Always pulled in by garda

The Hacker

When driving in areas or roads I don't normally drive on, this has happened 3 times in the last 2 months and also a few times last summer and I'm getting absolutely sick of it - want to lodge a complaint or something. They pull me in and breathalyze me or ask me why my driving is so bad. This is annoying because I have a full driving license, and no penalty points. Its just when I'm on roads that I'm not used to (I drive on known roads I'm used to everyday and never get stopped) and it's usually at night, but when I have to go collect someone and I dunno the road that well. GRRRR

Holsten

Do you drive a car that would attract their attention?

The Hacker

No, it's a standard hatchback 1.4 ford focus 2002, no modifications no tinted windows nothing. nct til 2009. any other ideas? Does this happen to anyone else?

Sangre

i'd be more concerned with the fact that several, different gardi have thought your driving was so poor it was necessary to breathalyse you.

mick.fr

Hey The Hacker, while you are here.
Tell me what you think:
http://www.fooljam.com/pictures/Fooljam.mp3

If you think this is sh*t I may got back to my cage :-)
Thanks for the feedback

KIVES

Myself and a guy from work had reason to stay over in Oldcastle a few times last summer and we were stopped on two occasions by the guards travelling along the road to Kells - It was a Company car, a 2006 Mondeo I believe, and each time it was around midday or just after when they hauled us over - absolutely nothing dodgy about my mates driving - the funny thing is, if you happened to be mugged in OldCastle after 6 O'Clock you'd have a half an hour wait on the cops to arrive from Kells (as they no longer have a full time base in oldcastle) - It's hard to fathom really...

BostonB

The Hacker wrote: »

....ask me why my driving is so bad...

:eek: Is it. You seem to be making excuses.

John R

If they keep asking you why your driving is so bad then that is the reason. If they are brethalyzing you away from a checkpoint then it is most likely because your driving gives the appearance of you being drunk/not in proper control.

Not knowing a particular road would not have a significant effect on your driving if you were a competent driver.

Full licence and no points only means that you met the (not very high) standards of the test on the day and you have not passed a speed camera over the limit.


The sad thing is that if points were showered on people driving badly rather than people exceeding speed limits on mainly open sections of roads then we would have a chance of improvements in driving standards.

mick.fr

John R wrote: »

Not knowing a particular road would not have a significant effect on your driving if you were a competent driver.

That is because, us, the Cream of the French riders, when we drive, we like to turn the steering wheel from left to right to left, like in old Hollywood movies.
You can't understand.
Does not make us bad riders though, just looking strange to the amateurs eyes.

BostonB

I always thought that was the wine...

craichoe

mick.fr wrote: »

That is because, us, the Cream of the French riders, when we drive, we like to turn the steering wheel from left to right to left, like in old Hollywood movies.
You can't understand.
Does not make us bad riders though, just looking strange to the amateurs eyes.

Well i can, but you must understand, if a cop sees you weaving all over the road he will pull you over ... If i saw you, i couldn't tell if you were drunk or just having a bit of fun !

Bendihorse

Judging by what was said, Id say whats happening to the driver is night blindness/dazzled by oncoming lights, resulting in heavy footed braking and over exagerated turning on bends due to the OP not knowing the road.

Its EXTREEMLY annoying to get caught behind such drivers as they slow down far too much for EVERY turn in the road, breaking suddenly and hard causing any drivers behind them to have to react suddenly too.

Im not surprised the guards pulled you in. Try looking at the road line on the ditch side of the road and follow that instead of the white line when meeting traffic at night. Also, might be an idea to have your eyes tested and see if anti glare glasses would help.

Aside from that, you need to practice your driving and get your bend handling up to scratch, you do not need to jump on the brakes everytime a bend curves around a little more than you expected, unless your driving a car with no suspension!

L1011

I was getting breathylsed twice a week at checkpoints over Christmas - young male, small Italian car, driving (frequently) late at night, might forget to switch the radio off my CD changer of tech trance on to Radio 1 before I wind the window down.

They do profile based on vehicles it seems.

ednwireland

i'm not trying to be funny but had your eyes tested recently i cant see as well at dusk because of my eyesight. are you normally stopped in the dark?. are you driving erratically because of that ?

Extraplus

John R wrote: »

The sad thing is that if points were showered on people driving badly rather than people exceeding speed limits on mainly open sections of roads then we would have a chance of improvements in driving standards.

Wholeheartedly agree here. OP, if you have been pulled over so many times for erratic driving you should have points on your licence by now. The Guards need to start handing out penalty points for offences like this as this sort of bad driving causes a huge amount of accidents IMO.

blah

Maybe you should consider going for an advanced driving test. You would get some honest detailed criticism of your driving skills and find out whether or not the garda have a point.

po0k

Maybe the road(s) he's driving on are sh1te?

legs11

Lol:d

Bendihorse

po0k wrote: »

Maybe the road(s) he's driving on are sh1te?

Thats possible but im sure the guards would take that into account. Theres something wrong with his driving if OP is getting stopped frequently and bagged when it isn't at a routine checkpoint.

The Hacker

ednwireland wrote: »

i'm not trying to be funny but had your eyes tested recently i cant see as well at dusk because of my eyesight. are you normally stopped in the dark?. are you driving erratically because of that ?

Yes it's always at night. I wear glasses when driving because I am short-sighted. My last eyetest was only a few months ago. So it's not my eyes.

Maybe the road(s) he's driving on are sh1te?

Yes actually they are, the ones I get stopped on are always ****ty backroads with no road markings/no street lights/unkept hedges/trees etc. I LITERALLY can't drive on them.

