Man caught doing 208km/h on motorway jailed for three months

[MrEarl]

That is a brilliant idea. When people apply to get their license back for work reasons, it should be conditional on driving a less dangerous car.

But why a 1L engine?

What's wrong with a Fiat 500 ( I presume that they are 500 cc.)

Brendan

Sure why not go the rest of the way and just restrict the driver to cycling ... if he needs to carry samples for work, he can have a basket on the front of his bike and a carrier on the back of it

Devil's advocate...it can be hard to hold the modern car back. 140kph can feel like 80kph. Our motorway network is better and our cars are better. And look at Germany...conservative, but no speed limit on the autobahn.

I agree.

In reality, we have a few problems when it comes to driving on Irish roads:

- Our road speeds are not appropriate for our motorways and modern cars. Both cars and motorways are constructed to facilitate higher speeds and our legislators need to attend to this. The problem is made worse by the fact that we have motorways with speed limits below the 120km limit, for no good reason (i.e significant parts of the M50).

- Some drivers appear unable to comprehend the simple concept of how overtaking works on a Motorway (or any road with more than one lane, for that matter). It's very simple, drivers are not supposed to cruise along in the outside lane, it's for overtaking. People "sitting" in the outside lane frustrate others and provoke them to use one of the inside lane to overtake, with the problem further inflamed by those overtaking drivers then doing higher speeds in the inside lane, simple to overtake the offending vehicle.

Notwithstanding the above, I would have concerns that a significant percentage of our drivers do not have the appropriate skillsets or the correct mindset, to be trusted on a motorway with no speed limit and thats before we get down to how well their cars are maintained (i.e. tyre tread depth, as one example).

I'm all for having laws, but lets have sensible laws if we are going to be expected to obey them....

 

[MrEarl]

While we are at it, here is the current list of penality points for the various offenses...

There are numerous penalties on that list, where the penality has no reflection on the severety of the offence !

Obvious examples:

• Failure to act in accordance with a Garda signal = 1 point
• Driving a vehicle on a motorway against the flow of traffic = 2 points
• Failure to stop when so required by a member of the Garda Síochána = 2 points

... so, by current rules I could drive down the motorway in the wrong direction, ignoring a Garda trying to discourage me at the initial stage and then ignoring the Garda further when they order me to stop and still only get 5 points !

Then such small penalties for learner drivers driving without a fully licenced driver in the car, or people driving with tyre treads below the legal limit etc.

Is it any wonder with this type of stuff that people ignore the rules of the road ?

Absolute madness, in my view !

 

[Cervelo]

I was always under the impression that when a Motorway ran through a city i.e. a ring road that the normal rules were normally ignored by most drivers.
I have witnessed this on many European Motorways and in the States, that when outside city limits most people only use the outside lane for overtaking but when they reach city limits they use whatever lane is moving the fastest, a perfect example of this is French Motorways and the Paris Ringroad.

 

[Romulan]

I'd say that there is more speeding on the N roads with the 80/100 limits than the M roads.
Motorways tend to be more "settled" even with a 100 limit.

I am however always puzzled by those on the N4 who speed on the 80 stretch and then drop speed when the reach the 120 section.
I think they are a cross over with those that stay in the overtaking lane regardless when they hit the M4 and then switch at the last minute
to take the J6 exit.

 

[thedaddyman]

It was scary to watch prime time last night about written off cars, especially the one that had been formally "written off" twice, was still on the road and they were able to get insurance for it. There are an awful lot of bangers on the roads and maybe because the cars themselves are largely worthless, the quality of the driving of them seems to leave a bit to be desired. Guy I work with has a 98 something with so many dents in it it's scary

Having said that, and speaking as someone who drives over 1000km most weeks as a commuter, the real scary guys for me are most Audi drivers and many BMW and VW Passat drivers. If I am on the left lane on the M-Way home on the limit via cruise control, if I am going to get passed at speed then 4 times out of 5 it will be by a driver driving one of those cars. I don't think the test gives drivers of powerful cars the skillset to drive them and an enhanced licence should be required before you can drive anything above a 1.4

 

[twofor1]

Have to agree re the Audi and BMW's, if I am in the outside lane doing 120 Kph, overtaking slower vehicles in the left lane, the car up my This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language often with headlights flashing, will usually be an Audi or BMW.

Why are cars capable of ridiculously high speeds, even a basic 1.3 Toyota Corolla has a top speed of 180 Kph, that's 60 Kph more than the maximum motorway speed limit in this country, many bigger cars are capable of nearly double the maximum motorway speed, seems daft to me.

 

[MrEarl]

It was scary to watch prime time last night about written off cars, especially the one that had been formally "written off" twice, was still on the road and they were able to get insurance for it. There are an awful lot of bangers on the roads and maybe because the cars themselves are largely worthless, the quality of the driving of them seems to leave a bit to be desired. Guy I work with has a 98 something with so many dents in it it's scary

I agree with you there.

