Back in October, after a series of high profile car crashes which cost people their lives, the hand wringing in the media was something to behold. All kinds of measures were called for to cut down on the deaths on our roads, the whole thing was used as a political opportunity by some people who sought to blame the government. Now, the government are responsible for a lot of things but this really wasn’t something you could pin on them.
My point at the time was that because of human stupidity travelling on the roads was always going to cause a number of deaths each year and no amount of emergency legislation, extra lessons for young drivers, restrictions on the speed of cars etc was going to make any difference.
The problem is that people are stupid, impatient and stupid. Did I mention they were stupid? – October 06
And so it was again. In foggy conditions, with visibility severely restricted (down to 5-10 metres according to Infactah), people travelling on and M7 and M9 dual-carriageways (not motorways) yesterday sped along with no lights, as if they could see for miles, at speeds of up to 120kmh. 27 people ended up in hospital, one seriously injured, as more than 100 vehicles were involved in over 40 separate crashes which caused enormous delays and problems.
Now, I would suggest that very few of these drivers were teenagers out for a jolly. I’d suggest that very few of them, at that time of the morning, had drink on them. They were commuters who travelled that road day in day out. Working people who you would expect to have a modicum of intelligence.
Oh-oh! Not teenagers? Not joyriders? Not drunk drivers? Shit. That must mean people are just fucking stupid and that no matter what you do people will always die on the road.
I mean, what sort of person lacks the common sense to drive more slowly and turn on their lights when the conditions were as bad as they were yesterday? A fucking moron, that’s who.
Again it all boils down to personal responsibility and people’s complete refusal to take any. I bet you in the aftermath of this there’ll be campaigns to have better lights on the roads or some kind of superman to save motorists who find themselves, shock horror, in trouble through no fault of their own. Sure, Superman and some lights might help but wouldn’t simply driving more safely be easier for everyone?
It’s amazing how touchy people get about this subject. Recently, Sarah Carey wrote some pieces about the head on collision in Monaghan which costs the lives of a number of young people. Their deaths were a tragedy and a heartbreak for their families. However, Sarah was not alone at the time in suggesting that their deaths were caused by dangerous and stupid driving. I said exactly the same thing on here. However, because Sarah’s identity is known and perhaps because she’s a lady, she was subjected to a campaign of intimidation and harrassment which culminated in some cowardly cunt actually phoning her to complain about what she’d written.
Here’s a novel idea, anonycunt, if you don’t like what’s written then don’t fucking read it. The report into the crash said that both drivers were drunk and that ‘one car crossed the road, straigtened up and then both cars approached each other at high speed’.
Drunk and playing chicken and now they’re dead. Is it any wonder that people continue to die every week when evidence is ignored, blame is shifted and fingers are pointed anywhere but at the people really at fault? Perhaps phoning up a blogger who has done nothing but speak the truth will make someone feel better but it won’t do anything to prevent further deaths on the roads.
Then you have cunts like the lads featured on Blogorrah and the other lads in Cork whose videos ended up on Bebo. Seriously, you’re dealing with idiots here. Put them in a room full of shovels and tell them to take their pick and they’d stand their scratching their heads until you let them out again.
For a sizeable number of people in this country, and every other country, common sense and basic intelligence goes out the window the minute they get behind the wheel of a car. There is nothing you can do about it. Nothing. The unfortunate thing is that these cunts, far too often (like that man in Louth the other day who was smashed into by a stolen car as he was turning into his house), don’t just take themselves out of the picture when they crash.
What can you do though? People have to travel. You can’t ban cars. Just get a four-leaved clover, rabbits foot and a St Christopher’s medal (if you’re that way inclined) and hope that you don’t encounter one of these fuckers. It’s about as good a solution as any.
On the news last night they went on and on and on about some existing technology that could be used so that speed limit signs could be changed to suit the conditions. For fucksake.
If the fog is so bad that motorists can’t see the magical speed limit signs would they slow the fuck down? Oh no, not at all, cos they bought the road when they bought their car. Ford Focus even say it on their ads for their shitty little biscuit tins – ‘Own The Road’.
Yesterday hopefully some people learnt what they need to learn, namely one of the application of comon fucking sense.
