Motorway lay-bys to be closed to private motorists

Bronte said:
Didn't know that. Here on the continent drivers always move out for the oncoming traffic it keeps everything moving smartly. Clearly you don't move if there is someone in the fast lane. I can't remember if it was the same in America when I was driving there last year.
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That's how it should be Bronte. It's sensible and as you say, keeps traffic flowing.
 
Ceist Beag said:
That's how it should be Bronte. It's sensible and as you say, keeps traffic flowing.
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One thing that drives me nuts in Ireland is you can never reverse into a parking spot because even if you indicate, the car behind you will not leave you the space to do so. My children tell me their friends in Ireland never reverse into spots as they are unable to do so because they never do it.

It will be interesting how they are going to police the new rules, because I will still use it to change driver.

I wonder is there a commercial interest at play here, to make drivers go into the full commercial ones.
 
Bronte said:
One thing that drives me nuts in Ireland is you can never reverse into a parking spot because even if you indicate, the car behind you will not leave you the space to do so. My children tell me their friends in Ireland never reverse into spots as they are unable to do so because they never do it.
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I frequently reverse into parking spaces. In fact unless I'm doing the shopping and will need access to the boot I usually reverse in.
 
Fortune said:
What are these slow and fast lanes?
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Yep, no such thing as slow and fast lanes, just overtaking lanes. Other than when there is heavy or congested traffic if you are not driving faster than the traffic on your left then you are in the wrong lane.
 
Bronte said:
One thing that drives me nuts in Ireland is you can never reverse into a parking spot because even if you indicate, the car behind you will not leave you the space to do so. My children tell me their friends in Ireland never reverse into spots as they are unable to do so because they never do it.
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I never have a problem reversing into parking spots and I almost always reverse in. If there is a car right on my bumper, preventing me from reversing in I simply indicate that I am parking and they make room but tbh that very rarely happens so it's not an issue I encounter.
 
Bronte said:
I can't remember if it was the same in America when I was driving there last year.
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Most states follow what they call the Uniform Vehicle Code that states that you should stay right in most cases, but roads of 3+ lanes are excluded.
 
joer said:
If people thought that 70 metres was too short for exiting the lay- by they wouldn't be using it ......
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I think some on here are not taking into account that not everyone is a good driver, not everyone is a fast driver, others are anxious / nervous drivers, some are not regular motorway drivers so would not be very experienced driving on them. But they are all entitled to use the motorways and lay-bys.

The powers that be rightly provide proper slip roads with 300 metre merging lanes so all driver types and vehicles can join the motorway safely from junctions. But they only provide short and narrow 80 metre merging lanes from lay-bys. That makes no sense to me. Yes some will merge safely in 80 metres but many won't be able to.

I would not be against lay-bys if there were proper length merging lanes, and a proper barrier to prevent any out of control vehicle ploughing into those in the lay-by.
 
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If I am going to need to reverse into a spot on the side of the street I indicate and stop before the space, that at least makes the car behind stop and look so once I can see they figured out what I am doing then I pull ahead and back in. The trouble with assuming they can move back and make space if they have not copped you're pulling in doesn't work if the cars behind them have already moved forward so there is no space for them to reverse.
 
Des Pondent said:
I think some on here are not taking into account that not everyone is a good driver, not everyone is a fast driver, others are anxious / nervous drivers some are not regular motorway drivers so would not be very experienced driving on them. But they are all entitled to use the motorways and lay-bys.
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With respect they shouldn't be let in a car never mind a motorway. :oops:
 
Des Pondent said:
I think some on here are not taking into account that not everyone is a good driver, not everyone is a fast driver, others are anxious / nervous drivers, some are not regular motorway drivers so would not be very experienced driving on them. But they are all entitled to use the motorways and lay-bys.

The powers that be rightly provide proper slip roads with 300 metre merging lanes so all driver types and vehicles can join the motorway safely from junctions. But they only provide short and narrow 80 metre merging lanes from lay-bys. That makes no sense to me. Yes some will merge safely in 80 metres but many won't be able to.

I would not be against lay-bys if there were proper length merging lanes, and a properly barrier to prevent any out of control vehicle ploughing into those in the lay-by.
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Surely you must understand that the powers that be had safety in mind when deciding where to put the lay- by's and must have been confident that the distance was ok for entering and exiting.
I agree with Bronte that the driver's that you are making a case for shouldn't and , I assume, wouldn't be driving on a motorway..
 
Des Pondent said:
The powers that be rightly provide proper slip roads with 300 metre merging lanes so all driver types and vehicles can join the motorway safely from junctions. But they only provide short and narrow 80 metre merging lanes from lay-bys. That makes no sense to me. Yes some will merge safely in 80 metres but many won't be able to.
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The same powers that be facilitated the ridiculously short slip road coming off the M7 (with almost 90 degree turn at the end) for the Barack Obama Plaza junction so they are not exactly consistent in their thinking.
 
Ceist Beag said:
The same powers that be facilitated the ridiculously short slip road coming off the M7 (with almost 90 degree turn at the end) for the Barack Obama Plaza junction so they are not exactly consistent in their thinking.
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That Plaza is a cheap burger place/petrol station and does not befit the honoring of a US president. I suppose when McDonagh dies it will be called Pat's Plaza. That sounds way more apt.
 
Des Pondent said:
I think some on here are not taking into account that not everyone is a good driver, not everyone is a fast driver, others are anxious / nervous drivers, some are not regular motorway drivers so would not be very experienced driving on them. But they are all entitled to use the motorways and lay-bys.
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If they are nervous, they should wait for a suitable gap in traffic before proceeding past the exit. May not always be the case but the ones I'm familiar with are in location with long sight lines back to road. If they are so nervous as to be a danger to themselves or others, they should stay off the motorways and do more practice or lessons to develop their competency. The ability to accelerate in a straight line is not one of the more difficult skills.
 
Any driver travelling at 120 kmph in the left-hand lane who sees a driver merging onto the motorway and does not move to the right-hand lane or reduce speed is a dangerous driver.
 
S class said:
Any driver travelling at 120 kmph in the left-hand lane who sees a driver merging onto the motorway and does not move to the right-hand lane or reduce speed is a dangerous driver.
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Varying speed while someone is on the on ramp is behaving dangerously. When merging, you try to get to an appropriate speed to merge into the lane. If someone's playing silly buggers and slowing down or speeding up it makes it more difficult and more dangerous
 
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