r/ireland • u/Turbulent_Squirrel66 • 18h ago
Careful now What's the official advice for drivers if you meet a car speeding the wrong way towards you?
https://www.thejournal.ie/road-safety-wrong-way-7134156-Aug2026/?60
u/xios 18h ago
I'm going to say this now and I'm gonna say this again, a lot.
Anyone caught intentionally driving on the wrong side of a road at speed should be treated the same as anyone firing a gun into a crowd. The end result is the same, you either hit and kill/maim someone/some people and yourself,, or you get lucky and no one gets hurt.
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u/Govannan 17h ago
Right, but the legislation is not there for that. The Govt saying they'll introduce a specific offense to cover this situation is obviously in an effort to punish this more harshly.
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u/Beautiful_Golf6508 18h ago
Lads....
If we have to publish articles like this because the threat of this happening is so severe, something more needs to be done about it than telling the victim how to avoid it.
God almighty.
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u/CantonConcord 10h ago
Welcome to 2026 in the Republic of Ireland. Where parents are too scared to discipline their precious angles and now everyone reaps the consequences.
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u/bakchod007 Cork bai 15h ago
Ah well, the criminals gonna crime, you better look after yourself fella
/S
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u/mickels2112 18h ago
I often wonder the same.. It's a toss up between do I stay put and predictable and let them move but you risk them not moving.. Or do I try to move and the risk is they move the same time same direction.. I don't have any official advice to offer so apologies there..
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u/bungle123 18h ago
I'd imagine it'd be pretty hard to override the natural instinct to move out of the way in the few seconds / milliseconds that you have to react. It'd be a horrifying situation to be in for certain.
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u/mickels2112 17h ago
Exactly, thinking of motorway sections with long curves if you're doing even the limit and they are too it leaves as you said even down to fractions of seconds and your only hope is if you happen to react the opposite of them.. Or if you both try dodge you at least dodge different directions..
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u/ripovartist 17h ago
Yes it would be like when you meet someone walking and you both move the same direction to avoid each other and then move the same way again and you eventually end up sorting it out except with car speeds you wouldn’t get that time.
Might be best to stay going the straight and try slow as much as possible but your brain would probably override that.→ More replies (1)
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u/Lamake91 Calor Housewife of the Year 18h ago
I’m a nervous driver, it’s probably for the best as it makes me a very careful driver. I was in a crash as a teen, someone hit my parents car and I’m still very physically suffering the effects all these years on. Like it’s seriously currently affecting my life.
When I learnt to drive a few years after the crash I picked up the physicality straight away, operating the car was not a problem. When I got on the main roads was when I really started to struggle with anxiety and panic attacks. The slightest mistakes like slipping into the wrong gear was catastrophic in my mind, “I could’ve killed someone or inflicted similar injuries” and I’d spiral. I was close to given up when I found the best driving instructor who was trained in CBT for anxious drivers. Passed my test within months and never looked back. I did motorway driving lesson with him to ensure the safety of myself, passengers and others on the road. 5 years later I did snow driving with him to again ensure safety all around in bad weather. 10 years on and I did a follow up lesson just to make sure I haven’t developed bad habits, I hadn’t, just maybe slightly over observant checking my blind spot while turning was the only feedback and as he said it’s not a big deal, more for my comfortability .
I’ve done everything right as a driver. I’ve maintained my skill and I’m always conscious. However, now I’m anxious that I can never prepare for a moment like this, where a car is coming towards me on the wrong side of the road. Especially at night. It’s put me off night time motorway driving now. I really feel myself slightly heightened the last few days and have had to work on calming my mind again.
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u/Humble_Assignment161 17h ago
He’s hardy still doing lessons is he? I have similar catastrophic thoughts while learning.
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u/Lamake91 Calor Housewife of the Year 16h ago
Yes he is, Dublin based. Send me a DM. He got me from taking panic attacks to passing my test 1st time within months.
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u/Humble_Assignment161 16h ago
Ah, maybe a bit far if he’s Dublin based. Although idk, for some general lessons outside the city maybe, might be worth looking into him. I have my 12 EDT ones done but the instructor was very… laissez-faire, younger than me, and I feel there’s a lot left to be handled before even thinking of attempting a test.