Yes there is an existing technology.Its called a brain.When the guys were killed in Monaghan, I heard the report on the radio and before the presenter said it I said ’2am?’ and yes it was.I feel sorry for their families and for the familiy of anyone who wastes a life by getting into a car and driving dangerously whether its driving without due care in adverse weather conditions or with seven pints down the hatch.
I feel more sorry for the people they encounter on the roads.
Yes stupid.
Twenty – you just don’t get it. Very important people have to get into their very important cars to go to their super important job so they can keep the tiger economy roaring and allow them to buy more super stuff in Avoca and pay their super increasing mortgage. Obviously they don’t have time to slow down, slowing down is for wimps.
Agreed. Drivers in this country seem to think that all roads are motorways ie. they can speed down a resendental street like they’re on the fucking M50. Kids? Dogs? Pedestrians? Fuck ‘em I’m on a road here…
Drivers are oblivious to the fact that this kind of reckless driving kills people (that M7 crash has now claimed 1 life). So it *is* life and death we talking here. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I’m quite content for these cunts to wrap themselves around lamp posts before they kill me or someone I love… or other innocent, careful drivers.
I posted yesterday that we were thinking of Leaving Lebanon and going home, one of the factors in the decision was the building of my house was going well.Then I come in to work this morning and I read the Times on Line and I see two things , first about a posible crash in the housing market and then about how stupid Irish drivers are. Actually the picture told me how stupid Irish drivers are before I even read the article.
I used to think that Lebanese drivers were stupid but even they know that when you cant see you slow down.
For Fuck sake how stupid do you have to be to not realise that when tere is no visability you slow down.
This is a gem of a warning :-
“But AA Roadwatch and gardai warned drivers that care was still needed on the N3 at Navan and that fog lights should be used in areas where visibility was poor.”
Sorry people that dont know that care is required at all times but especially in bad conditions should not have licenses full stop.
your points about personal responsibility are spot on. my mam works in the motor tax office – handles licences etc. some fella came out of court, banned for driving for 12 months, and asked for his licence back.
stupid man: can i have my licence back?
wonderful all knowing perfect mother: no.
- why
- it’s been revoked
-yeah but i want to keep it
that’s what your up against. idiots. however there is some government responsibilty here. ireland has been a country where people can get provisional licences in the post until recently. also, people who are due to appear in court for drink driving can hold onto their licences. this could be anything up to 12 months. as an innocent until proven guilty type of guy, i merely suggest quicker court cases rather than taking licences off people until they’re due to appear.
the head safety engineer in daimler benz was asked, as part of a piece on road safety in the sunday times magazine a while back, what he would do to make cars safer. his response was that he’d stick a big metal spike in the middle of the steering wheel because cars were too safe and people could drive without paying the least bit of attention to what they were doing, have a big crash and maybe kill some one else, and then go out and do it all over again.
citroen even had an ad where some fuckwit drove a car at speed across a (computer generated, admittedly) bridge with his eyes closed because the car could more or less drive itself. technology helps insulate drivers from their own stupidity, and actually encourages them to irresponsible because they are “safe”. bring back the cars of the fifties, with no seatbelts or airbags, nice metal dashboards and just one crumple zone, the driver. irish driving would soon improve.
Careless driving was most definitely at fault here but what I couldn’t believe was when Mary Wilson on Radio 1 challenged the AA representative about not giving adequate warning to motorists that morning on their traffic watch slots. In fact, they did mention it more than once but so what if they hadn’t!? Common sense would tell you that if you can’t see bloody anything on the road your reaction should be “hey I think I’ll slow down just in case some big lorry happens to be stopped in front of me”.
This morning, amid all the repeated warnings of fog on RTE radio, they had a psychologist on who compared driving in fog to driving around a severe corner, slow down to anticipate something around the corner that you can’t see. No shit, really!?
Time to take responsibility for our own driving and not blame road conditions/lack of warning from the authorities all the time.
Actions have consequences.
One thing d’government could do is force RTE to change the way they describe accidents. So from now on it’ll be “another savage committed suicide at 2am this morning by driving their car into a tree”. It’s what goes through my head when I hear those reports every day.
Oh and ban people from erecting those religious monuments on the road verge when it was a single car/single occupant accident. Replace them with signs like “I know, how the fuck did some moron manage to kill himself here”.
