Reporting dangerous driving

DubLegs

Oh i agree!! Mod please close!

There is plenty of similar threads to gain advice from!

bman

richie_rvf wrote: »

I witnessed an accident which was caused by exactly that behaviour, the knock on effect of giving a brake check in heavy traffic is that the time to re-act for each driver behind who will also need to brake gets shorter and shorter - all because someone got annoyed by another drivers antics.

This is very much along the lines of numerous other threads here - none of us have the right to tell others how to drive, that is up to the authorities, that is the reason for phone numbers such as traffic watch.

If you felt that you must make a point to the idiot behind why not put your hazards on??

I didn't say I thought tipping the brakes is the thing to do, I'm just pointing out that the guards would probably laugh at you if you tried to report someone for that. Anyway, the only reason you'd be annoyed at someone doing that is if you were tailgating them. IMO the tailgater is way more dangerous.

I don't tip the brakes in this situation anyway, just turn on and off the fog lights which has the same effect I suppose.

RobAMerc

Lets imagine I am a Garda and you were reporting this to me.... here is how I might very your perception of dangerous driving.

Please don't take it I am saying your wrong - I am trying to demonstrate how its subjective.

StillBallygowan wrote: »

1. It was 6:30am on the M50 going southbound just after going through the toll bridge so traffic was heavy in both lanes. I'm in the right-hand lane keeping up with the traffic.

Was there room on your inside ? Were you overtaking anyone or just in the right lane?

StillBallygowan wrote: »

2. The van driver sat on my tail for a short while so I tapped the brakes

Your totally in the wrong for doing this (you would have reported yourself)

StillBallygowan wrote: »

3. The van driver stayed off my tail then

probably because you were driving dangerously.

StillBallygowan wrote: »

4. A minute (maybe even less) later I saw in my rear view mirror the van speed up behind me with headlights flashing (traffic is heavy in both lanes, all doing pretty much the same speed). There's nowhere I can move to so they insist on tailing me again

They were in the wrong here provided there was traffic to your left and you were traveling at the same speed as the car in front. (Was there no room at all for you to pull in to the left?)

StillBallygowan wrote: »

5. Realising they can't go anywhere they cut into the left-hand lane tailing the car in front of them. I'm keeping my distance from the car in front of me when they decide to try and cut me up to get into the space no bigger then the size of the van itself! So I blasted them out of it. This goes on for 3 attempts. Realising they can't get anywhere they wait for a gap further up.

If you were keeping a good distance from the car in front there would have been plenty of room for a van to fit in ( again subjective - how is your judgment ?)

StillBallygowan wrote: »

6. They proceed to weave in and out of traffic pretty much from the N7 turn-off to Sandyford exit.

Were they weaving or returning to the left lane once they had overtaken (as per the rules of the road?)

richie_rvf

bman wrote: »

I didn't say I thought tipping the brakes is the thing to do, I'm just pointing out that the guards would probably laugh at you if you tried to report someone for that. Anyway, the only reason you'd be annoyed at someone doing that is if you were tailgating them. IMO the tailgater is way more dangerous.

I don't tip the brakes in this situation anyway, just turn on and off the fog lights which has the same effect I suppose.

I agree - they most likely would laugh - I too was just trying to make another point.

I must say though, and I am not taking the p1ss here, there should be more people like you on the road, the amount of drivers that have no idea where the fog light switch is - let alone what to do with it!!

Still, that's a whole other thread

RobAMerc

richie_rvf wrote: »

If a car in front of me deliberately tapped the brake I would report them!!

Alanstrainor wrote: »

You better be taking the piss. So tailgating is okay then?

Alanstrainor - More importantly are YOU serious or just some sort of mental deficient ? - Are you allowed to have a license ?

richie_rvf

RobAMerc wrote: »

More importantly are YOU serious or just some sort of mental deficient ? - Are you allowed to have a license ?

I am not entirely sure if that was directed at me or at Alanstrainor?

For my part - no, I am not serious, I was trying to illustrate that by braking in such a manner can also cause accidents.

I am by no means a supporter of tailgating - or any type of idiotic driving.

AntiVirus

roughan wrote: »

GENTLY pull up the handbrake
your brake lights do not come on but the car will slow a small bit
the person who is up your a**e will get the shock of their lives !!

Or you'll get the shock of your life if he's not paying attention and crashes into the back of you. Then the other cars behind crash into the two of you causing a knock on effect leaving 12 people dead and 2 kids without any parents.

