The programme, “Late & Live” will have, among the topics tackled, the issue of young drivers and “boy racers” in Northern Ireland.

I’ve also been asked to find out if there are any ShiteDrivers.com contributors or readers who feel they could add something to this debate and would like to take part in it. If there are, please send an email to me at Admin@ShiteDrivers.com (as soon as possible) letting me know and I’ll put you in touch with the programme producers.

See comments for more info on this.

Niall O’Keeffe

Click for larger image

Driving into Swords this morning, this van was blocking the left-hand lane going onto the Fingallians roundabout causing a slow-down in traffic trying to get onto the roundabout (coming south) which had to go around it. The van didn’t appear to be in any trouble and it’s occupant didn’t seem too bothered by the annoyed motorists around him who were forced to overtake him awkwardly right at the roundabout itself, slowing down traffic by forcing two lanes into one at a junction.

When I was coming back out of Swords a full hour later (at 12.45pm), it was still there, so I took a picture. It had actually moved forward a bit in the picture since I’d first encountered it (from behind).

It’s alright though, it had its hazard lights flashing… that makes everything ok!

I was heading up to the Garda station in Portlaois Town this morning on the bike to report an incident and i was nearly in an incident myself that could have seriously injured me and really damaged my bike.

 I was leaving the roundabout going for the exit to the Garda station. I Noticed that one of the cars on the oncoming entrance to the roundabout was traveling a bit fast. Being a bit paranoid i jammed on and was i glad i did she missed me by a hair line, she must have been oblivous to the yeild sign.because everyone else at the entrance saw me.she then looked and gestured to me as if i was in the wrong. What was see thinking see should have a proper read of the rules of the road a new one only came out recently, ive a good mind to carry it with me everywhere so i can point out to idiots were they have gone wrong.

it is quiet scary driving a bike in ireland between the condition of the roads and some blind drivers you could find yourself in a heep at the side of the road .I talk from experience as i was a victim of a hit and run on  my motorbike on the main cork to dublin road.

A driver pulled clean out in front of me causing me to lose control and no i wasnt speeding i have a sports bike but i dont believe in doing the d**k plus the roads are to dangerous anyway you dont know what crater sized  pothole you could land the bike in.Anyway the driver of the car drove off leaving me at the side of the road unconcious in the gravel, only for a british man behind me stopped in time i would have been f**ked.

i got away lightly i had a sprained rist and ankle, 1300 euro worth of damage to the bike plus i had to relace all my protective equipment after it another 1000 euro ,bet that diver was glad he drove off. Protective gear works thats why i cringe when is see people driving in jeans and a jacket you will be mince meat if the bike hits the deck, wear the correct gear even if it only a scooter you drive.

Could someone please have some consideration for bikers, most bikers arent idots that is the ligit biker with tax and insurance .

I was approaching the Shannon park roundabout from the Ringaskiddy entrance. I proceeded onto and around the roundabout, intending on taking the exit for Cork.

When I was in the middle of the roundabout, a person in a Ford Mondeo – completely oblivous to me – and obviously speeding, entered the roundabout from the Carrigaline entrance and cut straight across me onto the roundabout, forcing me to break hard in the middle of the roundabout.

Luckily, there was no car to the rear of me. Now, it was broad daylight;- is this person blind? What sort of idiotic driving is that? What happened to giving way to the right? It’s no wonder there are so many accidents with prats like that on the road. Had i been travelling slightly faster he would have take me and my kid in the car out of it!

I would class myself as a young driver in my mid twenties. I seem to see more “mature” drivers taking greater risks in their more powerful cars thinking they are a law unto themselves. What an a***ole!

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.

Right, where do I start. I suppose firstly I have to thank the woman in the white car going down the old Rahoon road yesterday morning who was with it enough to see what was happening. Had it not been for her I’d have been a goner!

I was going up the road to my parents & stopped to give a friend of mine a lift. I pulled off & thankfully I had not enough time to build up any speed when there was a junction on my left. I seen this white Toyota coming up to the stop line. He slowed & I thought he had stopped. How wrong was I! The woman in the white car seen what was happening & moved over to leave space for me to get into just as the idiot flew out over the line & drove up the road. I think there was smoke coming out of my tyres I was braking so hard. He didn’t even tip his breaks! I checked to see was everyone ok, the woman said she was & just had gotten a fright. I thanked her & then headed off up the road after the idiot. I flashed him to stop & got the shock of my life to see the man was at least in his mid 60s! He was all apologies but I have to admit I let fly at him. I asked him did he not know that there was crashes at that corner every day! I also told him he was lucky if I didn’t give his number to the Gardai.
When I got to my mothers I could hardly get in the gate. My leg was shaking so much I couldn’t even press the accelerator. Thankfully Marcio (my friend) calmed me down. I just couldn’t believe what had happened.

I had a few more idiots yesterday but none as bad as that. Then came this morning. Oh my! They were really out in force this morning.

I had a short enough journey across town this morning but it started as it meant to go on. I pulled out of my estate behind a car & thought nothing of it at first, then I realised it was a breaker. You know the ones. There is a car 1/2 a mile up the road so the breaks get slammed just in case it comes anywhere near her! & before you ask, no there were no L plates!