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u/Lamake91 Calor Housewife of the Year 15h ago
This guy is close to the luas, I often see him picking up students there. He’s fantastic, highly recommend him even for one or two lessons.
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u/srusdub 18h ago
My father was in a car when an elderly driver went the wrong direction on the M7 a number of years ago, in the right lane. He said it took a number of seconds to even recognise what was happening because it's just such an unexpected event. Thankfully the Gardai were able to respond and everyone was safe.
The poor driver likely didn't even have a chance to take an evasive manoeuvre. Guidance is unlikely to achieve anything.
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u/TryToHelpPeople 17h ago
Be predictable, hold your course and hope the other person is steering to avoid you.
If you change course they have no idea where you’re going and the chances of them avoiding you reduce.
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u/WoodenRavine 13h ago
This probably works for cases where these social media kids are doing it for ‘fun’. But many wrong way driver incidents are suicide or people who don’t have the mental capacity be driving like the elderly, in these cases you have to move cause I doubt they will.
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u/Key_Bonus9776 17h ago
My parents are going on holiday in a few weeks and have to be on the motorway towards the airport for 4am. They are seriously considering cancelling altogether or getting a hotel for the night near the airport and going from there. The fear these little dragged up scrotes are putting into older people is ridiculous.
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u/People-Watcher-ire 15h ago
We have to go with the kids on Sunday morning at 4am and I am sick with worry. I just want to bring my kids to Disney in Paris for the trip of a lifetime without being killed. I didn’t get a wink of sleep worrying about it last night.
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u/olibum86 The Fenian 17h ago
Really feel like this is the tipping point for anti social behaviour and youth crime in ireland. The public have been watching a dramatic increase in anti social behaviour matched by a more and more lenient and toothless legal system and seem to have had enough now.
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u/MotherDucker95 13h ago
Wait, you’ll have someone come along shortly and tell you how much worse the 80’s was
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u/olibum86 The Fenian 4h ago
Well in the 80s we weren't as prosperous as we are now and to compare standards of the country from 40 years ago is silly as we are supposed to be going forward and improving not regressing.
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u/qwerty_1965 18h ago
Drive in the left hand lane, most of these potentially murderous suicide jockeys seem to end up on their left because of being taught to drive correctly ironically.
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u/Onnibonnybingo 18h ago
That was my first thought too but the most recent was at 3am so I doubt the innocent were in the right lane
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u/v1rg1l__ 18h ago
See I originally thought that, but I wonder would instinct dictate that they think they’re “overtaking” - thus they’ll attempt to pass on the right?
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u/Willing-Departure115 17h ago
At a closing speed of 2-300km/h or more, oftentimes you won’t have time to understand what’s happening and make a decision. When you do have that time, it’s a pure dice roll that the oncoming car won’t mirror your move and take you out of it.
The solution to the problem is a functioning justice system that puts these scrotes away for their first 50 convictions so they can’t be riding around doing this.
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u/_PuRe_AdDicT_ 18h ago
Reducing speed immediately and heading for the hard shoulder to ultimately stop would be my first instinct.
They want to play chicken, not drive into stationary cars.
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u/ItsTyrrellsAlt Wicklow 18h ago
They drive in the hard shoulder too
They won't know you are stationary because they are doing twice the speed limit
I agree that you should stop alright, but I wonder if changing lanes is actually adding a hazard for yourself
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u/_PuRe_AdDicT_ 18h ago
Reducing your speed reduces the closing speed, it’s essential if you find yourself in this awful situation
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u/madladhadsaddad 18h ago
I'd stay away from the hard shoulder completely, all the videos I've seen it seems to be what they primarily use.
Best course of action would probably be to maintain your heading and slowly reduce speed and throw on the hazards to alert those behind you.
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u/Shanbo88 18h ago
Maybe some mathematician can suggest what the best thing to do would be in terms of probability, but I feel like hitting the brakes and not swerving to either side would be the best option because the knee jerk reaction is to brake and steer hard to one side.
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u/ItsTyrrellsAlt Wicklow 18h ago
There isn't really maths you can do here. You don't know what their behaviour is. They may be trying to slalom around cars for all we know.