Your just as bad as him, learn to drive. :cool:

RobAMerc

richie_rvf wrote: »

I am not entirely sure if that was directed at me or at Alanstrainor?

For my part - no, I am not serious, I was trying to illustrate that by braking in such a manner can also cause accidents.

I am by no means a supporter of tailgating - or any type of idiotic driving.

I was trying to agree with you, (i have amended the post) theres no excuse for either, but tailgating is again subjective ( the person in front might just feel they are being tailgated - judgment )

going for the brake unnecessarily is dangerous ALWAYS, and should not be encouraged at all.

RobAMerc

AntiVirus wrote: »

Or you'll get the shock of your life if he's not paying attention and crashes into the back of you. Then the other cars behind crash into the two of you causing a knock on effect leaving 12 people dead and 2 kids without any parents.

Your just as bad as him, learn to drive. :cool:

Well said - I think the real dangerous fool here is the one hitting the brakes. If you "think" someone is tailgating pull over and let them pass - don't attempt to kill them and you!

richie_rvf

RobAMerc wrote: »

I was trying to agree with you, (i have amended the post) theres no excuse for either, but tailgating is again subjective ( the person in front might just feel they are being tailgated - judgment )

going for the brake unnecessarily is dangerous ALWAYS, and should not be encouraged at all.

You gotta love these threads

How do we know that the Van driver was not being made drive faster by another tailgater??
He may have been changing lanes to avoid accidents

RobAMerc

how many times have i wrote the same post ?????

someone gets cut up or flashed on the m50
feels bad so comes to boards looking for re-assurance they were in the right, generally because they have no idea
(of course not always)

truth is its impossible to tell as it's totally subjective - therefore reporting them is useless

trafficline would be usefull in reporting repeat offenders -
i.e. if someone is tearing up your neighborhood etc but even that is subjective unless the cops come and wait for them or talk to people who have been repeatedly reported for the same offense.

richie_rvf

Totally agree - that's the problem with opinions.

The only time I would call is if someone was VERY dangerous and made me take avoiding action, what I mean is I would report someone if I felt strongly enough that I would be prepared to go to court.

Thank God that hasn't happened to me - yet

There are a lot of idiots out there and I'm sure in their opinion there are a lot of idiots out there too

Jeapy

6th wrote: »

I was on the old bawn road back last summer and a old fiesta was crawling along. I passed it on my moped and there were 3 women in it and 4 kids.

The woman driving had a litre bottle of Blue Wicked in here hand, taking a swig of it. The woman in the passenger seat had a toddler standing on her lap. And the woman in the back with the kids was singing along very badly to the blaring radio. There wasnt much traffic but they must have been doing 10 mph.

I pulled over and rang the garda with the reg etc and he said he'd send a car striaght down. I was in a rush to get home so I didnt hang about.

Fair play. That kind of thing should be reported for the sake and safety of the kids. I rang once to report a couple beating the crap out of each other in a car holding up traffic and with 3 young children in the back seat looking on. It was just awful.

SV

I rang Carlow Garda Station once before for dangerous driving.
I was on the N9 and I came behind a corolla swaying all over the road at way too slow speeds for the road.. Swaying so much on the road that overtaking wasn't even possible..besides the fact they nearly crashed into other cars coming the opposite way several times.

The traffic corps were behind me within 10 minutes and pulled over the corolla.


Mind you, that's only one time and I guess they were just in the area at the time. Still though. Good results.

Esel

roughan wrote: »

GENTLY pull up the handbrake
your brake lights do not come on but the car will slow a small bit
the person who is up your a**e will get the shock of their lives !!

Do we have a section on Motors for most idiotic post of the week/month/year? :mad:

orbital83

Agree with Robamerc.

It's true there is a significant number of lunatics out there who need a good roasting from the gardai.

However if I'm frequently on the receiving end of other drivers' irritation, I'll also look at my own driving and see if I could possibly be at fault?
This is good practice. There is always more learning to be done.

A lot of dangerous driving is triggered by the dangerous or incompetent actions of others.

Not attacking the OP - I'm sure you just met one of the lunatics!
However as someone who drives 130 miles a day I know how it feels to become frustrated by other drivers who just need to hand in their licence and start again...

Personally I don't find myself on the end of too much trouble - and I'm no perfect driver - I just drive at the speed limit when practical to do so and keep in the left hand lane when possible to do so.

