What do about being run off the road by a boy racer?

SDunne4

Hi all,

Driving to work this morning and up comes a boy racer me behind me. Now I was doing 100 km/hr when he decides to pass me. Fine you might think but looking ahead I seen a car coming. I thought to myself he will pull back but oh no!! he decides to try an force me to pull over by driving a inch away from my wing mirror. So of course I sound my horn and flash the lights but I couldn’t help but think what if I had my little girl in the car he could have killed the both of us. So of course my temper got the best of me and I kept up with him till the next town (he was going the same way as me, only for that I probably wouldn’t have bothered).

Now first off, I don’t condone any road rage and this is the first time I did it but there was a red light at a pedestrian crossing in the town so I took the opportunity to get out and have a word. Looking at him with his baseball cap through the window I knew he was ****ting himself, I’m not exactly small. So I ask him what the hell was he at trying to run me off the road. He said “ehe eh I didn’t” so I said I have your number plate and I’m going to report you with that the lights went green and he was off. With of course me calling him a little dick***d as he left.
I just wanted to make my point with the little brat and make sure he thought twice about doing it again. I know doubt will see him on the road as I drop my wife and little girl into work/childcare every morning.

Anyways my question is this, should, could and how would I go about reporting this person to the cops?

I do have his number plate, I know he was going to a FAS training centre as I seen him turning in (FAS centre was only up the road from where I work, so he was very unlucky that he happened to be going in the exact same direction as me) and I have a rough idea what town he came from.

kluivert

Its up to you at the end of the day.

I think you should report him and ask the Gardas to have a word with him. This should waken him up to the fact that he could lose his license and then he would be screwed for his job or apprenticeship.

As for you I think you should have slowed right down, braking to make sure that he got in on time otherwise if he had of crashed into the on coming car, you would have been caught up in it too.

powermac

kluivert wrote:

Its up to you at the end of the day.

I think you should report him and ask the Gardas to have a word with him.

erm...yeah!
if he was clearly putting you in danger and thinks he was doin nothing wrong, he simply cannot drive properly. Report the reg etc and maybe the guards will have a work with him. POsibly give him a little wakeup call and perhaps he might take more consideration on the roads in future.

mike65

Go for it.

Mike.

bringoutthegimp

If you know where he works, go in there and slash the little f****s tyres. It'll make you feel great, and do more to stop him than the Gardai can.

completely unhelpful contribution

Sorry, I wasn't being completely serious.. should have added an emoticon or something.

crosstownk

Definitely call the Gardaí about this muppet. Its idiots like this that contribute to the carnage on Irish roads.

unkel

Call the Gardai. It's quite likely a Garda will visit his home address for a wee chat. Chances are your man's behaviour will improve after that

You shouldn't have used abusive language though...

Kersh

Lets hope that when he has 'the big one' he only kills himself.
I would report him, then tell us what happens.

The gaurds will probably do nothing.

Even if they do they won't persue it to a logical conclusion

podge3

Ring the Garda Traffic Watch number @ 1890 205805. Give it a ring and the incident details will be taken. I think its pretty much up to you if you wish to have the little s***e prosecuted or just have the local constabulary shake him down.

If you wish to have him prosecuted, you'll have to go to court as you were the only witness. Might be worth it to get the c**t off the road so he can't kill someone elses spouse/child/parent etc.

jobonar

Report Him!!!

Only a mater of time before he injures or worse kills someone with driving like that! he deserves to be reported!

in the long run you'd be doing him and other road users a favour!

preilly79

I can't condone a muppets actions, no doubt he should have judged his overtaking manoeuver better. however boy racers tend to be over confident in their driving abilities and in the capabilities of their cars ... in general they will push on and complete the overtake.

all i will say is that irrespective of the driver, their age, their state of dress or the flashiness of their car, if somebody is overtaking me and halfway through you realise that they have f'd up and are not going no make it i'll either slow down or pull aside to let them through. chances are, if he hits what's coming the other way you're likely to get caught up in the mess too.

like you said, you'd wonder what might have happened if your child was in the car.

again, he ****ed up, but by standing your ground you introduced another complication to his already bad situation.

Mr Magnolia

SDunne4 wrote:

Anyways my question is this, should, could and how would I go about reporting this person to the cops?

I do have his number plate.

By all means, report him, ring the number listed above or preferably call into your local cop shop. However, don't expect the Garda to do anything about it. You will have to be prepared to be a witness if they do decide to prosecute him.

Basically the Garda compile all these incidents and send them off for review, a chosen few are prosecuted. Not taking away from what the little pr!ck did but - I've reported worse, followed it up and nothing has been done.

