At a cost of €230 million, the N7 between Rathcoole and Naas was upgraded from 4 to 6 lanes. The works were completed in August 2006, yet one year later I am wondering was the expenditure wasted as so many drivers refuse to use the extra lane.
The picture below was taken from a pedestrian bridge on this stretch and shows a common scene.
And before you ask, no, there was no slow moving or merging traffic or other obstruction in the inner lane ahead of the oncoming traffic – I swung around and took the next shot to show this.
The rules of the road are very clear about keeping left. What really amazes me is the amount of cars and trucks coming out from Naas town, where this inner lane begins, that immediately move out right to the centre or outer lanes. And those that arrive in the centre and outer lanes of the three lane N7 from the two lane M7, yet never dream of moving into the left.
I have also seen drivers travel the whole way from Newlands Cross to Naas in the centre lane while the left one is empty and only move into the inner one approaching Naas – their destination.
I suspect that in some cases road users misinterpret the gantry signage. e.g. They think a white sign with black type and an arrow pointing diagonally down and left means this lane is for Town X only instead of you are approaching a slip-lane/exit for Town X.
More worryingly I have been told of a variety of reasons why not to use the inner lane by friends and neighbours:
· It is for trucks only.
· It is for cars doing 20 km/h less than the speed limit.
· It is only for when you are leaving or joining the road.
· It is for the emergency services.
I say worryingly, as it another example of people who don’t know the rules of the road, or are unsure of the rules in a particular instance, making up their own based on what they feel is right and sensible rather than finding what is actually correct.
25 Comments
I know what you mean, after the hurling final I was driving down, found my self in the left hand lane completely empty while the other lanes were bumber to bumber. Could not understand it. but waas glad made great time.
It is a long time since I did my driving test and I just received the new rules of the road book. Can someone tell me where I can find the section on ‘motorbike lanes’ on motorways and dual carriageways. By observation it appears to be the broken white line between lanes. They should widen these lines because a motorbike is about 3 feet wide and the lines are only 6 inches wide!
I often marvelled at the skill it takes to keep a motorbike in the imaginery middle lane at speed. I also never realised that a queue at traffic lights doesn’t apply to bikes!
I wonder will adding the extra lanes to the M50 turn out to be a waste of money if no-one will use them!
Your Damn right PatM, ques doe not apply to bikes, thats why we ride them !!
bike riders rule the roads when it comes to traffic jams….
can car drivers complain about anything else with their l plates and 6th provisional liscence except how unfair it is that bikes dont sit at the back of the queue like morons so that they can feel thats life is a bit fairer…
i drive a car a motorbike and a truck at various different times of the week and find that the people who complain are all the same. inexperienced road users… try getting another liscence and getting out of the car.. you might see the road with different eyes… but on the other hand dont bother.. ill pass you on the road and send your blood pressure rocketing… ha ha ha ha
well spotted primal sneeze i love the section between newlands cross and naas. nobody uses the lane on the left except me…
i normally do the speed limit and spend no time behind any other car as they are all in the other two lanes.. the middle lane and the lets all get in a line lane…. dont tell them to keep left as it will only slow my journey home to kill…
what fools they are…. i love ireland…….
i saw one car stopped in the slow lane to take a call on the phone at rathcoole…. he was promptly rear ended by an articulated lorry and i believe he now is having second thoughts about driving for the rest of his life..good enough for the gobsh***
Yes very aptly named site, “Shite drivers”. Sorry to say most of them are mailing this site. Reading the mails only reinforces the fact that most of them dont know the rules of the road. And these guys have the neck to give out about others.
Homer come back pleaseeeeeeeeeeeee Doh
Reply to Primal Sneeze
Congratulations Primal Sneeze you have done a fantastic job posting the crap driving on our six-lane motorways. I had just sat down to my computer to do a similar posting on that very subject regarding that very motorway. I must tell you have done a far better job than I could have, again congratulations on exposing the shit driver’s here in Ireland.
I have had many frustrating journeys on this section of the N7 and each time I would be mindful of the waste of money spent on the upgrade of this section of the N7, really and truly the majority of Irish drivers are absolutely clueless. I noticed in the many replies you have received one in particular was the posting by Countsian regarding the gotshite who stopped in the left lane to use his mobile telephone, obviously one of the many clueless drivers using this road.
