Worse than anticipated

The M11 speed limit is probably more dangerous than I had expected. The left lane traffic tends to move at around the 40-50 range (about 10MPH faster at night, however), but the outside lane is still humming at 70+. The left lane has been narrowed by the placement of the large concrete blocks, but the right lane remains unchanged.

This situation is a disaster waiting to happen. Why put up those big 40MPH signs if no one is going to enforce that limit? Already, I've seen some close calls - particularly when someone going 50 in the left lane pulls out to overtake someone doing 45.

These are the changes that need to be made pronto:

1. Enforce the speed limits
2. Cover the 40MPH signs (or increase the speed limit to 60MPH ) after dark and on non-working days
3. Move the concrete blocks back so that the left lanes are the correct width (if this is done, the speed limit can probably be safely raised to 50MPH).

'Polluter pays'

Minister Cullen wants us all to pay for our waste according to the volume we produce. I suppose, given the problems we have with landfills, that's fair enough, although it is anti-family. (Families generate a lot more waste than single people or even a household of two adults.) However, before he rolls out such a scheme, I hope some pressure can be brought to bear on our own local refuse collectors – Greenstar.

If I'm going to pay for the amount of waste I generate (as opposed to the amount of recyclables I use, presumably) Greenstar should ensure that they are as flexible with regards to recyclables as other local authorities. We are forbidden from putting juice and milk cartons into our recyclables bags, yet in most other areas that I'm aware of, juice and milk cartons are allowed in the recyclables. These two items probably make up 30% of my refuse each week. Without those, I could probably get down to one big bag of waste every two weeks.

{The article from the Independent seems to believe that paying by volume and paying by weight are the same thing. Obviously, that's not true.}

New speed limits

Last night I experienced the 'new' M11 for the first time. Entering the Motorway at Loughlinstown I was greeted by a big, fluorescent green sign indicating the new speed limit – 40MPH. I made every effort to maintain that speed, but, of course, I was being passed by people who hadn't heeded the new speed restrictions. Traveling at 40 when those who you're sharing the road with are doing 70 or more is totally unsafe. The new limit must be enforced or scrapped.

Also, why is there no "resume your normal speed" sign? I continued at 40MPH well past any obvious sign of construction - right to the end of the Motorway where 60MPH is the limit.

More on the M11

It seems that Newstalk may have got it slightly wrong. I drove from Bray to Loughlinstown and back this afternoon and saw a much longer work area, but no speed limit signs. At all. Even the 40MPH signs that had been there are not there. At least, I didn't see them. So, it's either legal to go 70MPH for the full stretch along the road works OR the signs are totally insufficient for the purpose intended.

And, southbound appears unaffected. I don't think there'll be any speed restriction on the southbound traffic.

M11 speed limit

I heard on Newstalk today that the speed limit on the M11 between Loughlinstown and Bray (both ways) is going to be set at 40MPH for the foreseeable future. This is not only annoying, but almost certainly ridiculous.

If you didn't live in the area you'd surely believe that this reduced speed was a new development. Yet, anyone living out this way knows that the speed limit for the last mile or two has been set at 40MPH for a long time now. And, you'd also know that NO ONE observes the 40MPH limit.

When the reduced speed area was first introduced, I tried to travel at 40MPH. But, because it was totally unenforced, most people carried on at 70MPH. This was going to lead to a serious accident someday as the gap between those two speeds was too great. Eventually, those of us who obeyed the signs started going a little faster until we got back up to around 60MPH through that zone. I'm still generally stuck in the left hand lane at that speed and passed by those who are going 70+.

The key question really is whether this extended 40MPH zone will be regulated or not. If not, then this announcement is a joke.

Heroin deaths in Dublin

I was stunned last night watching the main evening news on RTE to see Liz McManus being interviewed {requires RealAudio} on the Bray seafront when talking about heroin use. Her image with Bray Head behind her was shown just after shots of heroin being drawn into a syringe and scattered heroin waste. The impression I got was that the Bray seafront was a hotbed of heroin use.

I wish Ms. McManus had chosen to be interviewed in her office. The report was about Dublin as a whole and there was no need to include identifiable scenes from Bray in the report.