I got out of my car to a t!t on the M1 under similar circumstances (kept my cool), he firstly denied any wrong-doing the apologized. A crash at those speeds would have been fatal.(didn't report this incident)

unkel

preilly79 wrote:

if somebody is overtaking me and halfway through you realise that they have f'd up and are not going no make it i'll either slow down or pull aside to let them through

Same here. It's not a game. It's not about winning. Always expect other drivers to make errors. Never just take right of way without consideration

unkel

Sparks400 wrote:

preferably call into your local cop shop. However, don't expect the Garda to do anything about it

In my experience it is quite likely a Garda will call to his house. This is informal though - just a chat

cargrouch

podge3 wrote:

Ring the Garda Traffic Watch number @ 1890 205805. Give it a ring and the incident details will be taken. I think its pretty much up to you if you wish to have the little s***e prosecuted or just have the local constabulary shake him down.

If you wish to have him prosecuted, you'll have to go to court as you were the only witness. Might be worth it to get the c**t off the road so he can't kill someone elses spouse/child/parent etc.

I'd say if you follow this route there's a better than usual chance something would come of it at the moment. There's gonna be a real media and garda focus on bad driving over the next while.

If you want to go down the local station instead, you could be helping a guard if he can catch the driver for a few more things. Add a few ticks next to his name for the month, ya know what I'm saying? Cynical view of gardai, but hey - you'd be the same. I wouldn't go down and look at the car yourself (might look like stalking/harassment!), but if you know someone who would then check for tax, tyres, illegal number plate, etc.

*Edit - of course they could also mistake you for a wannabe reservist!

edanto

Nice one for getting his reg and yeah, I think you should do something about it. If you don't, who will?

That little fuck could have killed you with his stupid driving and he needs a slap on the wrist. If he doesn't get it, it's just going to be something he laughs about with his mates "and then he came up to me at the lights and said he had my reg, the orshole... I just burned and left him with a mouthful of fumes he he he"

You're probably the only person that's ever gone up to his car and threatened him with a report. If he finds out you were bluffing, he's not gonna think twice about driving like that all the time.

antodeco

I dont know if anyone agree's with me hear, and Im sorry to be steroptypical, but alot of eastern european drivers, drive very dangerously and badly. I was pushed off the m50 fast lane by a polish primera, and a car behind me swerved to avoid both me and him and nearly caused a multiple car crash. Ive seen these drivers around alot, and about 75% of the time Ive come across them, they are driving very dangerously.

A recent survey of all road deaths in Ireland this year, has shown that 1/3 of all of them have been from foreign nationals. The problem exists that if they are driving "foreign" cars, they more than likely have no tax and no insurance.

mike65

Its hardly a surprise when you're sat on the left hand side, come from a driving culture as slipshod as our is and reckon you have little chance of being caught.

Mike.

Anan1

antodeco wrote:

I was pushed off the m50 fast lane by a polish primera, and a car behind me swerved to avoid both me and him and nearly caused a multiple car crash.

What exactly happened?

antodeco

There was a jeep in the middle lane, I was in the fast lane. There was a gap, large enought o fit a car through from my front left and the jeeps rear right. By gap i mean, if the 2 cars were parked, you would drive through slowly, but you would have enough room to fit through, not at 120Kmh though. He drove in between the gap, with me going faster than the jeep. I had no choice but to hit the brakes, otherwise I wouldve been killed for sure, as the jeep would and the car behind me. I jammed on the break and forced myself left onto the rubble on the right hand side of the fast lane. Car behind me swerved left but the jeep was also forced to jam on the breaks, as the primera swerved in front of him again.

All I can say is, luckily I saw him flying him beside me, if I wasnt aware of him, I certainly wouldve crashed

smarty

Sorry to be pedantic, but there is no “fast” lane. It is the overtaking lane

conor_mc

preilly79 wrote:

if somebody is overtaking me and halfway through you realise that they have f'd up and are not going no make it i'll either slow down or pull aside to let them through. chances are, if he hits what's coming the other way you're likely to get caught up in the mess too.

like you said, you'd wonder what might have happened if your child was in the car.

again, he ****ed up, but by standing your ground you introduced another complication to his already bad situation.

Not sure I agree entirely with this - what happens if he realises his mistake and tries to tuck back in behind you.... meanwhile you're slowing down and making it more difficult for him to get himself back on the right side of the road.

By changing your speed you throw all the other drivers judgements out the window, be they sound or poor, and you're actively contributing to a dangerous situation.

There's a point of no return though, and once he's past that point in your judgement, hit the brakes.

fletch

conor_mc wrote:

Not sure I agree entirely with this - what happens if he realises his mistake and tries to tuck back in behind you.... meanwhile you're slowing down and making it more difficult for him to get himself back on the right side of the road.