For myself my worst I experienced on this road was, shortly after Naas heading towards Dublin I became entangled in a traffic jam caused by a Garda patrol car driving in the middle lane at 90 kph. It seemed like all the other drivers around were afraid to overtake and undertake the police car. Cars were very very slowly over taking the police car. Eventually after about 10 minutes it became my turn to overtake the police car. Inside their police car there was to Garda one female and one male, the female was driving and the two of them were deep in conversation and were clueless to the traffic jam they were causing. As I passed them I beeped the horn on my van she looked up at me in a daze I then gave her a signal that was intended for her to check her surroundings which she promptly did and she then moved in to the left lane. I fully expected to be pulled over for this action, one part of me hoped that I was going to be pulled over and the other was relieved that I wasn’t. They obviously realised how stupid they had been and decided that it might be best to let this one go.
When our police force is driving, I believe they should at all times demonstrate proper use of the road, with the exception of being actually on a high-speed pursuit. I would like it understood that I am not some kind of cop basher I am very grateful for their existence.
I believe that every Irish driver should be made to drive to London from Holyhead do a full circle of the M 25 and back to Holyhead. There should not be any time constraint on this journey but for sure they would learn lots. For example they would learn how to use indicators (I firmly believe that there is a lot of Irish drivers that think a flashing indicator is a light with an electrical fault and should be ignored) they would learn how to communicate with other drivers by use of their headlights they would learn how to deal with merging traffic and a lot more. I realise that this paragraph contains an impractical suggestion so maybe one of our TV Irish companies should do a documentary on this drive from Holyhead to London and back again and should conclude with a round trip from Newlands Cross to Naas and back again and this should be done before the completion of the M50. We are spending a hell of a lot of money on the upgrade of the M 50 plus the inconvenience every day with the road works on the M 50 and unless the Irish driver is educated about proper use of lanes it’s all going to be wasted.
So finely to all driver’s and especially the clueless ones in this country of ours yes Ireland we drive on the left hand side of the road, so keep left, if you have to move out to overtake as soon as the overtaking manoeuvre is finished move back into the left lane. If someone is merging on to the motorway move into the middle lane and when you have passed the merging vehicle move back into the left lane.
While the rules of the road clearly state that you should stay in the leftmost lane I really dont see where the issue is with the picture above. Not one instance of a driver holding up traffic because he/she isnt in the correct lane.
I drive on the contenent on a fairly regular basis and if a somone is holding up progress the normal practise is to indicat to pass to let the driver in front know you want to pass. If that doesnt work flash them.
I reckon if I did that here there would be an article about me here tomorrow.
thehat – Could be dodgy legally, but a case could be made and I know what you mean. A few drivers use this tactic and just cruise along that stretch.
Iolar/PatM – Slightly out of context for this article.
Jd – I expect so. There were 3 lanes from the Red Cow to Rathcoole for years and the inner one was virtually unused. When they began work on the 3rd lane from there to Naas I predicted the same usage pattern and was proven correct.
MikeBike/countsian #1 – Totally out of context for this article.
countsian #2 – Yes, there does seem to be a perception that the inner lane is the hard shoulder. I hadn’t heard of that incident but I can imagine it’s like happening again.
Flash – While out of context for this article, I have to say I find myself agreeing with you to a degree.
Seamus – A article in itself. Don’t hesitate to post any article just because someone has covered a similar topic. In fact, feel free to republish your comment as such.
kevin – Correct – not one driver was being held up in these pictures. It would be difficult to show that in a still shot anyway. They do however, illustrate that the inner lane is largely underused. While inconveniencing other drivers may have been implied in my article it was never mentioned. My main message was that laid out in the final paragraph.
regarding 3 lanes its not a question of holding someone up, if any lane should be empty it should be the right hand lane. Clearly not the case here.
Regarding legality- rules of the road state you must drive in left most lane when available ie not overtaking. It also states it is ok to pass traffic in a lane to your right if the traffic in your lane is moving faster in my case I was the traffic so no problem.
In an ideal world the right lane should see the least traffic, The middle lane the next and the left lane the most, unfortunately in this country it is the complete opposite, due largely to ignorance and lack of consideration for other road users. to some degree lack of education.
thehat – I would be cautious about the legality of passing on the left. The ROTR state: Overtake only on the right, unless traffic is travelling in slow moving queues and the traffic queue on your right is travelling more slowly than you are.
The phrase slow moving queues is what concerns me. For example, could traffic on the centre and right lanes of the N7 moving at 90km/h be considered a slow moving queue?
It is, like quite a bit of the ROTR, open to interpretation.
You make an important point about lack of education. We have very few 3-lane carriageways. Many users seem to believe they are on a 2-lane carriageway and that the inner is some sort of extra lane reserved for special use. e.g. A special type of hard shoulder as countsian above witnessed.
