Driving appears to be a new revelation here! People seem to be under the impression that the OVERTAKING lane is called a FASTLANE… Theres no such thing. Day in, day out, I come across a**holes who are of the idea that sitting in the overtaking lane is acceptable if you stay to the speed limit.

As far as im aware not every one living here is a member of the Garda Traffic Corps. Who are the people who think sitting in the overtaking is ok if you are travelling at the speed limit??? They arent Garda and have no right to impede other drivers , where do they get their licenses ( lucky Dips perhaps ). Im sick of being stuck behind morons policing the roads when im constantly held up by them on my way to work.

I ask all who read this to observe drivers in the morning ( or when ever ) to count how many people REFUSE to pull into the LEFT LANE when a car approaches them in the overtaking lane, yet due to time constraints i am forced to undertake them to make it to work on time. They may think they are doing their part for road safety but a frustrated driver will take chances ( more so when they are held up by people who OWN the road).

These same people will then speed up to stop you undertaking them and quite happily break the speed limit at the same time…This must be the only country in the world with out a standardised learning system to bring eveyones standards to the same level. Have these people never heard of traffic flow,common courtesy,pulling into the left lane to allow others to pass?? NAHHH. I have driven in countries like germany, UK,N.Ireland even South Africa and they all have courtesy on the roads and allow faster moving cars to pass by pulling into the left lane, In fact im sure Ireland is the only country on Gods Green Earth that has a Website dedicated to shite drivers.

IRELAND PLEASE READ THE HIGHWAY CODE!!!!!!!!!!! Indicators seem to be faulty on most cars here too, i have many grey hairs from people just pulling into lanes without any indication what so ever, How can people who are BAD DRIVERS TEACH PEOPLE TO DRIVE!!! Lets get things regulated here with a standard set by the government which all Instructors must follow, Im Irish and Embarassed….

This pratt in his Cork reg civic then decided a bit of undertaking was in order and decided to pull in and then out as quick as he could. Stupid intimidation.

I was going to the college on business and found the car and called the Guards. Whilst I couldn’t be arsed going to court I explained I would like someone to “have a word”. The Guard promised me they would be talking to him this morning.

DKIT car park is full of happy go lucky students and hatchback cars … some racers. Most are sensible proud car owners but some take the biscuit on the roads surrounding the college. It is easily accessed from the North, South and Midlands so many travel considerable journeys. The M1 is a dangerous raceway in the morning and the guards too underfunded to manage it … students need selfcontrol. I wonder what the college does about road safety… the authorities there must have seen the road behaviour themselves.

I hope my white Civic driver got his visit today … even if he didn’t … I feel good about reporting him!

Now take for example last Monday night when I seen a Garda car screaming down the Whitehall Road, blue light flashing, headlights going on and off, cars ducking and diving to get out of the way, it must be a big one I said to myself, why wouldn’t it be, the Garda was steering with one hand as he held a mobile phone to his ear in the other. There was no sat-nav in the vehicle and besides, if he had to use the phone while at the same time watch the sat-nav, who in the name of Jasus is going to steer the car? Ah ye, I forgot he has a partner, sorry my mistake. While I find the use of mobile phone dangerous when driving, I find the need to stare at a four inch screen, which at the best of times is placed away from the wider angle of observation, is far more dangerous and potentially life threatening than holding a mobile phone in your hand while steering with the other. If I’m wrong then why are member’s of a state body, which is supposed to uphold all the concepts of road safety, allowed to and be exempt from prosecution for using a mobile phone while driving a motor vehicle? Now I’m not knocking the Garda, in fact I understand their reasons for having to use a mobile phone in the course of their duty, what I cannot understand is the RSA hype about using a mobile phone while driving, especially when their thinking says a ‘wrong’ is a ‘wrong’ but under certain circumstances a ‘wrong’ suddenly becomes a ‘right’ and everybody else must accept their ‘wrong’ being a ‘wrong’. It appears to me that the cause of all our problems is due to regulations having a variety of exemptions built into their enforcement. Vehicles with CD on their number plates are a no questions asked, pass on, taxis are commercial interests so on busy nights in the city the Gardai are stood down.

The problem gets even worse when you see mammy, after collecting her little darlings from school, carefully straps them into their seat belt in the SUV and then starts to programme her destination into her sat-nav. Fingers moving at 10 miles a minute she appears to be paying her household bill on the internet. She moves away, down the road, round the corner into a cul de sac and walla into the driveway and HOME. What took her the guts of five minutes to programme would have allowed her the time to walk, thereby affording her kids the healthy luxury of walking home from school.