Probably won’t save any lives but at least it’s honest.
well said!
I remember disagreeing strongly with you when you wrote about that last time Twenty. I accepted that some people were stupid, but argued that everything possible should be done to mitigate the risks involved. Now, I’m just throwing my hands up, because I can’t help but agree with you.
Stupid, stupid cunts, every last one of them. The saddest part is the bit you mention at the end – innocent drivers or pedestrians whose lives are ruined because of some dumb bastard.
A man died in Donegal last week when he drove his tractor off the road into ditch.
How are any laws supposed to stop that “carnage?”
No, according to every fucking news report I heard “A man died when his tractor left the road”.
Fucking tractors with minds of their own. STOP THE MADNESS!
Stupid, stupid cunts, every last one of them. The saddest part is the bit you mention at the end – innocent drivers or pedestrians whose lives are ruined because of some dumb bastard.
Exactly.
“Oh and ban people from erecting those religious monuments on the road verge when it was a single car/single occupant accident. Replace them with signs like “I know, how the fuck did some moron manage to kill himself here”.
Such a good idea!
stupid man: can i have my licence back?
wonderful all knowing perfect mother: no.
- why
- it’s been revoked
-yeah but i want to keep it
haha
tone it down a bit boys, a women died yesterday.
We didn’t kill her.
The ironic thing about of all this is the papers today are giving it a good old “heart wrench” angle today….men pulling their childhood friends from car wreckages, tiny babies injured, husbands and wives stumbling from cars…
it’s bad enough these brain donors thought that they were invincible but they actually got into their cars, strapped their loved ones in nice and tightly, took off at 120km with visibility in par with them wearing a blindfold… if we saw this on a contolled reality tv show, we’d have the participants locked up…this is reality Ireland…go figure
Yes, I heard on Morning Ireland that the woman who was critically injured in hospital has sadly died of her injuries. It’s all the more tragic because her death was so avoidable. Drivers need to take personal responsibility for themselves and others when they get behind the wheel of a car. Accidents do happen, but human error is the cause of the vast majority of the carnage on the roads.
John, according to the news She crashed into a fire Engine, A big red fire engine with flashing lights .
If she couldn’t see that there must have been no visability and yet she was goind at speeds that were able to cause injuries so severe that she died from them.
Thanks for the link Twenty. Now that my rage from yesterday has subsided I just feel genuinely lucky that I didn’t come across the same fate as many people did yesterday on Monday morning.
tone it down a bit boys, a women died yesterday.
Here we go. *gets popcorn*.
Of course that loss of life is a tragedy, but it shouldn’t stop expressions of anger at and discussion of the behaviour of many drivers in causing such tragedies due to them apparently having the IQ of a doorknob.
If she couldn’t see that there must have been no visability and yet she was goind at speeds that were able to cause injuries so severe that she died from them.
Nasty thing about these situations MacDara is that even if you are driving carefully, with all your lights on, and you come across an accident and manage to stop before you hit it, you can still easily be killed by the moron coming into your rear end at 120Km/h+ just as he reaches for his brake pedal.
The simple fact is that a sizeable number (400,000?) of Irish drivers do not have proper licences and therefore do not understand the rules of the road. Every morining on the M7 you have a line of fuckwits cruising on the outside line leaving one with the choice of overtaking on the inside lane or remaining stuck behind them, thus impeding the traffic flow. Behaviour like this (driving on outside lane) indicates a lack of awareness, which then comes to its logical and tragic conclusion in stuations like yesterday’s.
In most other countries you can’t drive until you have a full licence, which requires passing both a theory and a practical. That’s the rule.
I wonder how many L plate drivers were involved yesterday (given that so many don’t both indicating that fact)
If only I was a newspaper editor, then I’d have you on the front page.
spot on Tony, but even those with a full licence have no idea what they’re doing.Any time I have friends from other countries visit they remark how bad the roads are and the disgraceful actions and attitudes of drivers. no one has a clue about stopping distances or good manners.there is a lack of education and to many provisional drivers but the fact is we are arseholes behind the wheel
“Nasty thing about these situations MacDara is that even if you are driving carefully, with all your lights on, and you come across an accident and manage to stop before you hit it, you can still easily be killed by the moron coming into your rear end at 120Km/h+ just as he reaches for his brake pedal.”