Overtake to me would mean to pull out, pass car, pull back in.
driving continously in the same lane and passing cars does not constitute overtaking imho. By your rekoning one person driving at 90 kph in right hand lane would technically restrict speed across all 3 lanes to 90kph as to pass them in an other lane would mean undertaking.
Seamus. Well said.
i myself came across a garda jeep on the M50 sitting in the outside (2nd)lane at 85 KPH (limit 120) Beeping and flashing produced no responce.
So i passed on the inside and overtook a car futher on (in lane 1)and then moved back into lane 1. The cop jeep came after me and pulled me in and asked in a very aggressive manner what was i doing overtaking in the lane 1. I asked why he was sitting in the second lane blocking the traffice at a speed lower than the limit and i also explained that i was allowed to pass on the inside.
He would not answer my question and told me i could not under any circumstance pass on the inside lane.
To resolve this i took out my rules of the road and flicked to the relvant page and asked him to read it.
Result: “Got an other call and have to go” he said and proceeded to leg it. I got a good laught out of that.
Seriously. An auful lot of Cops have not got a clue how to drive properly and don’t even know the rules of the road. Should these guys not be setting an example?
thehat – All I’m saying is I’m not sure as the ROTR are not 100% clear on this. This maybe because if the keep left rule were adhered to by all road users the situation would not arise.
You and I are debating what action we can legally take in circumstances where others are acting illegally. It would appear from the comment by Flash, that the Gardaà too are unaware of what to do.
Now here’s an mad idea: Instead of playing comment-tag for days on end, why don’t we both e-mail the RSA and/or the Dept. of Transport and request clarification. We can compare responses if/when we get them. Deal?
i wish you the best of luck on that one lads……..
having dealt with the dot and the new rsa under noel brett the manpower to answer e mails is well limited to say the least and thinly stretched…
a good idea all the same primal sneeze and keep up the good work…
I don’t hold out much hope either, coutsian, having sent numerous mails in the past and never getting a reply other than the standard (possibly automated) “Your query has been forwarded to …”. I have written about this here and here.
The RSA is an extremely important body and should be resourced as such. They are doing great work and making headway. Would a few quid spent financing them now save thousands later in Garda time, court cases, A&E etc.?
Before the new road works started on the M7 every time i moved from the motorway to the new 3 lane road i would laugh. The road surface on the 2 lane motorway was a lot worse than the surface on the 3 lane road. But as soon as you went from the bad 2 lane road to the good 3 lane road the speed limit dropped by 20km. This seems a bit unusual to me. I think the general mindset of drivers using this road is that the left lane is only if you are doing a ridiculously slow speed
Johnny – You are right about the mindset that the left lane is only if you are doing a ridiculously slow speed.
On the speed limit drop: That is because, while access to and from it is mainly via motorway-style slip lanes and on/off ramps, direct access is still possible at certain points e.g. the two service stations at Kill. Until these direct access points are closed off I do not envisage the speed limit being increased.
“direct access is still possible at certain points e.g. the two service stations at Kill” I see I did not actually think of that. But i do believe that the 3 lane road should be a motorway they should reduce the speed limint for certain sections of the road where the direct access is. i do realise that if you were to do this that in the mojority of cases people would not slow down, but when the unmaned speed cameras start going up put one inside the 100 and leave the rest of the road 120. There is a fly over a few hundred meters on the new road when coming from the south i always see the gardi up there i would say they catch alot of people that have not slowed down yet
Motorbikes. I used to ride one but with 3 kids they don’t quite all fit on the pillion seat. I never queued anywhere. Why would you? Cars are made for this. However, I am amazed at the number of bikers that stay behind lines of cars at lights and motorway slip roads etc. Kind of defeats the object of the bike.
Despite the fact that the traffic in the picture does not “appear” to be holding up anything, can you be REALLY sure that there isnt an ambulance on lights and sierns just out of the picture desperatly waiting for someone in the outer lane to pull back into the middle lane for them to get past?
The perception seems to be, I cant see an obstruction being caused so therefore there is no obstruction being caused. This is not always the case.
Shane – See my previous comment above: Correct – not one driver was being held up in these pictures. It would be difficult to show that in a still shot anyway. They do however, illustrate that the inner lane is largely underused. While inconveniencing other drivers may have been implied in my article it was never mentioned. My main message was that laid out in the final paragraph.
As I was standing on that bridge for some time before and after taking those shots I can say that, yes, I am REALLY sure there was no ambulance.
Primal
In the time that the picture was taken you would be correct, but I should have mentioned that my comments were for more general interpretation rather than for a specific occasion.