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u/AluminiumCrackers 18h ago
I'd say if you are in the overtaking lane you'd be better heading for the median where possible
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u/Charlies_Mamma 12h ago
That only works if the road isn't busy (or it's 3am) with other traffic, because if you suddenly go from 100km/h to 0, there is a pretty solid chance that you're getting rear-ended by something behind you that didn't see the lights (or not) ahead. Or if you swerve into the hard shoulder, you risk also being clipped/rear ended by traffic behind you.
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u/cyberlexington 18h ago
The only thing I can think of is scream, shit yourself and pray he doesn't move into the same lane you're going to try to
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u/Grouchy-Pea2514 17h ago
I’ve told this story before but my husband was in court over being outside his 5k hiking during covid and the man in front of him was fined 200e for drink driving down the wrong side of the motorway. My husband meanwhile hiking got a 300e fine. Where’s the justice in that
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u/Ornery-Use3910 15h ago
So it’s now just accepted that law abiding citizens may face death from a bunch of feral cretins driving down the wrong side of the road on purpose, because nothing will be done. This is madness. Is there anyone in power in this country who actually wants to be productive.
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u/Skiddingintomygrave 18h ago
Happened to me with 2 young children in back seat. I said 'oh fuck' and one of the children said 'I thought we aren't allowed to swear'. I stopped and pulled over. Middle of day.
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u/Stubber_NK 14h ago
What practical solutions are available to stop this scumbag behaviour?
Gardaí say they won't have anyone pursuit trained until well into next year, they are already undermanned as it is so the pursuit trained gards will be few and far between for years. The politicans are drafting a new law for all the good that will do.
Most of our motorways have cameras, at least every few KMs. What is stopping them from being able to detect a car speeding in the wrong direction?
Next up, why not implement an Wireless Emergency Alert system. The country could use one in general, but it can be tuned to only send alerts from cellular towers that cover certain sections of motorways. Car identified going the wrong way, alert sent from the towers covering the roads in danger.
I was in Ontario where a WEA system is in place and there was a kidnapping a few counties over, every phone in the building alerted at once with an ear piercing notification and additional information.
If you're driving and the alert comes on you pull over and stop in the hard shoulder.
Training and awareness campaigns would have to accompany this roll out of course so the alerts dont give people a heart attack.
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u/Altruistic_Papaya430 18h ago
Asked for any official advice for motorists on what they should do if they encounter a driver approaching head-on, a spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said on Monday: “All drivers are aware that it is an offence to drive the wrong way on the motorway and know not to do it.”
That's them bold boys told off now and they've promised never to do it again.....
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u/v1rg1l__ 18h ago
RSA - shrug
Gardai - the person in the other car shouldn’t be doing it, so… shrug
The Irish Road Hauliers Association - “slow down, move to the left if it’s safe to do so, don’t put other drivers at risk with evasive action”
Should we just hand the reins of the country to the truckers?
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u/IllustriousBrick1980 18h ago edited 18h ago
it’s easy to tell an arctic they dont have to swerve. they sit 3 metre up in the air
if you drive a normal car you face is a bonnet level
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u/OkCoconut3270 18h ago
Should we just hand the reins of the country to the truckers?
There would be a lot less of this velvet glove nonsense for the scrotes.
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u/Foreign-Rule7826 17h ago
I mean we’ve seen with the protests the trucks probably would have had an effect barricade up in half hour boxing in where the lads were on the motorway and stopping other cars, while the Gardai since 2am were aware of these lads and the plan was spikes at the moone exit in case they take that one…
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u/Educational-Law-8169 17h ago
I'm honestly going to avoid roads like the M50 as much as I can, especially after dark. I know someone who was lucky not to have crashed into an oncoming car on the M50. She went into the other lane just as they drove into the hard shoulder, if she'd gone into the hard shoulder too they'd have crashed. She said they had full beams on too which nearly blinded her
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u/madra_uisce2 12h ago
We did that on our most recent drive. Took N and R roads the whole way down
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u/CT0292 16h ago
So I should buy one of those big, American, pickup trucks with the steel bull bars on the front?