I accept that you can get caught up through no fault of your own but given the details so far and the quotes from witnesses including the ones you refer to on your blog most of the people involved were driving with out due care. Speed Kills , Speed in Fog kills , there is no legislation for stupidity, and people that drive at speed in fog are plainly stupid.
As this Quote points out.
“You wouldn’t run down the street with your eyes closed, so why would you drive at ten times that speed if you couldn’t see what is in front of you? It is ultimately a matter of personal responsibility.”
A solution to stopping mad little b*stards driving around at break-neck speeds and causing accidents, is to build into the cars cannisters of expandable foam. Then as the young tear-arses are causing mayhem the cannisters go off and fill the car with the foam in less than 3 seconds. This then does not allow them time to get out and it also suffocates the tw*ts. Job done!
“…most of the people involved were driving with out due care.”
MacDara, agree completely, my theoretical point was not meant as a denial that most of the tragedy of such situations in Ireland is caused by stupidity. Just that it is easily possible and worse than tragic for someone to come to harm on the roads through no fault of their own in Ireland.
Sure like, you can drive a car on the road without having to pass your test. If I have to go to the hospital for an operation I want the Doctor to have passed his medical exams.
It’s a sort of comforting thing knowing that he has an idea what’s going on like.
Am I missing some reason why they can’t set up intensive driving schools in Ireland and clear the backlog ?
I know it won’t clear the backlog of thick cunts applying for it but isn’t it a help. Pass the exam or you can’t drive. End of story.
Totally agree with everything said esp comment # 7. However, do you not think that a small part of the problem is the whole new celtic tiger trend of people commuting to Dublin from the Aran Islands or Sligo or some other “suburb” of Dublin? What with getting up at 5am and home at around 11pm they must be half asleep most of the time…
The problem is not the Celtic tiger, Why are we always tyring to blame the celtic tiger for everything?
People are drinking too much – Fault oh its the Celtic Tiger
People are getting obese – Fault oh its the Celtic tiger.
People Speeding in Fog – Fault oh it must be the Celtic tiger.
No its not the Celtic Tiger its peoples own actions. The only thing the Celtic Tiger has done is allow more stupid people to stay in Ireland. Before they all had to go to America or England, now they get to stay in Ireland and become fat ,drunken people that cant drive properly.
MacDara, the previous poster wasn’t blaming the Celtic Tiger as such, more the fact that this government has had its head up its arse regarding a proper transportation/infrastructure for the past 10 years, and one of the results is that people are faced with these nightmare commutes which (unfortunately) they sometimes have to conduct when they’re more than a bit knackered.
The Greens need to focus on this, and not global warming/recycling etc. in the upcoming election. Their global warming clothes will be stolen by the FF cunts, but FF can’t wiggle out of the infrastructure debacle debate.
Question: why isn’t the M50 upgrade being done 24/7, like it would be in most other countries. Other countries plan motorway upgrades and repair to nightime hours and periods when traffic is lighted (eg school holidays). We do the opposite.
MacD – obviously the main issue is not the CT but a combination of factors:
Poor public transport so people are forced to drive
Poor infrastructure so people have to drive early, while sleepy and generally running late.
Lack of flexi-time and remote working.
Lack of child care facilities, so kids have to be dropped here, there and everywhere.
Increasing pressure and work-load combined with increasing fear of being let go.
Yes people drive too fast and without due care but what are the factors that are causing them to do this, it is not just stupidity. As someone who listens to commuting stories on a regular basis the only thing that amazes me is that the fatalities aren’t higher.
@irishflirtysomething:
And don’t forget the single biggest factor…
people driving like fucking morons.
A question: Do you think drivers wear their seat belts because they think it will save their lives or because they’re afraid of getting slapped with a nasty fine? Or to put it another way, do gobshites respond to repeated reminders of common sense or to a good smack over the head?
Last year in Spain the government launched the penalty points system for driving licences and the road mortality dropped by 15% almost immediately. Did these road retards suddenly see the light? Did they look deep into their hearts and realize the risks that they were causing to themselves and others? Or could it be that the punishment for their actions suddenly became tangible and quantifiable?