But what are we doing to remove those cars from the roads ? ... it strikes me that there is little or no enforcement, when it comes to some of the "bangers" we seen being driven around. Dare I ask if the Gardai are checking the cars the traveling community are using for example, to ensure they are road worthy, NCT'd, insured etc ? I have personally seen a number of cars coming out of some well know traveler community locations, which do not look safe.

Having said that, and speaking as someone who drives over 1000km most weeks as a commuter, the real scary guys for me are most Audi drivers and many BMW and VW Passat drivers. If I am on the left lane on the M-Way home on the limit via cruise control, if I am going to get passed at speed then 4 times out of 5 it will be by a driver driving one of those cars. I don't think the test gives drivers of powerful cars the skillset to drive them and an enhanced licence should be required before you can drive anything above a 1.4

When overtaking, obviously people have to accelorate. By default, if people are driving at the speed limit, then the person overtaking is going to go faster and ideally, significantly faster to complete the manoeuvre quickly. That said, I take the point about breaking the speed limit here obviously.

Lets then ask ourselves, what sort of cars are more suited to overtaking at higher speeds - cars with large powerful engines such as Audis, BMWs, Mercs etc. which have all been designed or made in Germany, with motorway driving in mind... or SUVs and small Nissan Micras etc ?

I would suggest that peole know their cars, by virtue of driving them. Thats relevant experience when it comes to driving them and is important when knowing about how your car reacts to breaking, accelorating, turning etc.

Having said that, I would immediately support the concept of having an enhanced licence before permitting people to drive higher powered cars, but I think the limit would be more suited to over 2ltre engines, not 1.4ltrs as you suggest. We need to be practical here, think about engine size for comfortable journeys where you have a family of five in a car for example.

Have to agree re the Audi and BMW's, if I am in the outside lane doing 120 Kph, overtaking slower vehicles in the left lane, the car up my This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language often with headlights flashing, will usually be an Audi or BMW.

Why are cars capable of ridiculously high speeds, even a basic 1.3 Toyota Corolla has a top speed of 180 Kph, that's 60 Kph more than the maximum motorway speed limit in this country, many bigger cars are capable of nearly double the maximum motorway speed, seems daft to me.

My comments about some of the cars you mention above refer.

As for your question about why we have cars with more powerful engines, why don't you ask yourself why we don't have laws appropriate to the type of cars readily available in today's market and required by consumers ? ... Ireland's failure to legislate correctly for driving (ref: the points system above, not just speed limits) seems "daft to me". I find myself wondering if we would have ever progressed from the horse and cart, if we applied the same reasoning as you seem to be applying in your comment above

 

[MrEarl]

For all of the money the Government takes from drivers on VRT, Road Tax, VAT on fuel etc.....

* We do not have a well maintained road network (aside from primary roads, or parts of Kerry where a certain politcal family get things done)
* We do not have appropriate laws or enforcement of same
* We do not appear to be taking appropriate action to improve the problems we all know exist

All that said, I hold the Government responsible and not the Gardai. It's very clear that the Gardai are under resourced and have to focus their efforts on wherever they are needed most - which in truth, should not have to be policing the speed limit on a motorway, checking NCTs & Road Tax etc.

I suppose we must remember that we have a small country with limited financial resources and we would be better off spending our limited funds on paying politcans who refused to form a government for ten weeks, then giving a few of them payrises by making the ministers in any new category we can think up

 

[twofor1]

Good afternoon Mr. Earl, apologies I am unable to use the quote or link functions.

I don't agree with your suggestion that we have laws appropriate to the types of cars readily available in today's market.

In my opinion 120 Kph is the appropriate maximum speed limit for our motorways, just because that BMW might safely travel at a higher speed in other countries, does not mean it can travel safely at a higher speed on the M8 here.​

 

[Purple]

The speed limit on the M50 is set at 100kmph because of the junction frequency. There is just too much traffic entering and exiting the road to have a higher limit.

It is factually accurate to say that a 5-series BMW is safer to drive at 140kmph than a Nissan Micra at 120kmph. The 5-series will have s shorter stopping distance and will be designed to drive at or above that speed in general usage.

I drove a crocked Citroen AX many years ago. There’s no way it was safe at 120kmph and yet it was legal to drive at that speed so yes, the car type has a bearing on what speed the driver should go at. That said speed limits are just that; the maximum speed you should drive at. There’s no law saying you can’t drive on a motorway at 60kmph (although there should be as that’s much more dangerous to other road users than driving at 160kmph).

 

[Jazz01]

agree with most posters, but regardless of what car is being driven - it's the attitude of the person driving that is usually the problem, not the car. Granted, the car may be a "banger" / not suitable for higher speed driving, BUT the driver should be aware of such limitation of the car. We can blame the government, lack of gardaí enforcement , but in the end, each & every driver makes the decision when they exceed the recommended speed limit, drive through red lights, cut into a lane, jump a queue of traffic etc etc etc

 

[MrEarl]

.....it's the attitude of the person driving that is usually the problem, not the car. ....

Very good point !

(although quality of the car, experience of the driver, road quality etc. are also contributing factors I'm sure you would agree )

 

[MrEarl]

Good afternoon Mr. Earl, apologies I am unable to use the quote.....