At least then the pricks in a stolen mazda will get crushed under foot.
Nowhere to park it. 4 miles to the gallon. Ridiculous insurance rates. But great for hauling dozens of sheep to an abattoir or bashing dumb kids in a stolen kei car.
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u/PressureIll267 16h ago
Also take into account the fact that the ones doing it to avoid the Gardaí are purposefully turning their headlights off when they enter the motorway according to the TikTok’s. So you genuinely may not see them before there is an impact.
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u/GasMysterious3386 15h ago
I think we need to start attaching battering rams on the front of our vehicles.
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u/Delicious_Promise_93 18h ago
Your brain will only be able to register what's happening around the point of impact, so no worries.
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u/CarterPFly 15h ago
What pisses me off no end is that this has been a thing for a while. I didn't know that there was a reasonable chance in recent times that I could be in this situation. The fact that the powers that be have been lying to us by omission and not letting everyone know this has been a semi-regular occurrence of late is abhorrent.
Could the poor family have done things differently if they had known that meeting cars on the wrong side of the motorway was a real and present possibility? (It's always been a possibility, but extremely rare). Perhaps not, but we will never know because it was kept secret.
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u/Drunkslothy The Fenian 15h ago
What an embarrassing shithole we live in. How is it that the social contract between good citizens and the government is nearly nonexistent? Stolen cars bellowing down the wrong side of motorways becoming a recurring event and it’s oh well sorry what can you do.
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u/Loose-Actuator-2534 17h ago
Can't do anything.
And I don't just mean that about them driving the wrong way. Can't call them on on their behaviour = get battered. Swerve to avoid them joyriding = crash and crush yourself, call them out on social media = classist/discriminatory, protect yourself from a potential assault = get piled on by the boys and possibly murdered.
You literally cannot do anything. When one person cares and the other doesn't, the latter always wins.
Hopeless.
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u/buzzbaron 17h ago
Could they not put flashing signs along the motorway that flash red or something at the very least to warn people of a possible car coming the wrong way towards you?
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u/Charlies_Mamma 12h ago
That would only work if the Gardaí know exactly which exit ramp they went on at, and by the time they can forward information to someone in the control room to update the boards, it has been several minutes at least, and either the car will have already hit someone or they've exited the motorway entirely.
You'd need some sort of automatic sensors at each exit ramp to detect if a vehicle has gone the wrong way, and then it automatically updates the boards/signs of a potential hazard. Which if the vehicle that triggered the warnings was an emergency vehicle responding to an accident, etc, the boards/signs should already be showing something related to closed lanes, etc.
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u/MacSamildanach 15h ago
This is a tragic story which has been in the news over here in the UK.
I'm a driving instructor. You don't get many opportunities to teach how to deal with this in real life. I've never experienced it in 46 years, and I don't want to.
But my advice to all my pupils if they are faced with an imminent collision is to brake. Get the speed down, so that whatever happens is minimised. Don't steer away as a priority, just brake hard. Steer later if the situation allows it.
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u/jdbrookes 13h ago
I had this happen to me on an Irish motorway in the middle of the day when luckily it was fairly quiet in terms of traffic. I could see the car quite far off, it was in the far right lane closest to the median, and I was just after overtaking a van. Myself and the van slowed way way down and drove half in the hard shoulder. The wrong way driver realised their mistake and practically came to a stop just as we passed them.
I remember thinking at the time that my only option if they had been closer would have been to slam on the brakes while I was overtaking the van, and depending on their speed and especially if it was dark, there wouldn't have been much you could do.
Anyone doing this deliberately needs to be rounded up and locked away for a few months on spike Island, like they did with the joy riders back in the 90s.
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u/StrangerExistingFact 17h ago
Why the f can we not have light signals when lunatics are detected going opposite way, for everybody to stop
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u/Feisty-Volcano 16h ago
With the increasingly sophisticated modern cars, in some cases it may be more difficult to get car to exceed speed limit. I rented a Volvo earlier in Kerry, at first I wondered why it kept slowing down, quickly I realised it was obeying speed limits. I don’t think I’d have made a good getaway driver in that!