These drivers are not just stupid but they’re fucking selfish as well. If the donkey doesn’t respond to the carrot, it’s time to take out the stick. Although I seriously doubt there’s an Irish politician out there who’d risk his popularity in implementing this theory. If you’re a dickhead who drives at high speed in the fog without lights, you get to eat your own drivers licence, pay double road tax for three years and spend 10 days in a prison cell with Wayne Rooney. Have we got your attention now?
Fixing your make up in the rear view mirror whilst hooring down the road in the fog at nine o clock in the morning and within spitting distance of the car infront might also be considered an impediment to stopping in time to avoid a crash.
Also, If there were more trains and buses to transport people from A to B (and/or C) there would be less chance of this sort of incident happening to such an extent.
Ipso facto…. it’s all Martin Cullen’s fault. The fuckin’ bastard !! Maybe Bertie can laugh that one off in the Dail? “Sure I d-d-didn’t invent the car did I yiz spanners?”.
‘These drivers are not just stupid but they’re fucking selfish as well. If the donkey doesn’t respond to the carrot, it’s time to take out the stick. Although I seriously doubt there’s an Irish politician out there who’d risk his popularity in implementing this theory.’
Hear hear. It was said on the news last night that collective responsibility must be taken. Yah-hah, that’s a realistic plan to improve road safety. The Gardaí should be thumping down on even the pettiest infraction or even inattention.
Driving is not a right, it is not an expression of your freedom, and it is not safe, for you or for anyone else. If you have to do it, you have to do it properly. If you want to kill yourself, and plenty of people do in this Brave New Ireland we’ve made, don’t do it on the road.
MacDara, that Celtic Tiger has a lot to answer for alright! I agree with you though, we’d have to come up with something supernatural to explain everything. We have a long history of it. Works well for everybody. Keeps them braindead, working and consuming. What else are we electorate for ?
I’d just like to say that I knew 4 of the Monaghan lads. I used to work with one of them and he was a sound fella. But everyone knew that day that when the words “Crash in Threemilehouse” were announced, these 4 lads would be involved. I also know a 6th lad who narrowly missed his lift and is still alive now because of it. They used to think nothing of 80, 90 100 mph plus driving and if you saw the road to Threemilehouse, you’d know its barely fit for a horse and cart. The sad thing is that it is boys and their toys. They’re just out to play with them and, so soon after the crash, I was nearly mown down while out walking by a prat in a Honda Civic. People never learn, especially not these stupid manual-labour, spoilers-and-alloys boy racers. Let them crash and take them out of the gene pool.
I agree, it the public transport system was better in this country there would be less drivers on the road, but as it stands I don’t blame anyone for using their car.
It’s not so much that as a whole they’re stupid or even particularly bad drivers. It’s more that driving here is relatively unregulated by Northern European standards. As a consequence many people drive with the abandon of a 16 year old joy-rider auditioning for a Mad Max movie, can act out the serious issues with they have with other road users and/or their vehicle, text their mates or call Orla to find out what Ross said about her in Lily’s last night.
You can drive from Dublin to Cork without seeing a traffic patrol, let alone being stopped by one. You can drive home unaccompanied after having failed your driving test, and should you be unlucky enough to get caught committing road traffic offence, some dozy district court judge will give you your licence back because you come from a good family, are a member of the same tennis club, or whatever.
most, if not all, driving tests are carried out in urban areas (low speed limits), yet having a driving licence allows you travel at up to three times the speed you were trained at. and, having gotten the licence, you are never tested again on your driving, erm, skills, for want of a better word, because obviously every one continues to drive with the same amount of attention as the day they passed the test. brilliant
Ok then lets just blame the Government I guess its all their fault. If the education system was better people would be cleverer and would drive better.
Are there any infomercials on tv about safe driving? I’m brought up in the Netherlands with those and I know that:
- You switch on your lights when the sun is low. It increases your visibility. Not that YOU see more, but others actual see you when they’re pinching their eyes against the low sun.
- You switch on your hazard lights when going from, say 50/60 mph or faster, to a full stop in case you head in to a traffic jam.
- You switch on your lights in rain/fog/snow. And not your fecking side-lights. Your dim-lights.
It has been dictated to me many, many times on tv, on car programs on tv, on posters next to the road, everywhere.
