Post bad driving that you have witnessed

smelltheglove · 23-09-2007 11:39am

Just finished my letter of complaint on this one....and sorry for the long post

I was driving up the N4 on friday evening at 5pm in rush hour madness. I came to the cross roads at newcastle i was stopped 4 cars from the lights when i noticed a black ford fiesta come up beside me to take the left turn to go towards newcastle thought nothing of it until the lights went green and he just kept driving straight he just missed the little island that seperated the left turn from the motorway and made me nearly veer into the next lane as a result so i put my hand on the horn and let him know how pissed off i was as there were 3 kids in the back,i then watched as he continued again down the bus lane he undertook 4 cars and a coach then rejoined the traffic as normal.
So i continued on up the N4 to take my turn for leixlip(the intel exit) and he was infront of me i went to go up the slip road and he jammed on in front of me!!! on a main road! the car came to a stop on a slip road on one of the busiest roads in ireland cars had to swerve around me and i sat there gesturing as you would and he was signalling from his car for me to pull over i was loosing the plot at this stage and it was only then i noticed his brake lights were flashing it was an unmarked car! he got out and we exchanged a few words etc.. because he asked me was i in a hurry! I had my tax,insurance license etc but he wanted my insurance cert i told him that the disc was on the car only to be told they dont look at that and that he wanted me to produce my insurance cert in 10 days or i will be summonsed i cant believe this all happened because of what i think was i annoyed him when i beeped and gestured at him what was i supposed to do sit there and say nothing??? Anyway i got his name etc and i spoke to the head of his station and now im following the lines of complaint
Again sorry for the long post/rant

_Kaiser_ · 23-09-2007 11:58am

smelltheglove wrote:

Just finished my letter of complaint on this one....and sorry for the long post

I was driving up the N4 on friday evening at 5pm in rush hour madness. I came to the cross roads at newcastle i was stopped 4 cars from the lights when i noticed a black ford fiesta come up beside me to take the left turn to go towards newcastle thought nothing of it until the lights went green and he just kept driving straight he just missed the little island that seperated the left turn from the motorway and made me nearly veer into the next lane as a result so i put my hand on the horn and let him know how pissed off i was as there were 3 kids in the back,i then watched as he continued again down the bus lane he undertook 4 cars and a coach then rejoined the traffic as normal.
So i continued on up the N4 to take my turn for leixlip(the intel exit) and he was infront of me i went to go up the slip road and he jammed on in front of me!!! on a main road! the car came to a stop on a slip road on one of the busiest roads in ireland cars had to swerve around me and i sat there gesturing as you would and he was signalling from his car for me to pull over i was loosing the plot at this stage and it was only then i noticed his brake lights were flashing it was an unmarked car! he got out and we exchanged a few words etc.. because he asked me was i in a hurry! I had my tax,insurance license etc but he wanted my insurance cert i told him that the disc was on the car only to be told they dont look at that and that he wanted me to produce my insurance cert in 10 days or i will be summonsed i cant believe this all happened because of what i think was i annoyed him when i beeped and gestured at him what was i supposed to do sit there and say nothing??? Anyway i got his name etc and i spoke to the head of his station and now im following the lines of complaint
Again sorry for the long post/rant

Fair play to you for following up with his station, although in my experience it'll probably get you nowhere.

For what it's worth though I'd have done (and have done) the same as you. Yet another cop that thinks he can do anything he likes just because he has a badge. The idiot in his focus that was tailgating me on the N4 one afternoon got told to go look up the Rules of the Road when he had the neck to get out and start giving me crap about "hogging the fast lane" (fast lane? Oh you mean the OVERTAKING lane which I'm in because I'm OVERTAKING slower cars on the inside lane!)