NeMiSiS

"It's true there is a significant number of lunatics out there who need a good roasting from the gardai.

However if I'm frequently on the receiving end of other drivers' irritation, I'll also look at my own driving and see if I could possibly be at fault?
This is good practice. There is always more learning to be done.

A lot of dangerous driving is triggered by the dangerous or incompetent actions of others."

I think is a very good and very true point.

I am frequently presented with bizarre and dangerous driving, but have learned to back off, then when safe to do so overtake - quickly. A lot of drivers are blissfully unaware of what is going on around them, and refuse to be considerate to anyone else.

A simple example would be Mr Sunday driver pottering along for miles on end at 60 - 65 kph, hugging the center line, and talking at length about gardening or dog shows.. or whatever these people talk about. Someone in the ever building queue of drivers unwilling or frightend (which seems an ever increasing phenomena) to overtake looses the head, and blasts by say 3 cars and Mr Sunday driver. This is where Mr Sunday becomes "aware" and sees this "maniac" zooming by overtaking! -Shock- -Horror-. Mr S starts flashing his lights to inform this maniac just how much of a maniac he is.

Mr Sunday driver though will inevitably refuse to accept though that his actions (at least in part) in fact created this scenario, and report this later to his friends as "My God! A maniac zoomed by me today like you would not believe. I would be in my right mind to tell the police!".

I could give a million examples..

TK

Johnnio13

driving Galway to Ballinasloe on Sunday, and an idiot in a Honda Civic people carrier tried to overtake just outside Loughrea as a Citylink was approaching, he bullied his way in between myself and the car in front. I beeped him out of it and 3 toddlers stood up on the back seat to see what the hassle was.... with that he took off again forcing the on-coming traffic onto the hard shoulder....he over took 11 cars, all tavelling at 100kmh

I had enough of watching him trying to kill himself and his family...I rang traffic watch and they contacted the Gardai in Ballinasloe and sure enough as we all came into Ballinasloe, the Gardai had him pulled over and were going through his documents etc - don't know what came of it, but judging by the look on his face he wasn't having a good time......

Why do you have to be an arse on the road when there is no need!

SV

Johnnio13 wrote: »

driving Galway to Ballinasloe on Sunday, and an idiot in a Honda Civic people carrier tried to overtake just outside Loughrea as a Citylink was approaching, he bullied his way in between myself and the car in front. I beeped him out of it and 3 toddlers stood up on the back seat to see what the hassle was.... with that he took off again forcing the on-coming traffic onto the hard shoulder....he over took 11 cars, all tavelling at 100kmh

I had enough of watching him trying to kill himself and his family...I rang traffic watch and they contacted the Gardai in Ballinasloe and sure enough as we all came into Ballinasloe, the Gardai had him pulled over and were going through his documents etc - don't know what came of it, but judging by the look on his face he wasn't having a good time......

Why do you have to be an arse on the road when there is no need!

Good result there I think.


He probably has SWS

mikemac

StillBallygowan wrote: »

Unfortunately the handbrake is at my foot! I drive a Merc

roughan wrote: »

Still works use ur left foot on the brake then just use your right hand to release it
i had an e220 while my car was in the garage

Sorry for going offtopic. I'm confused and intrigued:)

A merc's handbrake is a pedal?

I drive a moped and don't drive cars often so excuse my noob question

Joe Blow

Sort of on the same topic re the dangerous driving: A couple of months ago, while out driving with my girlfriend, we witnessed a guy driving at high speed in a two-lane 60km zone. He undertook a van, drove past us at speed and tried to overtake afterwards on a continuous white line. We were worried that the way he was driving was going to cause an accident, so my sharp-eyed girlfriend got his reg number and rang the Garda Traffic Watch line from her mobile.

About a week later I got a call from a Garda asking if I'd make a statement regarding the incident. I went in to the station, gave the statement and when asked if I'd go to court, I said I would. A few weeks later, the same Garda rang my girlfriend and she went in and made a statement. However, she was told about the alleged driver's past indiscretions (non-driving) and when asked if she'd go to court, said she wouldn't be comfortable with that.

Last week a Garda called to our house and gave us two summons to appear in court in a couple of months time in a case of careless driving against the guy who was alleged to be driving on that date. Now, my girlfriend who has been suffering a lot of illness over the last couple of years is stressed beyond belief. She's terrified that the guy, who lives locally, will come after us. For my part, I am happy enough to go to court. I made the complaint and see it as my civic duty to see it through, but I don't want my girlfriend to have to go through with it. What are my options?

