Just Saw A Crash

Supercell

Thankfully noone was hurt but it was fairly dramatic.

Was driving up Rathgar road towards Terenure coming up to the crossroads outside the Bank of Ireland,

The car ahead was a green polo with L plates and a blond haired girl driving with presumably the boyfriend in the passenger seat.

Anyhow, coming up to the lights they turned red, so naturally I started gentle breaking to slow down while noticing she wasnt breaking at all, thought, oh bugger shes going to slam on any second..but she didnt..sailed straight through right into the side of a silver Passat.

Hit it a fair whack too as I'd guess she was doing about 55KPH and not breaking at all, how she (or the b/f apparently) didnt notice the traffic passing is beyond me. The Passat spun a full 180 degrees and ended up on the pavement facing against the oncoming traffic.

A Garda was standing accross the road and must have seen the whole thing and was on the scene in seconds - luckily for the L driver as the Passat driver looked like he was ready to murder her.

She and the b/f got out of the Polo and neither seemed to be hurt, just big dings in both cars was the total damage.

Kind of makes me wonder about this whole thing about having a fully licensed passenger in the car with you if they seem oblivious to a red light ahead AND traffic already passing.

The b/f looked to be in his mid 20's so reasonably safe to assume he was indeed a licensed driver. Either way her insurance premium is going to go up a fair whack, and presumably she'll get a few points for running red lights too.

There were people all round so plenty of witnesses, its a miracle that there was no-one on the pavement where the Passat spun into - could have been nasty.

A salutory tale but another example of the huge delays in learners having to wait to take their test resulting in unsafe drivers being free to roam the roads with impunity.

unnameduser

Regarding having a full licensed driver with a L driver - I have a full licence. I have been in cars with lots of L drivers. The only time i felt i had to "be aware" was when I was instructing a person on how to drive. Otherwise when I am in the passenger seat I switch off. I could arrive at a place and not know the directions on how how I got there! On the otherhand I have been in situations where I was with a L driver and they were really driving too hard. Then my foot was instincting hitting the floor when it was time to brake.

BrianD3

My opinion on L drivers being accompanied is - many "accompaniers" are not aware enough to make any difference to the L drivers safety. The boyfriend in this case could have been yapping away to the g/f and not watching her driving at all. If he had been paying attention it should have been obvious to him from well back that she hadn't seen/wasn't slowiung down for the red light. She might actually have seen the red light better if she had been driving unaccompanied (due to less distraction)

TempestSabre

Just like there are good and bad drivers, there are good and bad passengers.

afatbollix

if our law system is right shell be done for dangous driving.. she could of done a lot of harm if the right items were in the right place...

Töpher

Sounds a bit mental. Presumptuous perhaps, but I wouldn't be surprised if she had her head turned to look at him and was talking to him when the lights changed. Probably didn't look at the road ahead for ages!

Lorax

she could have been stoned.

Guy:Incognito

The guy in the passenger seat may not have been a driver at all.

saobh_ie

BrianD3 wrote:

The boyfriend in this case could have been yapping away to the g/f and not watching her driving at all.

And he'd soon be single instead of a boyfriend if he started offering his advice on her driving. hehe.

daveg

This reminds me of a crash I saw about 12 months ago. A car was travelling in front of me. We came to a cross road (yield was on both roads approaching the road we were on so we had right of way). A girl (learner driver) was driving to the cross road on our right hand side. She didn't stop and drove smack into the side of the car in front. It was nearly funny it was so stupid. I checked the occupants of the car in front and they were fine but a bit shook up. I then asked the girl if she was ok (she was) and what the hell she was doing. Her reply nearly made me faint. She said, and I quote:

I thought the yield meant I had to stop at the other side of the road (ie. the yield on the road opposite her road).

NeMiSiS

"I thought the yield meant I had to stop at the other side of the road (ie. the yield on the road opposite her road)."

HAHAHA, I hope she encounters a level crossing soon..

TK