Thankfully they weren’t in front of me for long. Then I got the most gobsmackingly stupid driver in front of me. Going down Bishop O’Donnell road at at least 20mph she took both hands off the wheel to adjust the visor so it was to her right because the sun was glaring in. Ok, that was bad but she just kept going. No hands on the wheel because they were both now fluffing up her hair. At the same speed!!!!! Then comes the make-up application. Oh ya, I forgot to say that in this time she had got her rear view mirror & turned it totally towards her so she could check to make sure she was looking her best for the ambulance men as they cut her out of her car! This continued out to the lights on the Quincentennial Bridge. Where she proceeded to play with the child in the back seat. Yes! I’m serious! She was in a maroon Peugeot. You know who you are.

After that I was going out the Headford road & there was a woman in a big black Audi who couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just use both lanes when I was right beside her back tyre! Ahhh, no thanks, I want to keep my bonnet for some stupid reason! Things weren’t too bad until I got to the roundabout at Briar Hill! To the woman in the black Merc, IT’S A 2 LANE ROUNDABOUT! Not 3!!!! For some idiotic reason she squeezed between myself & the car beside me! We had no choice but to let her go. She sure as hell wasn’t stopping! They should all go get a copy of the rules of the road book!

As for the twit this evening at Cooks corner in the Chav Wagon… I’ll leave her for another post!

Sorry for the long rant, but they have gone insane in Galway the last few days. I know there’s Crypto in Clarenbridge, but I don’t think that can even be blamed for all this stupidity on our roads!

The infuriating thing is, besides the fact that he could have killed someone, that I arrived into Carlow approx. 30 seconds after he did, where he proceeded to take every roundabout in the wrong lane on his way out the Wexford road. I have his reg. but there isn’t anything the Gardai can do about it now.

We are told to view medians as islands or raised sections of the road that vehicles are not supposed to enter, but in reality, to a driver a median is a painted section of road that can be driven upon if necessary and therefore open to abuse and violation. Take Tymon North in Tallaght for example where a median stretches the full lenght of the estate, reducing what could be a four lane road to a two lane. On the same road and because of the median, it means that there is not one single stretch of cycle lane on the full lenght of the road. Children come out of school and try to cross the road as drivers overtake other vehicles by using the median to pass the vehicles out. Roads that have two lanes per side suddenly are reduced to a single lane as traffic wishing to turn right or left are suddenly confronted with a median that reduces the road to a single lane thereby restricting the flow of traffic to the right or left by traffic wishing to proceed on the straight. Its absolute madness and a cause of concern for both pedestrians and cyclists who are confronted with an impatient driver who will use the median in order to quicken up the journey.

As in the tragic case of the fire fighters in Bray who lost their lives in the course of their duty, in Ireland nothing is done until someone loses their life and then everybody stands up and says “Something has to be done”. Local authorities go into emergency session for something the knew would eventually happen, but still they hang on in hope, just to save a buck for the next Japanese junket for the lads. . There is a visible overuse of medians, that in reality cannot be effectively policed purely because of the extensive use such, on far too many of our roads. In adding to the problem, local authorities then erect small islands in the center of the roads, in the center of the medians and then expect pedestrians to use these points of crossing that are scattered throughout the network of medians. These island in turn add to the insecurity surrounding the safety and use of the medians by pedestrians and others alike. Similar to road signs, one sign is understandable and noticeable, two is adding to the level of attention paid to each of the signs as three and more means confusion, lack of attention, misjudgement and breach of the rules governing each sign, Medians add to the confusion by inhibiting the smooth flow of traffic thereby causing the potential for an accident and serious injury to either pedestrian, motorist or both. On the Belgard Road traffic is tunnelled into a single lane by white lines on the road that have the potential to be misjudged, unseen and therefore a potential contributor to accidents. In wet or poor visible conditions the same road marking are at best non-existant and at worst a source for concern as traffic in dual lanes are forced to sway from one side of the road to another. It is evidently clear that the use of medians and the layout of road marking on many Irish roads have not been properly assessed in order to meet the safety aspects associated with those roads. In Dublin city we see an increase in the use of medians on the roads, that present to a driver no logical reason as to why that median should be there in the first place. Local authorities lay road marking, the Gardai are compelled to uphold the laws governing the same markings, as the following week the local authorities change the layout of the same markings simply because someone made a complaint, brought it to their attention or the Gardai questioned the sanity in the initial layout of the markings and forced the local authority to change or reconsider their decision. These people are supposed to be professionals,experts in their field but slightly short of two halfpennies making a penny. Its rampant, indecision, bad planning and constant changing of road marking, road signs and speed signs. Today you get a fine for speeding 10KPH over the 50 KPH speed limit and tomorrow the local authority changes the speed limit from 50 KPH to 60KPh because they deemed the existing speed limit as inappropriate for the road concerned. In all of this the Gardai are made to look complete arse holes as local authorities change what they feel is wrong today, to what they feel is right tomorrow. Over the past number of months I have carefully monitored medians in many housing estates throughout Dublin city and have come to the conclusion that they do not work and furthermore contribute to the potential for dangerous driving and a risk to the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

When taking into account the use of medians on dual carriageway’s it can also be seen that on some stretches of our dual carriageway roads(N11 for example) medians directly contribute to severe vehicle breaking and the potential for vehicle pileups where medians force vehicle to converge into a single lane. This problem is magnified ten fold in wet or dull road visibility conditions.

It is now time we started to look at the advantage and disadvantages in the extensive use of medians on our roads. It appears evidently clear that quite a considerable number of motorists view the presence of a median on a road as a handy advantage and means of jumping the long queue of traffic ahead. The purpose of medians on the roads is being constantly challenged by motorists who see a wide open road ahead being reduced to a single lane that inadvertently promotes a tunnel vision image of the road ahead and the hazards that lye beyond their own field of vision.