Hmm never thought of that....!

antodeco

smarty wrote:

Sorry to be pedantic, but there is no “fast” lane. It is the overtaking lane

True, but Ive never overtook somebody by going slower than them

SDunne4

conor_mc wrote:

Not sure I agree entirely with this - what happens if he realises his mistake and tries to tuck back in behind you.... meanwhile you're slowing down and making it more difficult for him to get himself back on the right side of the road.

By changing your speed you throw all the other drivers judgements out the window, be they sound or poor, and you're actively contributing to a dangerous situation.

There's a point of no return though, and once he's past that point in your judgement, hit the brakes.

I was just about to say the same thing. There was no way of knowing that if i had backed off that he would have done the same thing making the situation worse. Another thing is if i had of pulled in what's to say that someone doesn't drive out there driveway or a farmer come out of a field who would been in the wrong there. Also i honestly thought he would have backed off. If he had waited two more seconds he would have had a clear road to overtake. The things that made me mad was he never acknowledged he was in the wrong or said sorry, we are all human and make mistakes, i know i don't always do everything i'm supposse to in the rules of the road but when i'm wrong i say sorry or atleast hold my hands up to gesture sorry to the other drivers. The other thing was i was doing 100 - 105 km/hr so what was his hurry, to make matters worse i was just behind him even after i got out of the car so he gained notting by nearly causing a accident :mad:

Boggle

Not sure I agree entirely with this - what happens if he realises his mistake and tries to tuck back in behind you.... meanwhile you're slowing down and making it more difficult for him to get himself back on the right side of the road.

Think this is where judgement, luck and experience come in. Have been in similar situations and there is no right(textbook) answer. Nearly got wiped off the road one time in a similar situation and pulling in and easing off got me out of it.

Just to note that it wasn't a "boy racer" either. Mistakes happen to everyone...

saobh_ie

Definitally report it to the Gardaí.

It's worth keeping in mind that people typically don't drop back once they've started an overtake no matter how dodgey its getting. To drop back inot traffic they have to look behind them and steer and do stuff while braking. Also everyone knows that when you over take somebody the car behind you never waits for you to get safely in before following.

When people are overtaking me and it looks dodgy I give them a second to make thier mind up (speed up or brake) and then I move left as much as I can, bike or car, and do the opposite. If I decide to speed up I go as fast as I can as quickly as I can regardless of speed limits and if I've got to slow down I brake damn hard, no half measures.

tred

SDunne4 wrote:

Hi all,

Driving to work this morning and up comes a boy racer me behind me. Now I was doing 100 km/hr when he decides to pass me. Fine you might think but looking ahead I seen a car coming. I thought to myself he will pull back but oh no!! he decides to try an force me to pull over by driving a inch away from my wing mirror. So of course I sound my horn and flash the lights but I couldn’t help but think what if I had my little girl in the car he could have killed the both of us. So of course my temper got the best of me and I kept up with him till the next town (he was going the same way as me, only for that I probably wouldn’t have bothered).

Now first off, I don’t condone any road rage and this is the first time I did it but there was a red light at a pedestrian crossing in the town so I took the opportunity to get out and have a word. Looking at him with his baseball cap through the window I knew he was ****ting himself, I’m not exactly small. So I ask him what the hell was he at trying to run me off the road. He said “ehe eh I didn’t” so I said I have your number plate and I’m going to report you with that the lights went green and he was off. With of course me calling him a little dick***d as he left.
I just wanted to make my point with the little brat and make sure he thought twice about doing it again. I know doubt will see him on the road as I drop my wife and little girl into work/childcare every morning.

Anyways my question is this, should, could and how would I go about reporting this person to the cops?

I do have his number plate, I know he was going to a FAS training centre as I seen him turning in (FAS centre was only up the road from where I work, so he was very unlucky that he happened to be going in the exact same direction as me) and I have a rough idea what town he came from.

2 years ago, outside galway city, a neighbour of mine from home was driving home. He had 3 young kids at home in bed. A little boy racer in a souped up peugeot did the exact same manouver. Except, he clipped the front of the guys car, which caused him to spin onto the on coming truck and killed him stone dead. Id report him immedialtly, and get him put off the road. Its murdererous scum like this we need to rid our roads of. The young boy racer above got a ten year ban, and was either jailed or got a 5 year suspended sentence. i think he should have being jailed for life.

NutJob

ronoc wrote:

The gaurds will probably do nothing.