Watching a sat-nav while driving is similar to driving a car, while trying to clean out a glove box. If you have to direct your attention away from the wider angle of observation in order to read what is displayed on the nav screen, then the use of sat-nav’s should be made illegal. What we must not forget is that a sat-nav is similar to a television screen; its display is constantly changing. In order to view its contents we must direct our attention towards it. We must compromise other important factors in order to mentally comprehend the information that is presented to us. We must compromise on the very basic rule of driving, the important use of observation. On a motorway or a dual-carriageway the use of a sat-nav while driving can be dangerous. On two lane roads, housing estates and country lanes and road, the use of sat-nav’s are potential life takers.

So how do we lessen the problems of this new sat-nav culture? Sat-nav’s are not just associated with boy racers or yuppies trying to impress the ladies with their command of following an arrow on a display screen. Sat-navs are problems of modern times brought about by the availability of cheap functional technologies that have a habit of infringing on other aspects of life that are of greater importance. A requirement by insurance companies for their policy holders to declare if they operate a sat-nav in their motor vehicles and the penalising of such use with higher insurance premiums, may have some effect in reducing the popularity of such devices. It would also be of beneficial use for the Gardai to note if a sat-nav was present in a vehicle when an accident occurred. While waiting for the traffic lights to turn green at the junction of Dame Street and Georges Street last Saturday, I had the pleasure of watching a video called “Trading Places” starring Eddie Murphy, from the comfort of my car. Beside me was a Honda Integra with a LCD video screen secured to the dash panel, possibly pumping out surround sound in order to deafen the outside world out of his existence. There, and attached to the windscreen was a sat-nav. The driver (probably because of a nervous disposition) moved his fingers from the nav to the monitor controls and back again. I wondered why the video was playing, for the length of time we sat in traffic his hands appeared to obscure the video screen as he pressed and touched button after button, sat-nav to video screen, video screen to sat-nav, heater, demister, sat-nav, video screen. When the lights turned green he was still moving his hands over buttons as he drove away. The possible strange reasons for him doing these things could be that he did not have a real liking for the film “Trading Places” but had an idea that everybody else outside his little realm, did.

A taxi driver literally picks up a passenger in the middle of Nassau Street, what is the next thing he does? He starts fiddling with the sat-nav in front of him. What did this poor guy do when sat-nav’s weren’t invented? Is this the answer to taxi fares being so high, as drivers wander all around the city looking for a street they passed three times with their distraught foreign visitors sitting inside? We spend millions of Euro deploying Gardai on roads capable of landing Jumbo jets, in order to catch drivers driving 10KPH over the speed limit and yet we have no laws that govern the use of sat-nav’s in motor vehicles. I have often said that the main thrust of RSA road safety initiatives is not to save lives but to secure on behalf of the state easily secured revenue from the enforcement of laws that are guaranteed to be broken on a regular basis by motorists. After all, how do you prosecute a motorist for viewing a sat-nav when driving a vehicle, if the prosecuting Garda cannot prove in court that the defendant had the nav to his ear and was therefore using the nav in breach of a driving regulation? Difficult methods of securing revenue therefore don’t regulate its use.

Its very obvious when you drive in other countries in Europe that our driving standards are shocking, one mondeo driver 08 reg may drive a new car but hasn’t got a clue how to use a roundabout;- coming off the motorway entering Portlaoise, I’m in the inside lane at the roundabout & he’s in the outer lane. I’m taking the 3rd exit off the roundabout into Portlaoise town. I go to move off once my way is clear and this idiot cuts straight across my path from the outside lane completely oblivious to the fact that he nearly put me up on the roundabout and not an indicator to be seen! There really are so many d***heads on the road – some drivers really shouldn’t even be even given a tricycle.

then at night they blind you with front & rear fog lights & the garda dont seem to care.

I drive 100000km.app every year & i see some things you would not beleive only last week a truck tailgating a car & a garda jeep was passing at the time just kept going but when your tax is out of date they you will get stopped. make the roads safer we hear all the time. then we have speed traps gardai hideing in the bushes to catch you over 2/3 km. i know i was done at 1.45am 64kph in a60 zone. we need to get the gardai to show them selfs out there like the rest of europe visable policeing is a deterrant.

Charlo.
 

He first of all pulled straight out of a junction in front of me, where I had the right of way, he never looked left or right, and proceeded to drive for about 3 miles in front of me ranging from the inside kerb to over the white line completely in the oncoming lane! He was all over the road and acting very dangerously, He turned off at a roundabout, forgetting indicators of course and I got a look at him, for a brief discription, young guy early 20′s tight hair cut, navy hoodie! that was all!

