The Friday Afternoon Rush

Cotta

Good Morning All,

I was wondering do things tend to go particularly wrong in and around Belfast on a Friday afternoon/evening? There always seems to be accidents and huge delays as a result.

Two weeks ago I got caught in such a delay due to an accident and I was queued back by two miles for almost an hour. I couldn't understand the delay as the radio updates advised that the accident debris had been moved onto a hard shoulder and all lanes on the motorway were open. It was only when I approached the accident I realised that everybody slowed down to inspect a car with a damaged bonnet on the hard shoulder before speeding off - only in NI or maybe not. :j

motorguy

Cotta wrote: »

Good Morning All,

I was wondering do things tend to go particularly in and around Belfast on a Friday afternoon/evening? There always seems to be accidents and huge delays as a result.

Two weeks ago I got caught in such a delay due to an accident and I was queued back by two miles for almost an hour. I couldn't understand the delay as the radio updates advised that the accident debris had been moved onto a hard shoulder and all lanes on the motorway were open. It was only when I approached the accident I realised that everybody slowed down to inspect a car with a damaged bonnet on the hard shoulder before speeding off - only in NI or maybe not. :j

Happens everywhere - its called "rubber necking" - slowing down to see whats happening on the hard shoulder or on the other carriageway.

Relative to fridays particularly - people trying to get home earlier who would normally work on, students heading home, people heading in to the city. More cars = more risk of an accident.

Cotta

Fridays do always seem to bring with them an accident or two which is unfortunate.

warmhands.coldheart

Right I'm going on a rant now so forgive me in advance please.


Heard the good folks on Stephen Nolan's show yesterday giving off about Bus Lanes. Personally I don't have a problem with them... In my opinion by FAR the BIGGEST problem with the flow of traffic in Belfast is people pulling over and/or parking "just for a minute to pop into the shop" on the main routes in and around the city. In my view if all these major routes in/out and around the city were made Urban Freeways ie NO STOPPING ON THEM. then this would go a long way to relieving congestion on the roads. The number of times on the Ormeau Road, Cregagh Road, Ravenhill Road, Lisburn Road you get folks just stopping on the road to let someone out of the car or double parking just to nip into a shop or make a delivery.... it instantly halves the capacity of the road. Even it's just for 2 or 3 mins, it has MAJOR knock on effects to the overall flow of traffic. I know it's not as simple as just not letting people stop. Provision has to be made to have adequate local/nearby parking facilities but I can't imagine this wouldn't be achievable........... They should then have camera's monitoring these Urban Freeways as they do on the bus lanes on the M1 and levy BIG Fines on people who park or stop in them (Obviously a breakdown or accident would be exempt)............
I think this would dramatically reduce congestion in the cities roads....


Rant Over

Cotta

Speaking of buses - I'm a big fan of them in general. However I've noticed some instances where Ulster bus drivers hog the fast lane on the motorway doing around 55 mph. Several have attempted to overtake perceived "slower moving traffic" only to struggle and then get caught on the fast lane - this and other such examples hampers things significantly on the motorway.

saverbuyer

Cotta wrote: »

Speaking of buses - I'm a big fan of them in general. However I've noticed some instances where Ulster bus drivers hog the fast lane on the motorway doing around 55 mph. Several have attempted to overtake perceived "slower moving traffic" only to struggle and then get caught on the fast lane - this and other such examples hampers things significantly on the motorway.

Pet peeve of mine, there's no such thing as a "fast lane".

Cotta

saverbuyer wrote: »

Pet peeve of mine, there's no such thing as a "fast lane".

70 mph lane, it shouldn't be hogged by vehichles going less than 60 mph IMHO.

saverbuyer

Cotta wrote: »

70 mph lane, it shouldn't be hogged by vehichles going less than 60 mph IMHO.

It's the overtaking lane. It's for overtaking other cars. Once you overtake, get back into the left hand lane.

lazer

Cotta wrote: »

70 mph lane, it shouldn't be hogged by vehichles going less than 60 mph IMHO.

Still wrong - it is the overtaking lane

What do you expect a driver to do if they want to drive at say 55mph and there is a vehicle on front of them doing 45mph - should they stay behind it for the whole motorway>

warmhands.coldheart

saverbuyer wrote: »

Pet peeve of mine, there's no such thing as a "fast lane".

Would agree on that..

Cotta wrote: »

70 mph lane, it shouldn't be hogged by vehichles going less than 60 mph IMHO.

Sorry Cotta, it's neither a "Fast lane" nor "70mph Lane" it's an overtaking lane......... in theory once you've overtaken the vehicle in front, you should pull back into the inside lane.... Obviously a degree of [strike]common[/strike] sense is required and you shouldn't weave in and out but it isn't a fast lane....

Cotta

You drivers are an annoyance then if you're doing a steady 70 mph there is no need to be on the slower lane - I only go onto the slow lane if someone is behind me who wants past me.

No wonder traffic is at a stand-still at times with the above attitudes.