Yesterday I was standing outside smoking and saw many grey, white and beige cars without lights appearing from the mists. How stupid can you be? It’s like wearing a camouflage suit in a forest. With the only difference that in traffic you actually want to be noticed. (not meaning loud radio, uv lights under the car and your muffler removed)
We even had a program on tv where a tv crew are sitting in with an unmarked police car with onboard cameras. They video the offenders, stopped them, have a chat, give a fine or worse and then the person could choose if they want to be on tv and maybe for an interview later on. This was brought without prejudice, without the famous finger. But just showing you what was going on. and the reasons behind it.
The next day you’d be talking at work about those morons they caught. And everybody knew about one or more similar situations. And you would think before acting next time.
People will only learn very slowly. but you have to educate them. By only getting your drivers licence after your driving instructor says your fit for an exam. Not by just sticking an L on your car and think you know how to drive. By showing governmental commercials about safe driving. By TV programs, etc. I reckon that if it’s foggy again on the M7 next week the same thing will happen again.
wrong, macdara, not all their fault, just partially. if people think they can use the force while driving blind, fine, that’s their problem and i hope it gets them all killed. that’s their responsibility. i was just pointing out that while the government refuse to let you drive without a licence, the system they have in place for ensuring people know how to drive safely is very flawed with respect to a lot of the driving people do. so they are in effect letting loose a lot of people on national roads who have not been properly trained to do so.
I thought “dangerous driving” was a penalty points offence. Has anyone ever gotten points for that? Not likely since the Gardai are all sitting on wide open roads on sunny days catching people doing 2kph over the speed limit.
There was a muppet this morning who over took another car and clipped several cars coming the other way. I’d love to have seen the look on that ejits face when cars started coming out of the fog, but I bet come Saturday he’ll be in the pub laughing about it with his mates and beyond a slightly increased insurance premium he’ll never have to think about it again. If he got 2 points for every car he hit then he’d be taking public transport more often. There are laws in place to take these people off the road, lets use them.
“man dies as tractor leaves road”. hilarious. can just see the press release:
massey ferguson today issued a recall on all it’s tractors as a precautionary measure. a spokesman said “the problem arises from a number of accidents that occurred when users attempted to take their vehicles offroad. irish market specifc tractors were designed to travel very slowly on national roads causing huge tailbacks, pulling ancient jerry-rigged and dangerously overloaded trailers and spreading unpleasnatly organic materials all over following vehicles. rallying tractors around fields is highly irresponsible and potentially fatal, though thankfully only to farmers. we have entered into a deal with landrover and are refitting all recalled tractors with the stupid spare wheels from their road only suvs (sub urban vehicles) in an effort to curb this offroad madness”
All the safety equipment in cars these days seems to make people think they’re invincible. Fuck seatbelts and airbags. I think every car should be outfitted with a sharp metal spike mounted in the center of the steering wheel, with the tip pointed directly at the driver’s chest. Think that might encourage people to drive more carefully?
Has it been shown that most of those involved in the accidents were in fact “young fellas” in souped up Fiat Pansies? I think you’ll find that alot of them were silver haired, bastions of society, dropping Tarquin and Saoirse off to Gaelscoil and middle management making haste to clock in. Some of those may have been given their license many, many moons ago without even taking a test at all. I blame society as a whole.
Damn everyone of you and Bertie and Twenty….. and me (just to be fair) !!!
the problem will be solved if we have MORE roads like the M50 – (Pay to to nowhere, Increase stress, Reduce worker productivity!) If all roads were like this there’d be no more speeding, the stoned-est fuckers could drive with no fear of accidents and we’d all be laughing – at the signs on the M50 telling us to “SLOW DOWN”
When I was in Oz they would mount an actual car wreck on a billboard to show the consequences of Speeding/falling asleep at the wheel or drunken driving. It was very effective. Of course effective punishment is also neccessary .
BTW the arguments that safer cars cause crashes is ridiculous. People are so less likely to die in a car crash compared to a few decades ago that it has pushed the price of life insurance dramatically lower in the US. This is credited to safer cars. Remember if the one of the arseholes does crash into you, you might be very glad to have those side impact airbags etc.
Growing up in Montana, I learned early and I learned quick: the only thing you need to worry about on the road is the other driver.
