Feared for my life

cormie

Just yesterday I was going onto the M11 Northbound from the Bray/Shankil Roundabout. There was a white van behind me and all of a sudden I see the guy in a yellow van behind him, undertake him on a tiny stretch of road (see pic 1 attached). At this stage I was thinking what the funk and started fearing for myself and my sister. He was gaining on me quite fast and was swerving all over the place. I was going as fast as I could anyway as I was about to go into a 120 zone, and this takes time going from 50 to 120 in a 1.1l:rolleyes: had the foot to the ground. All I was thinking was to get out of his way. As I got off the slip road onto the M11 I got into the middle lane and the van undertook me and I had a glimpse to see the driver staring at us, my sister said he was sticking his tongue out, then I went heavy on the horn for a few seconds. The white van was close behind him and I saw them both speed on, I was still trying rising up to 120. Up ahead I saw the white van undertake from the slip road off to loughlinstown back onto the M11, or is it M50 at this stage? (see pic 2). Unfortunately I was too concerned about our safety to even think about getting his reg, didn't cross my mind till he was ahead and I wasn't going to break 120 to try and catch up with him either. He was in a yellow Pick Up/Transit type van. Couldn't tell you what model or even year. I'm not sure if he was having a race with the white van or what but just thought I'd get that off my chest.

Anyone else see this maniac? It was around 14:50 or so at the time.

TempestSabre

cormie wrote:

....I was going as fast as I could anyway as I was about to go into a 120 zone, and this takes time going from 50 to 120 in a 1.1l:rolleyes: had the foot to the ground. All I was thinking was to get out of his way. ...The white van was close behind him and I saw them both speed on, I was still trying rising up to 120. ...

Why speed up? That makes no sense. Indicate, slow down and pull over is what you should have done. You should be looking behind and see these jokers well in advance. If a van is blocking your view you should let him pass and increase your seperation until you regain decent sightlines front and rear. Do not become pressurised into doing something stupid. Thats a rookie mistake.

cormie

The road was nowhere near wide enough to pull in, there isn't even enough room to let two cars side by side. Once he completed the undertake manouver the road was narrow. The guy in the white van behind me was keeping safe distance etc. I'm still not sure if they were racing. The white van was pulling no dangerous moves. Just the fact it was 2 vans made me curious. I had to speed up in case he went into the back of me, Big van vs 91 Fiesta, me = dead!

See attached pic for the exact stretch of road. Between the two red lines are road, the red lines is actually fencing so you can't go beyond them. And it looks like there is a white line in the middle of the road, but there isn't, the road is only wide enough for one car and the fact he was swerving all over the place made me not want to take any chances by giving him such a small space to work with.

elexes

considering he stuck his tongue out i think he was just trying to show off or get a buzz of somesort

imo should of slammed on brakes . tho it would of not be the safest manover in the world considering the manovers he was doing . him meeting your rear of your car could of copped him on in future . you done good just keeping your head calm and driving in a way in which he could perdict .next time report him to the guards . hes trying to cause a axident driving the way you illustrated imo

Cake Fiend

elexes wrote:

him meeting your rear of your car could of copped him on in future

...or caused the (small) car to spin out of control and possibly kill the occupants and potentially those of any nearby cars. I really hope you don't drive.

elexes

Sico wrote:

...or caused the (small) car to spin out of control and possibly kill the occupants and potentially those of any nearby cars. I really hope you don't drive.

or could of cause the car to go off the railings into a bus full of nuns or a truck of pillows and yes i do drive

how far into my post did you read

C_Breeze

wow, you get scared easily.

I would have joined in and showed them the best part of a VTI engine and my middle finger, mwhahah

Trotter

I think you did well.. its fools like that who'll cause awful heartache for innocent people.

A bit off topic, but where did you get the maps?? They're very sharp.

stevenmu

Trotter wrote:

I think you did well.. its fools like that who'll cause awful heartache for innocent people.

Yeah, the ideal thing to do with these idiots is to carry on driving exactly as you would if they weren't there. By their nature they're entirely unpredictable and if you take some unexpected action to avoid what you think they're going to do, you risk catching them off guard and making things worse.

If you drive fairly predictably, then hopefully they'll find their way by, altough it is of course a good idea to anticipate them not managing to and having some kind of plan for what to do if this happens. For e.g. I spotted a guy behind me undertaking on the M50 one time (in the hard shoulder), we were coming up to an off ramp with a queue on it so I thought he'd probably try and pull back in to my lane and I kept an eye on spaces in the overtaking lane just in case. When he did decide that he wanted the piece of road my car was on, and didn't care that I was there at the time, I was able to switch into the overtaking lane. (fecker pulled straight back into the hard shoulder after we passed the ramp and shot off again without me being able to get his reg)

cormie

Got the aerial photos here:)

I think if I tried anything I would have ended up in quite a bad situation, he looked like he would have enjoyed ploughing into the back of me.

C_Breeze, when your trodding along in a 1l car and some maniac is swerving dangerously behind you riding up your ass, yes, you do get a bit scared since you can't go any faster, have nowhere to turn and you know if he goes into the back of you you're pretty much screwed. I'm not too sure what a VTI engine is, but I'm pretty sure I probably don't have one:rolleyes:

Litcagral

cormie wrote:

Got the aerial photos here:)

I think if I tried anything I would have ended up in quite a bad situation, he looked like he would have enjoyed ploughing into the back of me.