Even if they do they won't persue it to a logical conclusion

Common occurance unless they catch him on a speed gun or red handed theres little they can do until he does kill someone that is.

conor_mc

saobh_ie wrote:

Definitally report it to the Gardaí.

It's worth keeping in mind that people typically don't drop back once they've started an overtake no matter how dodgey its getting. To drop back inot traffic they have to look behind them and steer and do stuff while braking. Also everyone knows that when you over take somebody the car behind you never waits for you to get safely in before following.

When people are overtaking me and it looks dodgy I give them a second to make thier mind up (speed up or brake) and then I move left as much as I can, bike or car, and do the opposite. If I decide to speed up I go as fast as I can as quickly as I can regardless of speed limits and if I've got to slow down I brake damn hard, no half measures.

As Boggle says, there's no right or wrong answer. You have to make a judgement in each situation on its own merit, not just do what you've always done before.

As it happens, I wouldn't hesitate to drop back if I needed to. I'd sooner get a shunt from behind at a relative speed of 5-10 mph, than get smacked by a car closing with you head-on at a relative speed of 120+mph.

(EDIT - just in light of tred's post, to clarify that I mean backing off and slotting back in rather than gunning it and clipping the car being overtaken, as happened to his neighbour. Hope what I've said above doesn't come across as reckless. I'd give the third car a better chance of seeing the situation and leaving space. Obviously, someone being overtaken wouldn't necessarily have that option.)

Of course, I'd consider myself an idiot of the highest order if I got myself into a position of having to make that split-second choice.

preilly79

conor_mc wrote:

Not sure I agree entirely with this - what happens if he realises his mistake and tries to tuck back in behind you.... meanwhile you're slowing down and making it more difficult for him to get himself back on the right side of the road.

By changing your speed you throw all the other drivers judgements out the window, be they sound or poor, and you're actively contributing to a dangerous situation.

There's a point of no return though, and once he's past that point in your judgement, hit the brakes.

as another poster has pointed out, what happens comes down to judgement and experience.

the rate at which they are overtaking you will also greatly affect what happens. if they are coming past you at a much greater speed than you are travelling the likelyhood of them braking and pulling in behind you are slim. depending on how fast the other vehicle is approaching, that's not always the best option.

no two situations are alike. but in this situation, when dealing with a boy racer (the kind of driver who tends to take chances) backing off would have been the better option.

regading what the OP said about possibly hitting a another vehicle pulling out of a driveway/side road: good point. but again, it's a judgement call on your part. you can ask yourself "what if ... ?" all the time, but you're sharing the road with other people, a lot of whom haven't a clue how to drive. a lot can happen on the road and you've got to be aware of what is happening around you and base your actions on what you feel is the safest option.

there's so many variables in this equation that no one person can say what should have been done. but IMHO backing off and a call to the gardai should satisfy your needs.

BrianD3

Some good points being made. I agree with the poster who said that drivers who misjudge overtakes rarely abort the maneouvre and fall back in behind the car they're trying to overtake. Instead they gun it and hope to cut in ahead. Obviously there is great potential for carnage in these situations, especially since the overtaking driver is accelerating towards the scene of the crash making any impact much worse.

It's also true that sometimes it's difficult/impossible for them to fall back as before they've completed their overtake the guy behind has started his overtake too and is up their ass. Highly, highly dangerous situation. Even worse if the "lead overtaker" is in a truck as this means that the guy following is on the wrong side of the road and has zero visibility of what's ahead. How the hell can people bring themselevs to do this? I suppose it's similar to people who overtake into dense fog when they can't see a thing. Madness.

Ay Cee

antodeco wrote:

There was a jeep in the middle lane, I was in the fast lane. There was a gap, large enought o fit a car through from my front left and the jeeps rear right. By gap i mean, if the 2 cars were parked, you would drive through slowly, but you would have enough room to fit through, not at 120Kmh though. He drove in between the gap, with me going faster than the jeep. I had no choice but to hit the brakes, otherwise I wouldve been killed for sure, as the jeep would and the car behind me. I jammed on the break and forced myself left onto the rubble on the right hand side of the fast lane. Car behind me swerved left but the jeep was also forced to jam on the breaks, as the primera swerved in front of him again.

All I can say is, luckily I saw him flying him beside me, if I wasnt aware of him, I certainly wouldve crashed

:eek: Fnckin' hell!!!

MrPudding

Kersh wrote:

Lets hope that when he has 'the big one' he only kills himself.
I would report him, then tell us what happens.

Exactly. Natural selection in action. You gotta love Darwin.

MrP

smash

I'd report him, there's a gardai phone number you can call. you see the signs for it on the M50

base2

Theres nothing you can do legally. You did what you could by challenging him.