There have been some who have called motoring a joy. Unfortunately in Ireland there is nothing enjoyable about driving. This is due to downright dangerous and selfish twits who insist on making the roads a dangerous place. Dangerous driving does occur in other countries, but the focus of this blog post will be on Ireland because some small reference will be made the Irish traffic legislation.

There are many infringements and examples of dangerous behaviour on the roads in Ireland and those responsible show no sign of stopping as long as they think they can get away with it.

Some of these problems are where motorists think it is okay not to purchase insurance just because they do not want to or because they cannot afford to. These uninsured motorists are not entitled to drive, yet they feel like they are. Another issue is with speed and mobile phone use. The drivers who most often drive with excessive speed or use a mobile phone while driving are generally poor drivers even without excessive speed or mobile phone use. Why might they think excessive speed or mobile use would improve their poor driving. The only conclusion is that they must be completely stupid. The driver who insists on speeding will often engage in the dangerous practice of tailgating motorists who choose to drive safely and according to speed limits. The practice of tailgating is one of those offenses that is openly ignored by An Garda Siochana despite being an official traffic offense that carries a fine and penalty points. Other examples include the drivers who are simply selfish and do not care who they kill or injure on the road. These completely selfish motorists are the idiots who consume alcohol and other drugs and break red lights.

The previous section illustrates how dangerous the roads can be for other drivers, however this also makes the roads dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians. Unfortunately the former is not innocent in this as they seem to think they are entitled to cycle across footpaths and break red lights. In recent times, the cyclists have been joined by the twits using motorised scooters on footpaths.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) are also not without blame for the conditions on the Irish road and the result of their policies borders on neglect. They are selective around issues that they wish to create safety campaigns for. To date, there has been no safety campaign in Ireland to stamp out tailgating yet this practice is widespread across the country. Another failure of the RSA is around changes for learner drivers. These changes amount to a job only half done where there is no will or desire to finish the job. While it is welcome that learner drivers must purchase driving lessons from qualified driving instructors before being allowed sit a driving test, unfortunately the driving test itself has not been changed or adapted. The RSA through the N-plates have a way of highlighting the newly qualified drivers. Unfortunately they still cannot see the huge numbers of drivers who display N-plates after having passed the driving test and who still do not know the basics around safe driving.

Driving in Ireland is not a joy. It is simply another stressful mode of transport.