Driver intimidation?

kevin65

My wife just had an unpleasant experience in town. There was a car in front of her that slowed and one of the guys in it took a photo of her and then another photo of her number plate. She hasn't a clue why and felt intimidated.

My own guess is that it could be :
(1) mistaken identity
(2) some stupid game to intimidate her
(3) maybe some insurance scam

I'm going to get her to report it to the Guards. Has anyone heard of anything similar going on round town?

cats.life

sorry to ask you this but was your wife to close to car in front? hands up to this ,i once was to close to a car (was pissed of cos he was going so slow in 80km) he breaked so hard and stoped dead in the road, i have learned alot since then. hubbbie asked him why he done it,and he said he was so fed up with people to close to his bumper. what happend to your wife would have me wondering aswell op.

kevin65

No, not at all. There wasn't any kind of issue like that.

sentient_6

kevin65 wrote: »

No, not at all. There wasn't any kind of issue like that.

How do you know for sure though? She's hardly going to tell you she was tailgaiting.

kevin65

sentient_6 wrote: »

How do you know for sure though? She's hardly going to tell you she was tailgaiting.

Oh, go away troll, go sh*tstir in someone else's thread.

cats.life

op why dont you put this up on the motor forum, then you might get more from it.

-Vega-

cats.life wrote: »

op why dont you put this up on the motor forum, then you might get more from it.

This happened locally? Why ask all of Ireland about it ?

biko

Motors forum caters to all cities and towns in Ireland. A Dub would probably have posted there.
But anyway, ask the Gardai. It's hardly illegal to snap pics of people and their cars but maybe they'll know something? In any case it'll be a report about it.

baldbear

Report it to the guards? I don't think taking a picture is iilegal maybe slightly unsettling. i wouldn't bother going to the guards it would be a waste of time.

bagels

baldbear wrote: »

Report it to the guards? I don't think taking a picture is iilegal maybe slightly unsettling. i wouldn't bother going to the guards it would be a waste of time.

If the driver in front slowed for no reason other than to take photographs, then he/she may be guilty of an offence under the road traffic act, eg driving without due consideration for other road users.
Perhaps google the Act and check it out before you go to the Gardai.
Anyway, if a person is photographing you without your permission, is that not stalking?

ben.schlomo

bagels wrote: »

If the driver in front slowed for no reason other than to take photographs, then he/she may be guilty of an offence under the road traffic act, eg driving without due consideration for other road users.
Perhaps google the Act and check it out before you go to the Gardai.
Anyway, if a person is photographing you without your permission, is that not stalking?

What?

conaire1

kevin65 wrote: »

Oh, go away troll, go sh*tstir in someone else's thread.

I presume your wife's manners are the opposite to yours.

Mrs OBumble

bagels wrote: »

Anyway, if a person is photographing you without your permission, is that not stalking?

I'm no lawyer, but not if you're in a public place. (Sheesh, I hang out with people who play music in pubs: they get photographed dozens of times a night. No way could they give permission every time.)

TBH, the only reason I've taken photos of people & car rego in a public place is if they've committed some driving offense that's pissed me off so much that I've wanted to report them to the guards.

We don't, and can't, know what happened here.

But it will be interesting to hear how the OPs wife gets on.

Shakti

OP what sort of car does she drive? rare? expensive? great condition for the year? really bad condition for the year? lovely/dreadful colour? import? etc. etc.

Some people take pics of cars just because they like cars.

bensweeney

A friend of mind always takes a photo of a cars number plate that is acting in a dangerous fashion.

_Whimsical_

I have to say I would've been intimidated if that happened to me. If she was absolutely confident she hadn't been driving in an unsafe manner then someone taking the time to take pics of you like that would be very unsettling. Of course she could be mistaken and she might have made a dodgy move or the person taking the pics could've been mistaken about some incident. All the same it might be no harm to report it to the guards as Biko says.

I'd put her mind at rest that it's 99.9999% likely that there was probably a genuine and non nefarious explanation though.

A few years ago I was out with my friend at Tesco trying to find parking at Christmas.After a few mins we were followed by a guy who started beeping solidly and seemed to be shouting and gesticulating everytime we looked back at him.He kept it up for a full 5 mins before we lost him.Then we made a turn down one lane and he pulled out in front of us and got out of the car and started coming over looking exasperated. We were expecting a full on road rage incident,locking doors, closing windows... turns out he'd noticed we had her grannies wheelchair in the boot of the car and he wanted to tell us there was wheelchair parking up close to the doors of Tesco!!
So the most innocent explanation for most things tends to be the most likely.