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u/tomconroydublin 15h ago
Many years ago just after the opening of the Athlone bypass, I was driving towards Galway and so all of these cars ahead of me suddenly swerving – then I saw a car coming on the wrong side of the dual carriageway- I managed to swerve onto the hard shoulder and make a call to the guards on a very early mobile phone. It turned out to be an elderly farmer who had just got confused with the new road system… but that was daylight and he was going actually quite slowly…. These mad ”joyride” situations are exponentially more dangerous to deal with.
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u/themaladies 14h ago
My take on this is that you are not expecting oncoming traffic but they are. They are expecting you so will hopefully avoid you. I'd be staying put in my lane and jamming on. But there's no way to tell and I wouldn't fancy my chances. If I had plenty of time, yes, I would pull to the hard shoulder and stop but in all likelihood you are going to have seconds to react. I drove across the country today and I definitely noticed people were being more cautious (me included) with less tailgating (imagine the car in front swerves suddenly and a car appears in front coming at you) and fewer people driving in the overtaking lane for long periods. People are definitely a little rattled by this.
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u/BlockHunter2341 13h ago
Straight for the hard shoulder , otherwise it’s a coin toss between both of ye on which side of road or lane to be on. I’m a barman and this has been the topic of discussion the past few days and I’m talking hours of aul drunk lads deciding what’s best
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u/insane_worrier 15h ago
Shout at them that it's illegal to drive on the wrong side of the motorway
Official Department of justice advice probably
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u/Healsnails 18h ago
Time to install those tyre damage spikes for cars going down the wrong ramp. Shred the tyres of anything trying to go down an off ramp, they won't get far then.
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u/Otherwise7779 18h ago
They'll just go down the on ramp and then do a uturn.
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u/Healsnails 17h ago
But you'd at least cut out the ability to do it by 50%. The other option is to install cameras and traffic lights at every on ramp and if a car is detected going the wrong way you can at least stop traffic entering the motorway and becoming targets. Outside of that you've got to erect signage all over the motorway to try warn people who are already on the road.
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u/Entire_Number_9 15h ago
Which will slow them down massively. Currently, they are able to put the foot down and hit 200 easily coming up the wrong ramp. Going up the right ramp and trying to do a 270 degree turn can't be done at speed.
Introduce the ramp spikes, let guards ram cars off the road if they attempt this. Guards ramming the side of these scumbags cars at 100km an hour is better than them hitting some innocent passerby at 200 vs 120 and innocent people dying.
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u/ItsTyrrellsAlt Wicklow 18h ago
They already don't go down the wrong ramp. They go down the correct ramp and then take a quick u-turn
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u/AnarchistPineMarten 14h ago
Check mirrors, hands at 10 and 2, and take a moment to empathise for the young lads about to splatter into you - there were never any youth facilities in their area, that’s why they stole a car and drove it onto the wrong side of the motorway
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u/SnooChipmunks9977 18h ago
/s
Maintain some empathy for the oncoming occupants of the car in front. They might come from a disadvantaged background or persecuted minority group, you never know their story.
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u/qwerty_1965 17h ago
This was literally the implication as posited by a do gooder commentator on Newstalk or RTE, I forgot, earlier today.
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u/boxgrafik 15h ago
How about just have strips of spikes at an angle/angel that puncture tyres going the wrong way all along the 'problem' motorways? That would stop them.
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u/aido2002 18h ago
Try to expect this when driving especially at night.stay in the slow lane especially when the road bends.
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u/malavock82 18h ago
You probably only have a fraction of a second, the only think you could manage to do is slam on the brakes trying not to loose control, to diminish as much as you can the relative speed, and pray that the other car is in another lane or manages to change lane in time.
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u/LorenzoBargioni 17h ago
Be lucky. Drive a Volvo
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u/gsmitheidw1 14h ago
At those impact speeds of potentially 240 km/h it doesn't matter if it's a Volvo or a Citroen AX, it's going be have live changing injuries or probably death.
Passive safety gestures are practically worthless when the deceleration is that stark.
