Dangerous Driving Gardai

kikel

Twice in the last two days i've seen the new Traffic Corp driving dangerously on there high powered motorbikes.
Yesterday. Between Kill and johnstown. I was coming onto N7 at Kill. There were two Gardai on there bikes stuck at lights. I joined the N7 going south. Shortly after i joined the N7 these two boys fly by somewhere between 80 and 100 mph. You could understand if they were off to an accident or something but no the to tille boy racers (gardai) were stuck at the traffic lights at Johnstown. Again the lights turn green and the Gardai race off into the sunset.

Then today. Close to Portarlington. Laois. There is a section of small broken white line. I'm headinbg one direction a lorry is coming the other. As both of us come around the corner. the Guard on his bike pulls out to overtake the lorry. I've to slam on the brakes to avoid this Fu*ker. Not a blue light in sight. Using the local roads as his own personal racing track. If he had his emergency light on at least the truck would of seen his and made an effort to let the boys in blue pass.

What out boys in blue, next time i'll get you number and report you.
Cheers everybody needed to get this off my chest

edmund_f

good luck with this, tried about 12 months ago. got nowhere. Short of a cop running over a small child there is pretty much anything they can do, with no one to answer to. Simple test, as how many cops have penalty points from incercept stops?. How many will not flash the badge, and how many will not get let off there and then.

One set of rules for us and one for them, and seeing as they have the advanced driving they should know better and lead by example.

Con9903

Its one of the perks of their jobs. The last poster is correct, short of one of the outriders killing a small child there is nothing we can do but live with it.

seamus

kikel wrote:

Then today. Close to Portarlington. Laois. There is a section of small broken white line. I'm headinbg one direction a lorry is coming the other. As both of us come around the corner. the Guard on his bike pulls out to overtake the lorry. I've to slam on the brakes to avoid this Fu*ker.

Is it possible that you failed to anticipate this? Speedies aren't stupid. They're highly trained and highly experienced. I certainly wouldn't make a manouver like this if I wasn't dead sure, so I seriously doubt they would.
Plenty of times I've made perfectly safe and legal manouvers, with plenty of time and indication, and car drivers have still panicked because they've failed to anticipate my next move, or did not see what I'm doing. Surely if the guy is coming towards you, on a bend, the last thing you should do is slam on the brakes?

What out boys in blue, next time i'll get you number and report you.

You can report them all you like, but in court it's your word against his, and you don't have a speed gun.

Seth Brundle

AFAIK the gardai and other emergency services are exempt from speed limit laws. Furthermore, they don't have to have a blue light flashing if speeding.
This however does not give them carte blanche to become dangerous.

gulp

add it to the long list of other stuff that the cops get away with...in my local the cops all get sloshed and drive home.the only nights the pub is ever closed by on duty cops is when the off duty cops are drinking elsewhere.they prob ring the station to say "dont close this pub cause i want a late pint"

Seth Brundle

gulp wrote:

add it to the long list of other stuff that the cops get away with...in my local the cops all get sloshed and drive home.the only nights the pub is ever closed by on duty cops is when the off duty cops are drinking elsewhere.they prob ring the station to say "dont close this pub cause i want a late pint"

I once was out drinking with a crowd including an off duty garda. After several pints he went to work (i.e. was driving the squad car)!

Boggle

AFAIK the gardai and other emergency services are exempt from speed limit laws. Furthermore, they don't have to have a blue light flashing if speeding.

As far as I know they can't speed or break lights unless the light is flashing so they should be subject to the same rules as you and I. (Guard told me but don't have time to check it up...)

add it to the long list of other stuff that the cops get away with...in my local the cops all get sloshed and drive home.the only nights the pub is ever closed by on duty cops is when the off duty cops are drinking elsewhere.they prob ring the station to say "dont close this pub cause i want a late pint"

Tell me about it - went out with a gard for a year so went drinking with them a few times and I can verify that all this and more does happen. We were drinking with one lad one night and he was so drunk he could barely stand and he drove off home... I asked him if he wasn't worried about getting pulled in and he said (and I quote): "No, all they'd do is come to the window of the car and I'd flash the badge and be waved on. I wouldn't even have to roll it down."

Is it possible that you failed to anticipate this? Speedies aren't stupid. They're highly trained and highly experienced. I certainly wouldn't make a manouver like this if I wasn't dead sure, so I seriously doubt they would.

You've never sat at a session with a few cops listening to them telling tales of how fast they can get from a to b then have you? The crap some gard spew is unbelievable...


That said, this does not mean that all gards go around flouting laws but they do at least tolerate this from their peers...

JohnCleary

I kinda wnat to become a Garda after all that reading...

Silvera

AFAIK, Only Gardai on official duties are exempt from the speed limits.
This does not apply to ambulances, fire tenders, etc.

Regardless, I agree that they often set a very poor example to other road users.
Changing lanes without indicating, driving in poor visiblity with no lights switched on, motorbike cops speeding between cars on motorways, tailgating.........basically no better than the average braindead drivers on our roads !

Seth Brundle

According to www.oasis.gov.ie/transport/motoring/road_traffic_speed_limits_in_ireland.html

Speed limits do not apply in Ireland to ambulances, Garda Siochana vehicles being used in the course of duty or fire brigade vehicles.

Now oasis.gov.ie is not a full description of the law but Im sure it states the important bits!

edit: used in the course of duty can mean anything when sitting inside the squad car!