I don't want to consult a solicitor unless absolutely necessary as, to be honest, I can't afford it. Is there any way out of this? Should I talk to the Garda I made the statement to or is this a waste of time? I was never given the option of being asked if I just wanted to have him warned and I'm a bit worried that the Gardai are using this incident as a way of punishing him for other things he's involved in. As I said, I can handle going to court myself (although not very happy at the prospect as I just wanted to stop the guy from potentially injuring someone) but I don't want my girlfriend to spend the next year panicking that this guy is going to seek some sort of revenge on her or members of her family.

Just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar? Any advice would really be appreciated.

ergonomics

Reported a woman a couple of weeks ago. She was driving so close to me that I could see her facial expressions in my rear view mirror. She seemed very upset or distressed. Kept dropping really far back and would then speed up so I thought she was gonna crash into me. Was swaying from one side of the road to the other and in and out of the hard shoulder.

Rang Tipperary guards as we were just approaching the town. Told them the direction I was coming from too. Gave them colour, make, model and reg of car. They said they had a car on it's way to set up a check point. Never saw one so had to sit with her behind for a good while.

Steve

Joe Blow wrote: »

Sort of on the same topic re the dangerous driving: A couple of months ago, while out driving with my girlfriend, we witnessed a guy driving at high speed in a two-lane 60km zone. He undertook a van, drove past us at speed and tried to overtake afterwards on a continuous white line. We were worried that the way he was driving was going to cause an accident, so my sharp-eyed girlfriend got his reg number and rang the Garda Traffic Watch line from her mobile.

About a week later I got a call from a Garda asking if I'd make a statement regarding the incident. I went in to the station, gave the statement and when asked if I'd go to court, I said I would. A few weeks later, the same Garda rang my girlfriend and she went in and made a statement. However, she was told about the alleged driver's past indiscretions (non-driving) and when asked if she'd go to court, said she wouldn't be comfortable with that.

Last week a Garda called to our house and gave us two summons to appear in court in a couple of months time in a case of careless driving against the guy who was alleged to be driving on that date. Now, my girlfriend who has been suffering a lot of illness over the last couple of years is stressed beyond belief. She's terrified that the guy, who lives locally, will come after us. For my part, I am happy enough to go to court. I made the complaint and see it as my civic duty to see it through, but I don't want my girlfriend to have to go through with it. What are my options?

I don't want to consult a solicitor unless absolutely necessary as, to be honest, I can't afford it. Is there any way out of this? Should I talk to the Garda I made the statement to or is this a waste of time? I was never given the option of being asked if I just wanted to have him warned and I'm a bit worried that the Gardai are using this incident as a way of punishing him for other things he's involved in. As I said, I can handle going to court myself (although not very happy at the prospect as I just wanted to stop the guy from potentially injuring someone) but I don't want my girlfriend to spend the next year panicking that this guy is going to seek some sort of revenge on her or members of her family.

Just wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar? Any advice would really be appreciated.

TBH, you can get into trouble for not appearing as a witness. This is not something you should rely on advice you get here. Try the legal forum (and read the charter first so you pose your question correctly:))

knifey_spoonie

The ways i see it theres a few things you can do in this suitation

1: Nothing

2:Ever so lightly depress the brake pedal so your lights come(with very little slowing of the car)

3: Pull the hand brake (that will get them thinking)

4: If at night turn of your lights of a short while (Thats Just Fuun )

5: Slow to a crawl leave a big gap in front then speed up (repeat a few times)

6: Stop pull handbrake slam in to reverse and lift the clutch ( when they see reverse lights and the the lift there going to move from behind you)

Disclaimer:

Results May vary

I may not be named in a court of law as the cause of an accident

Joe Blow

Yeah, wasn't going to blithely rely on any advice I received. Just thought somebody may have a few ideas that I could explore for myself before settling on a course of action.

Marcus.Aurelius

ergonomics wrote: »

Reported a woman a couple of weeks ago. She was driving so close to me that I could see her facial expressions in my rear view mirror. She seemed very upset or distressed. Kept dropping really far back and would then speed up so I thought she was gonna crash into me. Was swaying from one side of the road to the other and in and out of the hard shoulder.