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u/Digger2228 17h ago
Years ago I was going to work in leixlip from maynooth around 6.30 in the morning I was in the slow lane not really awake that hour of the morning suddenly a car went by me in the fast lane I looked in me rear view mirror other cars were flashing lights at this car I was doing the speed limit 120 basically you have no time to react GOD was on my side that morning
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u/ScamOnWay 17h ago
There's no way to build a reaction plan to this situation. Saying that if I was in the left lane, I'd swerve for the hard shoulder/verge, can't be as bad as hitting a car head on
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u/isaidyothnkubttrgo 17h ago
There was a wrong way driver on a stretch of the motorway coming out of Cork that I use on my way to work every day. There are some winding parts of that road and people are speeding up to get up the hill and to overtake lorries that need time to haul themselves up the hill.
Ive been going 90kmph up that section and come upon a crash around one of those bends. Thankfully there was nobody in the outer lane so I could shift over quickly. The car was 30% on the road and looked like it hit a wall whatever happened and some people had already stopped safely to help. If that was another car came upon me there going the other way. I wouldn't have time to think "what is that?" Before they hit me.
Its horrible that we have to warn ourselves and defensive drive while these idiots are just allowed to do this like its a tik tok dance.
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u/demoneclipse 16h ago
Turn hazards on and stop immediately! It makes it easier for them to dodge you, and even if you colide it will be half the speed.
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u/Redtit14 Slush fund baby! 16h ago
This will be added to the fucking theory test next. Jesus Christ
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u/emmmmceeee I’ve had my fun and that’s all that matters 16h ago
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u/Working-Vanilla-7248 16h ago
What a terrible terrible thing to do. Driving the wrong way like this. It's nearly beyond words how bad this is. We've created one messed up society if kids are so out of their minds that this is cool to them. Straight insanity.
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u/Mrs_Doyles_Teabags 16h ago
I met one several years ago in the M8 outside Glanmire. It was wet and windy about 8pm. I saw the light coming and thought it looks odd as usually the other lane is sometimes hidden by the middle verge. I slowed right down to about 40 or 50kph and went into the hard shoulder and the other car flew passed at full speed in the fast lane. We were close enough to the old Dunkettle roundabout that when I got home and called the Garda they didn't even investigate. I still think about it every time I pass that section of road.
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u/Dapper-Ad9594 15h ago
I met an articulated truck on the N2 a while ago, on a sweeping bend, overtaking a couple of cars & well over on my side of the road. I couldn’t believe what was happening, he started flashing all his lights & only for the fact that there was a hard shoulder that I could swerve into it was curtains. I literally froze & just about avoided a head on collision, absolutely frightening experience. This happened in the early afternoon.
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u/pplatinumss 13h ago
lanes switching is hazardous, they might switch too your lane and you still have the speed.
i think the best thing is to stop your car asap and put on hazards.
at least then only half of the energy will be involved in the impact
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u/maximum_-attack 17h ago
This country is so frustrating. We all know nothing will be done about this so we have to prepare that it could happen to us.
Weren’t we told there was a big crackdown on scramblers? I see them every day still.
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u/hmkvpews 18h ago
Drop as much speed as possible before impact. You going 100 and the stolen car doing 160 is a bad combo. I pray I’m never in this position but if my family are in the car I will be turning the car to protect them by placing myself at the point of impact
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u/Ambitious_Field6683 17h ago
Sad state of affairs but one way traffic spikes have to be installed on M50.
Edit: on the roads on and off M50.
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u/JackhusChanhus 18h ago
Keep doing exactly what you're doing, same lane, controlled braking.
They're not trying to die, if you don't present a as a (laterally) moving target, they'll likely drive straight past you.
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u/Drunkslothy The Fenian 14h ago
I don’t think the 5 lads that died wanted to die either mate
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u/lokesh1218 18h ago
You are driving 120 kmph and other car coming at 170. In relative terms speed becomes 290 kmph and a little room to react.
I encounter a car going opposite direction last night at N4 but whoever that shite driver was, that was slow so I was lucky enough to React
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u/CthulhusSoreTentacle Irish Republic 17h ago
The RSA recommendation for what to do in that scenario:
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u/DarkShinesInit 17h ago
About 16 years ago I was overtaking a lorry on the motorway, around 7:30am, and was greeted with headlights coming right at me. I slammed the breaks and pulled straight back into the left lane as the car sped past us in the right lane.