Maybe you should consider going for an advanced driving test. You would get some honest detailed criticism of your driving skills and find out whether or not the garda have a point.

Yes

Lol:d

Yes

Gregor Samsa

The Hacker wrote: »

Yes actually they are, the ones I get stopped on are always ****ty backroads with no road markings/no street lights/unkept hedges/trees etc. I LITERALLY can't drive on them.

I've driven on plenty of ****ty backroads at night and have never been stopped by the Gardai. If the roads are that bad, you take it easy and concentrate on what you're doing.

If you "LITERALLY can't drive on them", then of course you're going to be stopped!!! I don't see the problem with that

The Hacker

Well what can I do? Find me a decent road that connects dublin to ballymore eustace and I'll take it. Otherwise what can I do invent a flying car or something? Get real.

r3nu4l

Okay, there are a number of possible explanations for 'poor driving'.

1) Perhaps you have night-blindness and your night vision isn't up to par with the general population. I'm not sure a regular eye test would check that. Ask here maybe.

2) You are driving too fast on roads you don't know? I know that if I'm on a crappy little back road that I don't know very well, I drive slower than on a crappy little backroad that I know very well.

3) You are a nervous driver when out of your comfort zone (roads you don't know).

4) You are driving a used car that was previously owned by a known crinimal and the gardaí pull you over with the excuse that your driving is 'poor', when in fact it is okay. This is unlikely, as it doesn't happen to you when you are driving on good roads.

Question for you Hacker. Do you normally drive the same roads every day? Are you comfortable driving on all types of road? City, country, Motorway etc? If not then it's worth having an instructor come out with you in your car once or twice to get some pointers on these types of road. If you do take this approach then make sure it's done at night.

Finally, next time, say to the garda that it's not the first time it's happened and ask politely if he can say exactly what was wrong with your driving. Let the Garda know you're not trying to argue, just looking for some pointers so you can address the problem.

Bendihorse

Like i said in my last post, it might be to do with glare so mention the difficulty that your having to your optician and he might be able to help you with that, its a seperate issure to long/short sightedness.

Also, you need to start getting your bearings when on these roads, start using the left hand side of the road as your guide line therefore your less likely to get dazzled by oncoming lights.

Slow and steady are KEY on bad roads if your not used to/able to drive in the conditions, speeding up and slowing down, driving erraticaly, heavy braking when you doubt yourself are not the way to go. Concentration and PRACTICE will do you the world of good too. Turn off the radio, sit up and try and judge/read the road and other users better.

What sort of car do you have, Large/Small? Are these roads two way carrigeway or narrow roads with no white line down the middle?

Get more spacially aware of the car that you are driving, its probably not half as big as you think/feel, you'd be surprised the spaces that you could get through that you imagine you wouldn't fit.
Just to demonstrate to yourself how wide your car actually is, park it, place two cones/objects either side of it taking mirrors into account and 3 or 4 inches to spare, drive the the car away then take a look at the cones. I bet you'll be surprised how narrow it is. Then practice driving through without hitting them.

r3nu4l

The Hacker wrote: »

Well what can I do? Find me a decent road that connects dublin to ballymore eustace and I'll take it. Otherwise what can I do invent a flying car or something? Get real.

Hacker, the state of the roads is the last excuse you should be looking for, honestly. If the roads were the problem then every single driver would be pulled over. I'm not trying to be mean, just saying that you have to be self-critical here to get to the root of the problem.

I regularly drive the back roads in Kildare from Prosperous, through Kilmeague, Milltown etc on the way from Dublin to Tipperary and have no problems day or night. At first I had to drive them a lot more slowly than I do now because I didn't know the roads.

My sister-in-law has been driving 5 years and still hasn't passed the test. Her driving is 'not bad' when she's on her usual daily route into and out of Clonmel...take her off that road and she's a nervous wreck, even on great roads. Her driving goes from 'not bad' to atrocious simply because she is not used to driving any roads other than her day-to-day local commute! If you are the same, driving the same roads all the time, then maybe you should occassionally try some different roads, it might help.

Do you ever feel nervous driving these roads? If that's the case then you will be more easily distracted too. It might be something to work on.

dobsdave

The Hacker wrote: »

Well what can I do? Find me a decent road that connects dublin to ballymore eustace and I'll take it. Otherwise what can I do invent a flying car or something? Get real.

Is that the road you get pulled over on?
Any other roads?
Maybe others on here could give their opinion on said road.
Is that road seriously like this:
"****ty backroads with no road markings/no street lights/unkept hedges/trees etc. I LITERALLY can't drive on them."

DonJose

The Hacker wrote: »

Otherwise what can I do invent a flying car or something? Get real.

I'm sure the IAA would be as strict as the guards with your nighttime flying

Bendihorse

DonJose wrote: »

I'm sure the IAA would be as strict as the guards with your nighttime flying

Lol DonJose

Savman

Best to just flog your skanger-mobile and buy a poshier car.:D

luckat

Maybe you should ask in what way your driving is bad? If they get antsy at that, say you're thinking of going for an advanced course, and want to know what needs improving.

--amadeus--

It's all been said - despite popular opinion the Guards won't pull you over just to pass the time and the fact that you are only being stopped when outside your comfort zone indicates that the problem is more with you than them.

I would strongly recommend another eye test as there are a number of things that may or may not be picked up in a standard eye test that could be causing you problems taht you may not be aware of. have a read of this for example.

Secondly if you LITERALLY can't drive on these roads then can I suggest that for your own safety - and that of other roads users - that you don't until you get to the bottom of this?