Now remember it was sunday morning, about 7:30am and very quiet thank god, he drove through 2 estate built up areas where anyone could have been out walking, cycling or driving, and if it were busier someone would have been hurt, So I got his Reg number, got to work and called the ‘Garda Traffic Watch line on 1890-205805′

A tired sounding respondant answered the phone, I passed on the details, answered some questions and left my details so a garda would, ‘Get straight back onto me for further details’. that was grand and I kept my mobile on my person so I could answer promptly should the garda call. I went about my business and heard nothing that day…. or the next…. or the next… So I quickly forgot about it, until I got a call today!…. 2 weeks later!

He went over all the previous details I had left with the traffic line guy and all was well, he asked me what I wanted to do, I could make an official statement and go to court, or basically using the reg number the guard could track down the guy and give him a good talking to. Considering he caused me no harm, or anyone else thank god, just driving a bit mental, I went for the latter option, and proceeded to ask the Garda: ‘Garda, this happened 2 weeks ago, how can you prove he was drunk or drugged or whatever, 2 weeks after the incident happened? I was under the impression I would be called back straight away and this would be sorted where there would be sufficient evidence of intoxication or whatever! May I say im not too impressed with the response time!”

And what did he say? , ‘Well yeah were a small bit snowed under really to pursue any of the calls really’!!! I dunno about you lot, and perhaps Im taking it a bit dramatically but if he drove of after that and mowed someone down and continued to drive away, how would they know it was him, how would the investigate anything?? I think a 2 week response time to Traffic Line is a bit lame, and is clearly not really gonna work!

I’m only glad I didnt report something too drastic, it could have been so much worse, and there would have been the same response time! Not too impressed at all!

Then on the ordinary N routes, I was repeatedly left sitting at 100 Kph by our Northern Cousins. Continous white lines, hatched markings, approaching corners and speed limits are seemingly minor inconvienences to these dudes (or dudettes !!). Later in heavy fog, at night, the only guys roaring past were again, our Northern Cousins. It was dangerous, as you couldn’t see 20 feet in front of you.

A bit of a Garda presence wouldn’t go amiss ; of course it doesn’t matter a jot to Mr Northern Man, as if he is stopped for speeding, he ignores the postal fine and nothing happens, unlike the rest of us who have to take the “hit”. Presumably it’s hard to serve a summons in Belfast !

It’s obvious that there has been little or no traffic enforcement in the North for the last 40 years as a result of the troubles, and thanks to our lax system, they come down here and basically drive in whatever manner they want. Listen lads, if you want to drive like a s#*#e driver, perhaps you do us a favour and do so in your own country and when you come to ours, behave yourselves.

Here’s a man who was driving erratically (swaying a bit from side to side, having difficulty keeping inside his own lane), while talking on the phone. I was stopped at a red light when I took this picture and I made full sure that he could see me doing it – which he seemed properly embarrassed at.

Coming from Donabate to the motorway, nearly ran into the back of this car as it suddenly stopped in front of me to turn in to Newbridge Demesne. It seemed he couldn’t see me through his back window, because of all the “For Sale” signs. He had three in the back (yes, I’ve obscured the phone number on one) and one in the front.



Here’s no. 3 – an idiot who was driving dangerously, aggressively and far too fast. I was in the overtaking lane (overtaking – and going slightly over the 120km/h limit) on the M1 when this moron came up and tailgated me. He seemed to be inches away, as he flashed his lights impatiently and kept indicating to the right to show he wanted to pass me. I noticed then that he was on the phone too and was swaying about a bit. When I eventually got a chance, I pulled over and he thundered past me at (what I guessed was) roughly 150km/h. I actually had my phone on a flexible holder (with a sucker-cup connection holding it on to the windscreen) at the time and I pushed it around and hit the camera button just in time to grab this snap.

Finally… is this actually legal? … A resident in our housing estate regularly parks his truck trailers on the road here, blocking one while side of one access road in the estate. This week its a trailer with two large containers which are (as you can see from the inset) full of corrosive phosphoric acid liquid! Can’t be safe, surely!!!

Anyway, over the past month or so myself & my work mate have noticed something a little bit annoying about,well, certain Latvian/polish reg cars using the Toll bridge. We’ve noticed every so often if a car is passing through the “EAZY PASS” lane, an eastern reg car(most notably a blue skoda with Latvian plates & sometimes a red BMW with blacked out windows & Polish plates) will cut across one/two lanes  & drive very close, within a couple of inches close behind the car with the electronic sensor so they avoid paying the toll. Now you’re probably saying “ah sure they probably have the sensors on their cars”…i really doubt it as i’ve seen them use the other lanes when the toll bridge is unusually quiet of traffic…anyway…keep an eye out for them, see if it makes your blood boil as much as it does mine.