What to do or how to Report Dangerous/Intimidating Driving

cayenne

I was travelling in a car last night on the main Limerick Dublin Road. Around Nenagh, we were overtaken dangerously by a Ford Courier van. The driver of the car I was in flashed his the lights and blew the horn at him. A few hundred yards up the road, the van pulled in and started to drive slowly in the hard shoulder. We drove on past. A couple of minutes later he appeared behind us full beams on and tailgated us, inches from our rear bumper. He then overtook us, staying along side momentarily until he tore off into the distance. While I don't agree with what the driver of our car did, the actions of the van driver has really shocked me. What should I do, can I do anything. I have the reg number of the van

Einstein

The problem with this country is that no matter what we do or say, we can report all we want, but nobody will do a thing.
The Gardaí don't have the manpower to do anything, and unfortunately, unless these people are caught in the act, they're gonna keep getting away with it.

SO it seems that there's sweet foook all anyone can do. ANd I totally get where you're coming from!

congo_90

correct me if i'm wrong but there isn't much you can do. you could ring the garda but unless they see the action they can't prove it ever happened.

I had a similar problem in tallaght before where a car was trying to ram me off the road. The whole time i had my passengers in the car while speeding to try shake them. I was on the phone to the garda while it was happening and when i finally lost them through a housing estate we went up to the garda station where nothing was done about it. Even though we also had the reg number of the car and were on the phone constantly.

It's a sad thing to happen and can such a danger.

AMurphy

The Guards won't do anything, unless possibly there was an accident.
Only recourse I have found that may work... if the vehicle has other identification, such as company names and logos, call the company and complain about the driver. Managers have a vested interestin getting loony drivers from behind the wheel of their vehicles, so may be more effective in dealing with it than the Guards.

A few years back I saw a private garbage truck almost run a lady ahead of me off the road. So I noted down the truck details. Later I saw the same truck stopped, so got some more details, eg the insurance company details off the window sticker.
Then later called the company, had the manager verify if the truck Reg was one of his, relayed the story and indicated I was also going to report the same incident to the Ins company and he could deal with it any way he wished.

mountain

go to the guards and report the driver,
most guards will take this seriously, they will check the reg, and if it is privately owned, may even call to drivers house and give a warning.

Steve

That van driver needs a good kick up the hole:mad:

Ring the trafficwatch number that you see on the road signs everywhere - 1800somthingorother.

The likelyhood is nothing will happen, however, if the same reg gets reported several times by different people then they will go and have words with the owner.

You've nothing to lose:).

Seth Brundle

Trafficwatch = 1890 205 805 (stick it in your phone!)

I wouldn't bother ringing them now as (AFAIK) they are a call centre who usually fax (remember them) a message off to the local station who respond. Its too late for that now.

Call down to your local station and make a formal complaint against the driver before someone is killed!

ShayK1

my brother is a guard and I asked him about this before. He said they can't do anything except take the complaint unless, the person making the complaint is willing to go to court. And even in court its your word against theirs.

Stark

cayenne wrote:

What should I do, can I do anything. I have the reg number of the van

Tell the person driving with you not to initiate road rage incidents in future.

68 lost souls

ShayK1 wrote: »

my brother is a guard and I asked him about this before. He said they can't do anything except take the complaint unless, the person making the complaint is willing to go to court. And even in court its your word against theirs.

And if you have passangers in your car with a camera phone a bit of video evidence will also go down well in a court case, proof of the event happening.

franksm

Stark wrote: »

Tell the person driving with you not to initiate road rage incidents in future.

LMAO

The innocent van-driver didn't initiate it by overtaking dangerously ?

cabrwab

Franksm just about to point this out, all the driver of the car did was letting the driver of the van know he was being a moron!

Same thing happened to me before when a taxi driver in was weaving in and out of lanes i was trying to pas out, so i beeped at him, just to let him know i was there, so he started to give out to me then tried to litterly run me into a lamp-post!
He didn't but another taxi driver working for the same company saw what he did and told me he was reporting him.

So moral of the story, the gardai can't do f-all, go and report to the company if there is one!

Stark

franksm wrote: »

LMAO

The innocent van-driver didn't initiate it by overtaking dangerously ?