Silvera

I recall reading about an accident in the U.S. which involved an ambulance hitting a car and killing a woman.

The article stated that ambulances are not exempt from breaking lights, speed limits etc .........and that the same applies here.

kikel

seamus wrote:

Surely if the guy is coming towards you, on a bend, the last thing you should do is slam on the brakes?

Maybe you misunderstood me seamus, I'd just come out of the corner. The point where continuous white line becomes broken again. I slammed on the bakes to give him time to get into his own lane.

Sysiphus

AFAIK

1) Garada may only travel in bus lanes while "on official duty" this does not mean patrol, but only to a reported incident ie. siren or beacon active.

2) Fire tender, Ambulance and Garda cross a red light with "the curtosy" of other drivers, they are given neither permission nor exemption, strangely only the Army and Post Office during "national emergency" have explicit permission to break red lights without consequence.

3) If I read Kikel correctly, the garda was in his (Kikel's) lane on an occluded bend with neither visible or aural warning, therefore was in breach of the standard traffic laws and not covered by ay special protection of profession (as there was no indication of an emergency to other road users)

AMurphy

Silvera wrote:

I recall reading about an accident in the U.S. which involved an ambulance hitting a car and killing a woman.

The article stated that ambulances are not exempt from breaking lights, speed limits etc .........and that the same applies here.

I know of a local event wherby a cop doing 80+ in a squad car got jail time for hitting and killing a lady. He was not on official anything, just speeding in a cop car.
Cops and emergency vehicles will drive on the wrong side, but normally stop and go at red lights, not simply run them. I remember years ago an ambulance being hit and rolled at the roundabout at Dooradoyle (Shopping ctr.) near the Regional Hspd. in Limerick. I think the driver was killed, but the patients survived.

Normally they observe the speed limit and the law here, unless on duty. However I have noticed the lights flash to the rear, but nothing to the front, when they are on a "minor emergency", so you might not see them come up behind you, but then they are not doing 100 in traffic, more a case of going slightly faster than the traffic.

I passed the local "low rider" (white Camero with very few ariels/lights, etc) cop car yesterday. I was doing 75~80 in a 65, he was doing 65. about 200yds further on, I noticed the low profile Blue/Red lamp in my rear mirror. Ohhhh sheet say's I to myself here's a ticket being written while I drive and eased off to 70. Obviously he had some other fish to fry, he drove off in some other direction. That was a close one.

Kazujo

I have to side with Seamus here, the motorcycle cops are the only division that receive proper vehicle training and on a bike cop or not your not going to bank on the car reacting to save your arse.

There are always exceptions but for the most part they know exactly what they are doing especially if they are riding on the larger Pan European as they havea course specfically for riding them.

green-blood

bottom line, no matter how much training you get, you cannot account for the actions of other drivers, and you cannot stop a vehicle any quicker than physics will allow - ie the road surface/braking ability of the vehicle. 100mph gardai on bikes, in cars or driving fat politicians are a menace.

are bike cops trained to sit 3 feet from my bumper on the m50 - the f### they are

prospect

Yep,
I think they should have their light and siren going if they have to break the speed limit.
They are always preaching that speed is the number one cause of road deaths, but do they think that because they are a guard, they won't kill anyone? (i know they are well trained, but as stated earlier, they can not accuratly predict how another road user is going to react) At least with the siren blaring and lights flashing, other motorists, pedestrians, cyclists etc can get some warning that a fast moving vehicle is approaching.
Also, it would probably discourage the gardai speeding in non-emergency situations.
As for driving with drink in them, that disgusts me! If i witnessed that, i would call another guard and stand there and insist they breathalised the offending person, which i think a member of the public is entitled to do (maybe i am completely worng, but this should be the case).

Finally AFAIK you are not obliged to move out of the way of any emergency vehicle, blue lights or no blue lights! I don't know why anyone would want to stay put, but it seems that this is the case!

DBK

I remember my mate driving his bike on the Lucan bypass when a car nearly drove into the side of him without indictation. My mate gave the usual hand gestures and then the flashing lights came on. Under cover cop car. They pulled him over and the copper driving started giving him a b0llixing, saying that it was in his right to run him over! WFT??? My mate said "are you threatening me in front of a witness" and he said "dont' push it boy, you'll lose. I'll let you away with a warning this time!" A$$hole. :mad:

prospect

DBK, that really really sucks! What a pr1ck, i don't know how your friend controled his temper, i'd want to beat the fukker there and then :mad: ..

It think that alot of guards (not all of them) seem to forget that they are 'Public Servants'
i.e. They are paid to provide a service to the benefit of the public, not bully them.

hshortt

I've seen only two Gardai break lights un-necessarily in my driving experience. Wished I had a camera as it would have been lovely, pulling away and turning right while the lights are all red.

That said, I've also seen some very patient Gardai sitting in lines of traffic and waiting with the rest of us. (they could just light up and move on!)

I would expect that the Gardai are not excempt from the normal rules of the road, they uphold the law not write it. I know if I was a Gardai I'd be in the bus lanes all the time as I doubt they are immune to traffic frustrations.

Cheerio
Howard

Tobias Greeshman

For no reason a garda car, overtoke me on a very windy dangerous bend last year, and it wasn't like I was going slow or nothing. Feckin' Fools!