Rang Tipperary guards as we were just approaching the town. Told them the direction I was coming from too. Gave them colour, make, model and reg of car. They said they had a car on it's way to set up a check point. Never saw one so had to sit with her behind for a good while.

Did you consider using the hard shoulder for a few seconds to let her go by? Or were you better off worrying what she was up to behind you?

I mean, seriously?

Omcd

knife_fighter wrote: »

The ways i see it theres a few things you can do in this suitation

1: Nothing

2:Ever so lightly depress the brake pedal so your lights come(with very little slowing of the car)

3: Pull the hand brake (that will get them thinking)

4: If at night turn of your lights of a short while (Thats Just Fuun )

5: Slow to a crawl leave a big gap in front then speed up (repeat a few times)

6: Stop pull handbrake slam in to reverse and lift the clutch ( when they see reverse lights and the the lift there going to move from behind you)

Disclaimer:

Results May vary

I may not be named in a court of law as the cause of an accident

A very light shading of the brake pedal usually results in brake lights but no braking - designed to get the tailgater thinking 'what if?' rather than trying to be mischievious.

If that doesn't work then I suggest the next safe opportunity, stick out a left hand indicator, move over if it safe to do so, and let the offending vehicle past, and watch out for other loonies taking the opportunity from several hundred yards back - basically refuse to continue while the tailgater is up behind you - Sometimes though, no opportunity presents (eg M50) so you just have to put up with it:(, in which case totally ignore the twat behind, unless it has the capability of driving straight over you.

The thing about having a large vehicle only inches away is that you then have to take into account its reaction time and stopping distance in your evaluation of how fast you should be going in the conditions and how much distance you will need to respond to something unexpected, so that means actually going slower for safety. At this stage, its probably much safer to let it by at the first opportunity.

Last week I had what I thought was a large van driving inches from my back bumper up the N3 (all I could see was two headlamps shining it the back window in the dark), pulled away fast from it at the end of a 60k, and realised it was a large bus ! I got to 100k and it then caught up and same thing, only inches from me, plenty of opportunity to pass but didn't, and this was kept up into the roadworks, through Fairyhouse Cross (where crossing traffic regularly takes risks to cut in/across) until I had to suddenly swerve around a large peice of debris on the road (which was too big to go over and hope for the best), then the bus driver saw sense and backed off. While the bus was that close I didnt feel it was safe to go more than 80k in the dark, otherwise I'd have definitely been going faster in the 100k stretch, and as I say the bus could have passed but didnt, so I really cant understand the mentality of the bus driver.

campervan

ye you do have to be careful about the weight of a large vehicle, either if you are in it or in front of it. We were on a mini/midi size bus a few years ago with a group of kids, luckily all in their seatbelts. We were travelling over a bridge on to another road in as far to the left as possible and this guy is at our right hand side, and started to beep. Next thing we knew, he speeded up, pulled in front, was right in front of the bus, jammed on his brakes and forced our bus driver to do the same. Thank god the kids were all ok, they got a bit of a shock but we couldnt believe this fella. He claimed that we had tipped the side of his car and thought the bus was going to 'escape', and the size of it, we werent going anywhere! So thats when he pulled in and thought he could claim for us ramming him, luckily the bus didnt hit him at all. Guards were called and we made statements and all the rest. They gave us the option of them going to warn him, or else taking it to court. The worst though was his manners, or lack of. He was loudly cursing within earshot of the kids and was basically a complete c0ck who thought he owned the road.

Just recently I was travelling along behind a car which was doing the speed limit at 80k and I was turning left up ahead so wasnt wanting to get by him. Next thing an L driver started to overtake the two of us. Bad mistake. We were approaching a not-so-visible crossroads and I could see a huge truck going to pull out left, towards us. I could just see a crash happening, couldnt believe what this young fella was going to do. So then he had to jam in front of me and i nearly went up the back of him, so i gave him a few blasts and took my turn left.

arybvtcw0eolkf

StillBallygowan wrote: »

2. The van driver sat on my tail for a short while so I tapped the brakes

KETTLE - POT - BLACK

ART6

It's tempting to dab the brakes when some eejit tailgates, but yes, it could cause an accident if the tailgater is a dimwit who shouldn't be on the road. Fact remains that legally if you run into the back of someone insurers hold you completely liable. There is no mitigation ("I didn't expect him to stop there") or any defence against the charge. I'd like to see all tailgaters given a raft of penalty points.