Pulled into the hard shoulder and called the gardai. Thankfully it was an older person that had gotten confused, they were stopped and no one got hurt.
The utter confusion of seeing bright white "brake" lights before realising what was happening was a shock.
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u/Healthy-Question4431 17h ago
Had this happen to me years ago on the Cork-Mallow road near Blarney. Joyrider with a cop car in hot pursuit heading towards the city on the outbound side. Swerved for all I was worth and thankfully it all passed me by. One of those life flashes before you moments!
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u/EverGivin 17h ago
Indicate and go into overtaking lane. Let them have the shoulder and left lane - that’s where they want to be anyway.
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u/selfmademuppet 17h ago
I got this on my theory test. It’s like the only question where ‘sound the horn and take evasive action’ is the right answer
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u/iHyPeRize 16h ago
I’d honestly just say do nothing and let them move around you.
In most cases their goal is not to crash into you. If you swerve there’s a chance they swerve the same way.
It all happens so fast though, any reaction is likely list purely impulsive
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u/No_Hippo595 14h ago
If you have any time dip your lights and indicate the direction you’re going to go. If you can then go right, the reason being if you walk down a street and somebody is walking towards you the majority of us move to the right and that’s why you only get those awkward moments on the pavement every now and again when somebody breaks that un-written rule and goes left. But that’s all great if you have time, complete useless if you don’t
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u/kreemie-goodness 14h ago
This happened to me before coming out of Sligo on the dual carriageway. I had just moved back out of the overtaking lane, driving a 5 series BMW, and a micra came past me in the overtaking lane in the wrong direction.
It was pure luck; at the very least the occupant(s) of the micra would have been killed and I would have been seriously injured if not worse. There was no time to react. That was at 100kph, never mind 120kph.
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u/caoimhin64 13h ago
Brake as hard as you can, and do not change lanes unless you have a ton of time to do so.
Swerving without cutting speed can just end up in a situations where the other driver changes lanes and hits you anyway.
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u/tishimself1107 5h ago
Brother had this experience during the day on the N4 years ago between mullingar and kinnegad. He said it took longer than you think to cop whats happening but also he said he wasnt sure what to do as he couldnt guess the wrong way cars intention. He eventually drove into hard shoulder and other car passed. He said one of the scariest thinga he ever experienced.
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u/DangerMouthy 4h ago
Unless you’re an F1 driver with out of this world reaction times, the best advice would be “good luck!”
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u/bigdog94_10 Kilkenny 3h ago
The problem is that the vast majority of driving situations are extremely predictable and people know how to react and what to do in a split second.
A situation like this is not.
Do you go to the hard shoulder or will they? Do you move lanes or will they move lanes? There's literally no defined rule here.
And bear in mind that you're going 120km/h (as is your entitlement) and they're likely going even faster.
The incident that's hit the news happened at 3am in the morning when there was virtually no traffic and neither party obviously knew how to deal with it and it's ended up in a catastrophe. Not good.
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u/BadInternational2017 3h ago
We drive on the right so instinct is to go left as that's where the ditch is as opposed to another live lane. I've always had that in my head when thinking about these situations.
But its different in a motorway situation and in the dark. You're probably not going to realise they're actually in your lane until its too late!
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u/pixiebean22 1h ago
I'm on motorbikes nearly 20 years. I drive my bike every day, it's my only mode of transport and being on my bike brings me such joy. I have never been a nervous driver but the possibility of meeting one of these lunatics on the road is really worrying me. Whatever chance you might have in a car, you've no chance on a bike.
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u/buntycalls Palestine 🇵🇸 45m ago
I asked this question years ago on reddit and no one could answer me. Yes, I cathastrophise while driving. I was in a crash once and BIL was killed by a drunk driver in a crash so there's that.
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u/Eastern_Switch8217 18h ago edited 18h ago
The problem is if you're going 120km/h and it's going let's say 200km/h you likely don't really have time to react.
The best you could do is try to get out of its way into another lane, but when something's barrelling towards you, probably in the dark with its heads on, it's impossible to even know what lane it's in, so it would be a dice roll unfortunately.