40

Be wise with speed; a fool at forty is a fool indeed.
- Edward Young

If you’re 40 and slowing down isn’t an option, you might want to think twice about making U-turns.
- Melanie White

You know you are 40, when suddenly it dawns on you that you were built for comfort and not for speed!

At 40, you will be asked to slow down by your doctor, more than by the police.

Get off the bike, cycle lane ends

If you ever cycle in Dublin city centre on a nice red tarmac cycling lane on Custom House Quay heading West, just before you reach Talbot Memorial Bridge you will be quite puzzled, as the cycling lane abruptly ends. There is no solution given to a first-time passer-by: there is bridge with no pedestrian crossing ahead, two-lane street to the right and murky Liffey river to the left.

You're left to your own devices to figure how to cross this junction. Naturally you pull towards the street, where you learn that the first lane is left-turn only, so you'd be cutting across angry traffic trying to go straight. Not risking to squeeze between cars into second lane, you rather get off the bike and become a pedestrian, contemplating on the pushbike pun. As you've already noticed, there are no lights or pedestrian crossing to continue West on Custom House Quay. So after lengthy wait at the lights you cross over Custom House Quay, over Memorial Road, and back over Custom House Quay, where you happily continue on the cycling lane. Until MacMahon Bridge, that is...

One of the things that annoys me while driving in Dublin, is that cyclists do not use cycling lanes, and drive on the road instead. However, if I put myself into their shoes, that is very often the best solution. Nobody can expect a fit guy to get off a high-speed bike any time cycling lane abruptly ends with no solution on how to continue.

New Road Sign introduced in Ireland

On 19 March 2015 Irish government introduced a new 'Slow' sign. This new sign means that on the selected local / rural roads drivers must use their own judgement but must never exceed 80km/h in any case. The proposal is to replace the 80km/h prohibitory sign with this new ‘Rural Speed Limit’.

Although RSA claims that the new sign "is in use internationally under the Vienna signage convention" [1], it's purpose is misinterpreted. In other European countries this sign means "the end of all prohibitions" and is placed to mark the end of enforcement of Prohibitory signs such as no overtaking, roadworks, reduced speed limit, etc. However, in Ireland, the meaning of the new sign is ambiguous: is it to restrict the speed (should be Prohibitory type - round with a red border), or to warn drivers or road condition (should be Warning type - triangular with red border), or to make driver aware of change of road type to Local Roads (should be Special Regulation type - square on a blue background).

Despite an apparent uniformity and standardisation, European traffic signs present relevant differences between countries. However most European countries refer to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals — adopted in Europe by Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine. The convention has not been adopted in Ireland, Moldova, Spain, and the UK. [2]

Just like the rules of the road, Irish road signs lack consistency, misses the overall picture, and leaves unanswered questions. Seeing how it was unveiled, a thought persists that the introduction was driven more by political agenda than science, conventions and common sense. Perhaps politicians are still haunted by 2002 road sign fiasco. [3] So, exactly how slow is Slow - it's pretty big range from 20 to 80 km/h? Why not use Recommended Speed sign (white numbers on a square blue background)? How is the end of Local Roads signposted? Technically, the speed limit has not changed, as long as one is doing under 80km/h the driver is not breaking the law - how is the new sign going to be enforced? Are we back to catch-all 'Dangerous Driving'? Instead of an introduction of yet another ambiguous sign, the rules of the road, including road signage should be brought up to European standard.