Yeah but "overtaking dangerously" can be subjective. I'm sure plenty of people here have been beeped or flashed following a reasonable overtake. It wouldn't be the easiest thing in the world to convince a judge/gardaí of, whereas beeping and flashing is fairly clear cut.

workaccount

cayenne wrote: »

we were overtaken dangerously by a Ford Courier van.

In your opinion.

The driver of the car you were in provoked what the van driver did thereafter. What did he think he was trying to achieve by flashing and blowing the horn?

I meet ppl regularily who flash their lights when you overtake even when it's completely safe.....these ppl are so so stupid and just because they have not a clue how to drive and would never attempt to overtake they think everybody should not either. The likes of these people are extremely dangerous and a huge problem on the roads themselves but the focus is on speed at the moment.

I was driving on a main road yesterday and had to sit behind one of them for 20mins doing 30mph on a road that could be safely travelled at 70.

I think you should report the driver of the car you were in for f*ck-acting. Maybe he left him no choice but to take a chance on overtaking.

numorouno

The correct procedure is to go into any garda station and make a written statement to the Gardai. The statement will then be forwarded on to the area where the offence took place.

They will contact the person who the complaint is made against and check to see who was driving the car at the time of the alleged dangerous/careless etc driving. If the reg owner is the driver then they can make a statement offerring any excuses and if not they have to nominate who was driving the car. if they fail to nominate somebody then they can be prosecuted for that.

Then the complainents statement along with the reply statement and report is sent to the local superintendent in the area where the offence was committed and he recommends if the driver is prosecuted for any offence. if he is then summonses are applied for and the driver is summonsed to court.

if he pleads guilty on the first day then there is no need for the complainant to go to court and the Garda gives a brief outline of the facts gleaned from the complainents statement. if the driver pleads not guilty then the case is put off for hearing and the complainant has to come to court and any other witnesses if there are any and everybody gives their evidence in relation to the incident. Then the judge makes a decision on the evidence that is before him/her and either convicts or doesnt convict.

That is basically what happens!

very long drawn out procedure but i saw a wreckless driver nearly knock down a little girl last year at a pedistrian green traffic ligh and had to follow it through. Yer man got convicted in the end. Gardai seem very interested to follow these up so if yer see something wreckless take a small while to make a statement and you never know it might save a life someday!

Antigone05

found this thread so i didnt want to start a new one.

i was at the roundabout near BCS in Ballinteer and was stationary due to a bus turning on the roadabout, wasnt about to throw myself infront of the thing!

a jeep then behind me beeps me,after being there only 5-7 seconds...i then looked back and gave him the finger. i know i shouldnt have, but it really annoyed me. i was just being careful as the buses indicators..i could not see.

next set of lights..he pulls up beside me and shouts abuse at me, which i ignored.

whats the best way i can avoid getting pissed off at something like that, as i regret flipping him off.

kmick

Become a non-beeper

Sounds crazy - makes you a saner person

When somebody does something crazy and unpredictable in front of you just dont bother beeping. Smile inwardly and say that was lucky - I am a good driver and learning all the time.

Similarily when someone beeps at you observe the situation without anger. If you are in the wrong wave an apology. After assessment if you are not in the wrong smile inwardly and and say I am a good driver and learning all the time and just ignore it.

Works for me. I am much calmer and in control when observation replaces anger. Remember even with this technique you will be wrong quite a lot. Most people dont like to admit it but doing so makes you a better driver.

Antigone05

good advice. many thanks

Rob C

It's tricky. There are quite frankly a lot of scumbags driving now and you have to be careful even if they're in the wrong, many would like nothing better for you to do then beep or gesture at them. You can be sure they'll slow to pull up to you and try and start something. You see this all the time on the M50 where the traffic is terrible and tempers short. The smallest little thing can set people off. I've seen truckers in the M50 get out of their cabs to argue with other drivers.

If a driver does something dangerous around you like cutting in front of you forcing you to brake then by all means beep, but only if you're prepared to face the verbals that will come back to you. I mean we can't let these people bully other drivers.

Remember it's only bad drivers that tailgate and change lanes forcing drivers to brake, these are the ones that cause the infamous brake light backlog by driving too close to the driver in front hand hitting the brakes every few seconds forcing others to brake behind them.

If you see a real nutter though, just let it go. he/she'll be done by the cops soon enough...