BTW - the Irish are mad!!

Forgot to mention in my last post and I figure that it deserves its own post. As you might recall, I was taking off to drive through the countryside in County Mayo.

Off we went, driving on the wrong side of the road (the left) on the wrong side of the car (the right) with a stick shift. Great fun, and like riding a bike - you don't forget once you've done it.

Anywho, the Irish speed limits have all changed from Miles to Kilometers since I last drove there due to the EU I believe it was. Anyways, picture the road from my last post - here it is again:



Looks like your typical country lane, kinda small, no shoulder to speak of, in the picture there are at least a little bit a side to the road, which often is not the case as the grass is replaced by hedge rows, rocks, boulders, fences, bridges etc.

Being the oblivious American to metric speeds, I toodled around at the given speed limit of 100 kilometers per hour on these narrow, windy country roads. Today I decided to see what 100 kph is in miles per hour....would you believe that it is 62 mph? There are highways in America that are not that fast (oh how I love to drive through Indiana (course, it might have changed, but it was 55 when I lived there)) and this is a narrow road with blind corners, in a country where it rains a lot so the cement is often slick.....and the Irish wonder why the fatalities on their roads are so high????

While out with friends we were told over 240 this year alone.....and there were at least 6 this weekend while we were there! This is a country the size of Maine!

The 2 lane divided motorways in Ireland only have a speed limit of 120 kph (75 mph)! Not much difference when you consider the difference in driving conditions on the two!