I slow down in weather, know how to handle ice, snow, fog, blizzard, rain, etc…but there will always be a stupid ass out there driving as if it’s a warm spring day with clear roads for miles.
john mc, the fact that less people die in cars does not mean there are less crashes. it just means less people die. look at those two cunts in the states who had the act with the tigers. they had reared the tigers, knew them, thought they were safe and got careless. pity the tiger didn’t have a chance to chew on the other one as well. point is, if you don’t treat cars, or tigers, with respect, get complacent and become careless, they’ll have you for breakfast.
Great post. I reckon if we retested everyone who holds a full license we would be able to sort out lots of problems. First traffic congestion would ease because only a quarter of the existing cars in Ireland would be left on the roads. Cheaper insurance because arseholes would stop banging into your car from behind and of course road deaths would be drastically reduced with way less morons on the road. Fair enough young drivers can be stupid at times but this bollox of tarring a whole generation with one brush is thick. Feckin merc drivers are the worst. Ignorant wankers.
Too true, but the m7/9 aren’t mational roads.
There should be signals, like in england, for idiots.
Maybe they’ll do like in Belgium and have every stretch of motorway covered in lights (and you thought it was corrupt here).
goddamn!!!
I grew up in LA where aggressive freeway driving is a high art and with a German educated father who treated the highway as his own personal autobhan.
I’ve taken countless road trips throughout the western US, notching up 1500 to 3000 miles at a go. I’ve driven cross-country and back, alone.
But good god I’m dreading driving in Ireland!!!
Not to say we don’t have our own idiots over here. The farmlands of California’s central valley (i.e. Fresno etc.) develop a thick ground fog and every few years you’ll hear of a huge pile up on I-5 or Hwy 99. I remember one that had over 100 cars involved with several fatalites.
Speed and fog = crash… big surprise!!
And people are horrified, appeals are made for safer driving but memories are short and sooner or later you’ll hear about it on the news again or be caught up in the traffic jam (i.e. tailbacks).
I think the key difference is because Ireland is an island the idiotcy is concentrated and you end up being directly impacted more.
That and the narrow, windy roads!!
I’m skeered!!!
fatmammycat:
You mean FEWER drivers not LESS drivers. Are you foreign?
+++++++++++
On March 28th, 2007 at 3:10 pm fatmammycat said:
I agree, it the public transport system was better in this country there would be less drivers on the road, but as it stands I don’t blame anyone for using their car.
Hey, bet you wish you’d kept your mouth shut now:-)
No, just terrible at written English. I also somtimes say I should ‘of’ gone when I mean should ‘have’ gone too. Meh. I don’t say it’s ‘a’ nonsense, so I can rest easy.
Good article.
Don’t be afraid Penelope. I’ve spent a lot of time driving in Ireland and I’ve had no trouble. Maybe I was just lucky while I was there, but I think the drivers here in the U.S. are much more dangerous.
Dead right, Daniel. I learned to drive in the Netherlands and am appalled at the standards here. Just a relatively harmless example – earlier today, some tool with an L plate was chugging down the outside lane on the Stillorgan Road, totally oblivious to everything. The same sort of wanker that drives in fog without understanding what the buttons on their dashboard are for ….
In the Netherlands certain things are drilled into you until you get them right, including awareness of pedestrians, cyclists, and, most important of all, other motorists.
You can’t do your practical test until you’ve passed your theory. On the day of your test you are driven to the centre. If you fail he/she drives you home, if you pass the roles are reversed. So the sense of achievement is compounded (and it is very difficult to pass that test!)
However, most tellingly of all, my car usage was almost nil dfor long periods simply because public transport is so good. Say no more …
Interesting article on why drink driving should be legal.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/crovelli5.html
gay byrne said on taking his road safe job “If I find, in a reasonable period of time, there is a lack of co-operation by civil servants or stone walls, or if I find that what I was told was all lies I will walk away as quick as Eddie Shaw or even quicker”
to the monaghan fella that said he knew 4 of the boys that were in the threemilehouse accident and eveyone would of known these 4 would have been involved what I say to you is your a prick.Take them out of the gene pool??What???which 4 boys was it that everyone would have known was involved ur talkin shit.I bet youve never seen any of them speeding in a car in ur life.only one of them had a car for feck sake.Theres speed merchants around monaghan that everyone knows of how could people who never drive a car be known for speeding.