A “lady” in a very expensive Chelsea tractor on the N69 this very afternoon speeding into Listowel 60 kph and 50 kph increased speed to nearly 80kph as she got nearer the town – just as a school was finishing. She sped through the students without slowing.
Beyond Listowel she passed on double white lines on several occasions and again at Tralee continued through the speed limit signs at full speed.
And all this time using a mobile phone in one hand and leaning the other elbow on the window.
Just because some eejit bought her a tractor she seems to think that she owns the road and the small people should move out of her way.
Question: Will she ever ever be stopped by the police?
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