Hello,

If you press the "Quote" button on the bottom right hand side of each person's comment, you can quote then in your post. Simply then press the "Insert Quotes" botton on the bottom left hand side of the box you are typing your new comment in.

Once the quote appears in your posting box, simply delete the parts you don't want where necessary

Otherwise, you just type and post as usual.

I don't agree with your suggestion that we have laws appropriate to the types of cars readily available in today's market.

In my opinion 120 Kph is the appropriate maximum speed limit for our motorways, just because that BMW might safely travel at a higher speed in other countries, does not mean it can travel safely at a higher speed on the M8 here.​

While I appreciate that you do not agree with me and I respect your opinion, can you please expand a little more on your comments ?

1. Why do you not think that laws should not be influened by the type of cars available in today's market (which are used by a significant number of drivers) ? ... obviously, the quality of the road, experience and skills of the driver are other considerations here btw.
2. Why do you think 120km is the appropriate speed limit and not 150km, or 80km ?
3. Also, why would a car which has probably been designed for motorway driving, possibly be safer at a higher speed in other countries, than in Ireland (assuming we focus on just motorways for a moment) ?

 

[Seagull]

1. Why do you not think that laws should not be influenced by the type of cars available in today's market (which are used by a significant number of drivers) ? ... obviously, the quality of the road, experience and skills of the driver are other considerations here btw.
2. Why do you think 120km is the appropriate speed limit and not 150km, or 80km ?
3. Also, why would a car which has probably been designed for motorway driving, possibly be safer at a higher speed in other countries, than in Ireland (assuming we focus on just motorways for a moment) ?

My view would be
1. You need to legislate to the worst/average car on the road, not for the high performance cars. You also need to legislate based on the average driver. You need to assume 60 year olds in micras, rather than Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari.
3. Because of the standard of Irish driving, especially on motorways

And I'm afraid I'm skipping 2. I don't know what research the speed limit is based on. I'm presuming there's more behind it than someone sucking it out their thumb.

 

[PGF2016]

Is motor way driving a problem in Ireland from a safety perspective? I would have thought the majority of fatalities happen on secondary roads.

 

[cremeegg]

I see people on the M50 on the phone just about every day.

I was behind a woman two weeks ago on the same road who was on Facebook. I often see drivers looking up/down/up/down etc as they text while driving.

This is the reality of driving today. What we need is to mare it safer, self-driving cars, road trains. Big fuel efficiency gains too.

 

[Jazz01]

although quality of the car, experience of the driver, road quality etc. are also contributing factors I'm sure you would agree

yip - agree on that.. contributing factors indeed

 

[twofor1]

1. Why do you not think that laws should not be influened by the type of cars available in today's market (which are used by a significant number of drivers) ? ... obviously, the quality of the road, experience and skills of the driver are other considerations here btw.
2. Why do you think 120km is the appropriate speed limit and not 150km, or 80km ?
3. Also, why would a car which has probably been designed for motorway driving, possibly be safer at a higher speed in other countries, than in Ireland (assuming we focus on just motorways for a moment) ?

1. Our laws should be appropriate to what is safe, nothing else.
No matter how many safety features you have in a car, it still has to be driven, and drivers make mistakes.
It is also worth pointing out that not everyone has that high spec modern car. You cannot have one law for the 06 Micra and another for the 161 BMW.

2. After many years of driving, and bearing in mind our roads, cars and drivers, I think 120 Kph is the appropriate maximum speed on our motorways. I would not feel safe travelling any faster in a car, anyone that wants to travel faster than that should maybe fly. That’s my opinion, I accept others might differ.


3. It’s not all about the car, in my experience, the standard of driving on our motorways is appalling.
Many appear to be totally unfamiliar with the rules of the road regarding motorways; joining / exiting, lane discipline, overtaking and in particular braking distances for motorway speeds.
Other countries appear to have a far higher standard of motorway driving so are possibly safer at higher speeds.

 

[pauric]

The fact that you can obtain a full license without ever have driven on a motorway needs a serious looking at.

I guess it would be difficult for regional counties which don't have motorways to be able to test this but it needs reviewing.

I drive a BMW and often flash the idiot infront of me driving in the overtaking lane while not overtaking. Even if he is doing 208kmph he has no right to be there. Most of these clowns however are driving below the speed limit. I end up having to undertake them and then I continue to drive in the left lane.

It has nothing to do with what car I drive, I would flash him/her if I was driving a Micra also

 

[twofor1]

The fact that you can obtain a full license without ever have driven on a motorway needs a serious looking at.

Without doubt some motorway driving under supervision would be beneficial for learners, and going forward would definitely help to resolve our poor motorway standards.

However a lot of the bad driving is been done by the older experienced drivers, some of whom have never seen motorway rules. When I did my test the rules of the road didn’t mention motorways because there weren’t any here. The first of the motorways started to appear here, I think in the mid-eighties.

I made it my business though to familiarise myself with motorway rules, if all the other supposedly experienced drivers were to do the same, our motorways could be a lot safer.