C_Breeze, when your trodding along in a 1l car and some maniac is swerving dangerously behind you riding up your ass, yes, you do get a bit scared since you can't go any faster, have nowhere to turn and you know if he goes into the back of you you're pretty much screwed. I'm not too sure what a VTI engine is, but I'm pretty sure I probably don't have one:rolleyes:

Did you report it to the Gardai?

cormie

I didn't get the reg:(

TempestSabre

cormie wrote:

The road was nowhere near wide enough to pull in, there isn't even enough room to let two cars side by side. Once he completed the undertake manouver the road was narrow....

If a van could get past undertaking, you could pull in. If there really was no room to pull in then you slowing down would slow everyone down, because they couldn't get past. If he was keeping his distance, then wheres the problem?

Litcagral

cormie wrote:

I didn't get the reg:(

The Gardai are constantly on the M50 in marked and unmarked cars. I have the Garda traffic channel on regularly in the background and the are always responding to calls where no registration is available. There was probably a car relatively near you and all they would have to do is look for a yellow van/pickup. I know many people have little faith in the Gardai but from what I hear I would be quite confident in their abilities especially on the M50 and general area.

TempestSabre

cormie wrote:

...
I think if I tried anything I would have ended up in quite a bad situation, he looked like he would have enjoyed ploughing into the back of me.

C_Breeze, when your trodding along in a 1l car and some maniac is swerving dangerously behind you riding up your ass, yes, you do get a bit scared since you can't go any faster, have nowhere to turn and you know if he goes into the back of you you're pretty much screwed. ...

But you did go faster. :rolleyes:

I drive small cars all the time, and you make them as wide as you want if you position yourself on the road properly. You're just as likely to lose control because you are faster then your comfortable with, and driving into a tree or into coming car.

NUTLEY BOY

That guy is exactly typical of the sort of driver that gets people killed or, worse, irreversibly maimed.

The best way to defend yourself against these goons is never to compete with them or give them any reaction. You are more likely to put yourself at risk in the heat of the moment or the emergency and spend a lifetime regretting the consequences.

If it is safe to do so in the circumstances slowing down is the best reaction in the hope that they will just fly past and disappear. Your priority has always got to be to retain control of your vehicle. You cannot do that easily if you are reacting to the intimidation and ignorance. Hard to do I know ! Just console yourself with the thought that that guy will do it once too often. Who knows, if he does it again and he is in the USA he might even get shot by a red mist merchant !!

Congratulations on not becoming another apalling 2005 road traffic statistic.

cormie

I'm telling it like it was, there was no room to pull over, slow down. Look at the attached pic, hopefully it will explain (The blue lines on the zoomed in bit are the max width of the road, the grey bit beyond is a raised path and fencing/bridge edge). If anyone knows this stretch of the road they can back it up, there is not enough room to let somebody overtake you. No room meaning no room. My options were to either slow down to force him to slow down (or else ram the back of me) or try and speed up, which is what I was doing anyway as I was going into a 120 zone and I'm usually only at 95 or so by the time I join the motorway in my 1l.

Is there a special number for the traffic guards? And how do you tune into their channel?

TempestSabre

Everyones telling you the same thing here. Driving faster isn't the right thing to do. End of story.

Alun

cormie wrote:

I'm telling it like it was, there was no room to pull over, slow down. Look at the attached pic, hopefully it will explain (The blue lines on the zoomed in bit are the max width of the road, the grey bit beyond is a raised path and fencing/bridge edge). If anyone knows this stretch of the road they can back it up, there is not enough room to let somebody overtake you.

Exactly, I can back you up there ... for those that don't know it, it's just a single lane slip road onto the M11 northbound. The bit where the yellow van undertook according to Cormie's diagram is slightly wider and there is a slip road off left just after the roundabout to get onto the M11 southbound, which is why the yellow van managed to pull his undertaking stunt. After that it's quite narrow, and there's certainly no way anyone could overtake you, or where Cormie could have pulled in to let this lunatic past.

Hal1

Eh?, so do we keep an eye out for a yellow dot lol :v:. Nah you shouldn't have increased your speed, stay within your rights as a road user, why should you speed up cause of some lunatic that wants to impress his/her passenger or whatever it was.

If that was me and I experienced that kind of behaviour on the road the first thing I think of is getting the reg, you have to be ready for anything on the roads these days. Even pull over when safe to do so just be a bit carefull.

Litcagral

cormie wrote:

Is there a special number for the traffic guards? And how do you tune into their channel?

You need a "wide band receiver" at 455.1250. Not strictly above board.

cormie

I think there's been a misunderstanding. I was going as fast as I could anyway, I would have had the foot to the floor if he wasn't behind me to gain speed to join the oncoming traffic going northbound on the motorway. Foot to the floor on a 1l is not exactly G-Force speeds;)

TempestSabre

cormie wrote:

I think there's been a misunderstanding. I was going as fast as I could anyway, I would have had the foot to the floor if he wasn't behind me to gain speed to join the oncoming traffic going northbound on the motorway. Foot to the floor on a 1l is not exactly G-Force speeds;)

As Shakespeare would say, "methinks thou doest protest too much."

stevenmu

TempestSabre wrote:

As Shakespeare would say, "methinks thou doest protest too much."

From what I gathered Cormie was going from a 50kph zone to a 120kph one, and as such he should have been accelerating. I'd still be of the opinion that he should have kept driving the exact same way he would have without the idiot, and it sounds like that's what he did.

ando

TempestSabre wrote:

Everyones telling you the same thing here. Driving faster isn't the right thing to do. End of story.

erm, well I would have speed up to get away from this luno. Sounds like he was off his head. No way would I have hanged around well within my limits while this idiot is trying all types of $hit around me. Thats just me though. Once I would have got onto wider road I'd slow down and let him go