Be warned though, all the Garda apologists will be on shortly to tell you you have a chip on your shoulder/are making it up etc :rolleyes:

smelltheglove · 23-09-2007 12:11pm

i know it will get me no where but it really pissed me off if i wanted to follow it up i could ring the bus company he undertook on the road too and get the driver to back it up as he beeped at him too id say it would be handy getting the drivers name as it was a private bus droppin kids off from school hed only have to verify the car but it seems like way too much hassle and i have every respect fort eh gardai and what they do but when you have **** like this happen to you it really does make you wonder....

Seth Brundle · 23-09-2007 1:08pm

www.gardaombudsman.ie

smelltheglove · 23-09-2007 2:09pm

kbannon wrote:

www.gardaombudsman.ie

did that already man wrote a letter on saturday after speaking with the station in question,

Tails142 · 23-09-2007 2:40pm

an unmarked black ford fiesta??

smelltheglove · 23-09-2007 2:52pm

Tails142 wrote:

an unmarked black ford fiesta??

exactly thats what was kinda shocking and took me a while to grasp what it was,i took the reg and everything,i was so busy shouting and pointing at him that it took me a min to see the red lights flashing under the break lights

djeclips · 23-09-2007 6:02pm

Tails142 wrote:

an unmarked black ford fiesta??

Was working on the new office block at the RDS and regularly saw a silver unmarked one tearing up the road,lights and siren going full blast.

Etnies · 23-09-2007 8:52pm

The_Edge wrote:

Seen a Ban Garda driving up prospect road today on the mobile.

Also seen a ban garda in town on her mobile laughing.. Whats the point if they don't even follow the law?

Matt Simis · 23-09-2007 9:01pm

Etnies wrote:

Also seen a ban garda in town on her mobile laughing.. Whats the point if they don't even follow the law?

We dont call them "ban" Garda anymore you know..

Drax · 24-09-2007 9:52am

Last Saturday night coming along the N25 was about to take the exit for Cobh, from a distance I see a car near the exit with his hazards on and reverse lights on. Also about 200 yards before the exit was another car in the hard shoulder with hazards on. I figured the guy near the exit would be one of these people who have missed their exit and rather than going to the next junction and coming back, had decided to chance their arm and reverse back to take the road. As we approached (girlfriend was driving) I realised this ejit was actually in the middle of the sliplane. Not pulled over in the hard shoulder but right in the middle of the lane. So much that it caused my girlfriend to come to a complete stop behind him. After realising we were behind him he puts the car into forward gear and moves into the shoulder. It wasnt my place but as we passed I pushed the horn button much to my girlfriends annoyance!
If I were driving I would have probably pulled over and had words.. I was livid that someone could be that unbelievably thick. It was quite clear that he wasnt broken down as he was moving backwards down the slip lane. The only other thing I can think what he was doing was reversing back to the other car whose had pulled over back up the dualer, rather than pulling over and walking back to give assistance. Unreal.

DBK · 28-09-2007 2:57pm

This morning walking down the Adelaide road, I spotted someone reversing into the last positioned car spot on the side of the road. Nothing in front of this spot so the driver had plenty of room to manoeuvre. I wasn't really paying that much attention to it until I heard a bang and saw the alarm was going off on the jeep in the spot behind the driver. I thought "oh, they reversed into the car. How is that possible with all that room. And it's a Jeep. You're not going to miss that in your rear view mirror".

Anyhow, it wasn't until I got closer that I realised that they hit the jeep so hard they pushed it to the curb, bent the jeep's bumper and tail gate also had damage. The car's boot was totally smashed in, like a v. They must have planted the accelerator to do that much damage. One of the maddest things I've seen this week.

Seth Brundle · 28-09-2007 5:35pm

Did you leave a note DBK?

DBK · 30-09-2007 4:21pm

Didn't have anything to write on. I waited at the scene till someone else came and went in to get the porter at the hospital. When the porter came out I had to leave, but the car was still there 3 hours later when I was passing by that way again. There was no way the driver of the jeep wouldn't have noticed as the jeep was moved onto the curb and the alarm was screaming.

Post bad driving that you have witnessed

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