Careless driving charge

irishgeo

Ok

rear ended someone in my car and the got a summons now for careless driving. no one hurt or anything just a couple of damaged motors.

what's the options go to court and plead guilty and take the 5 points or try to contest it. there is a witness and he is going to say its my fault he told me that.

I am just wondering if it will make matters worse if i go to court and try to contest it will i get a fine and the penalty points, i also see a 3 months jail term. But jeez that would be harsh for a first offence.

Can i get off with just a warning or will i get the points regardless.
ill be talking to a solicitor of course.

How is this in regards to visiting other countries etc. mainly Australia and the USA.

mike65

Take the hit (subject to solicitors advice of course).

Mike.

the_syco

Was it a "nudge", did the car in front stop suddenly, or did you ram it even though it was stopped well in front of you? The former, may not be too bad, but the latter should (I think) see you punished heavily. Also, were you drunk?

LundiMardi

irishgeo wrote:

I am just wondering if it will make matters worse if i go to court and try to contest it will i get a fine and the penalty points, i also see a 3 months jail term. But jeez that would be harsh for a first offence.

Hmmm, and if you killed the person you rear ended, would it still be a bit harsh for a first offence?

Didn't think so.

If you know there's a witness who proves it's your fault then i don't know why you're even thinking of contesting!!

aidan_walsh

rear ended someone in my car

Admission of guilt. I'll join the other guy in the witness box.

Take the slap and learn in future, tbh.

Andrewf20

In relation to driving in the USA, I have rented cars from Hertz on a few occasions. They look for full drivers license, credit card number, and that you are over 25, and no more. So I dont think you will have problems there, if that was what one of your concerns was.

irishgeo

no drinking at all. i didnt ram it but it was stopped but i couldnt stop in time.i only damaged the rear wing.

my insurance is going to rocket.

Henry Ford III

Is there more to this than meets the eye?

A prosecution for a tap on the rear of another car is unusual.

ninty9er

irishgeo wrote:

i didnt ram it but it was stopped but i couldnt stop in time.

why?????

irishgeo

ninty9er wrote:

why?????

i skidded and tried to serve around the car. I seent he car breaking but i thought it was slowing down not stopped.

I know a prosecution is unlikely but the garda reckons i was speeeding which is incorrect. I am going to get a solictor to look into this as its odd. i know loads of people who crashed into other people and no conviction has come out of it. The reason is that its a hackney company which happens to have an ex garda running it who showed up at the crash demanding all sorts of info.

LundiMardi

You hit a car that was stopped. If you thought it was slowing down when it wasn't then you obviously weren't paying attention. Hence, driving without due care and attention.

I still fail to see how you think you can contest this???

rediguana

If I knew I was guilty of something, I'd still like to receive the most lenient punishment possible. Some of the posts here are sanctimonious. The OP asked for opinions on how he can most effectively minimise his liability here. He didn't ask for a load of grief. Driving a car is a complex activity; accidents happen.

Having said that, I would say don't contest it. It might be something if the witness was on YOUR side - if you'd been quicker off the mark, you could've killed him (the witness).

Live and learn.

ninty9er

My granny rear-ended someone recently and the Gardaí saw it as a pure accident and she admitted liability....the other person's mother even gave my granny a lift home

Her car was even assessed for write off.....crumple zones I ask you!!!!! Looked a lot worse than it was.

If you suspect foul play with the ex-Garda, contact your local TD and get him/her onto the Minister for Justice.

Gardaí are legally forbidden from running such companies in their own name (many do it in their wives names). The powers that be take a dim view of it!!!!

I recently took on a Garda and won the argument so maybe I'm just feeling all good about it edit: (I knew I was 100% correct). But if you GENUINELY feel that you;

1. WERE slowing down
2. WEREN'T speeding
3. Your solicitor so ADVISES

Take it to the Garda Complaints Commission. If there's something dodgy about the way they handlesd it they'll back down straight away

Esel

Is the witness independent? Have you seen his or her statement?

unkel

Take it easy folks - you know who you are. The OP caused a minor accident and he/she now wants to find out what best to do next

Please help out if you can

irishgeo

esel wrote:

Is the witness independent? Have you seen his or her statement?

no i have not.thats a solicitor jobs

the garda who was on duty and the ex-garda who i am on about are 2 different people

Ginger83

Can you have someone convicted for dangerous driving if there was no witness? I mean in the event of an accident if one party admits liability to the guards and the view the cars positions on the scene can this be done?

irishgeo

unkel wrote:

Take it easy folks - you know who you are. The OP caused a minor accident and he/she now wants to find out what best to do next

Please help out if you can

I even admitted liability in insurance terms but thats not going to be a issue in this. Garda was in to me to admit it was my fault but your not supposed to do that till you talked to your insurance company.

Ill get onto my solicitor first thing in the morning.

ok car turning right into a estate, i came around a slight corner , failed to see the car indicating right but did see the brake lights, when i realised it was stopped. I jammed on the brakes swerved left to go around it but skidded and hit the car. My driver side wing hit the rear passenger side of the other car. total damage cost €8000 to a hackney so i assume they used all new parts. its back on the road.
my car €1000 not new parts.Witness came over and says it was my fault. haven't read his statement. i thought it was just an accident.

Jo King

It is not the function of a witness to say who is at fault. All they can do is say what they saw. It is for the court to say who was at fault. In a criminal case the offence must be proven beyond reasonable doubt. It is possible to adduce engineering evidence as to the likely speed of a car at impact. The engineer will base his evidence on the damage done and the distance the car travelled. Most courts take a lenient view if the damage is light, compensation has been paid to the injured party, there was no attempt to leave the scene and there was co-operation with the garda.

irishgeo

compensation is being sorted via insurance , never tried to leave the scene, co operated with gardai.

light damage ?

Seth Brundle

I don't see how you can rear end someone without being careless, even if they were parked dangerously. A judge will probably see it that way also.
Save the cost of a day out and take the hit!

Savman

irishgeo wrote:

ok car turning right into a estate, i came around a slight corner , failed to see the car indicating right but did see the brake lights, when i realised it was stopped. I jammed on the brakes swerved left to go around it but skidded and hit the car. My driver side wing hit the rear passenger side of the other car. total damage cost €8000 to a hackney so i assume they used all new parts. its back on the road.
my car €1000 not new parts.Witness came over and says it was my fault. haven't read his statement. i thought it was just an accident.

That sounds pretty serious. Think about it, you're sitting there indicating and waiting to turn right when next of all BANG someone crashes into the back of ye.
Yes it was an accident, but it was also careless. One does not cancel the other out...

The reason you have been receiving hostility so far is probably because you are asking if you should contest it, I can't speak for anyone else but I know for damn sure I wouldn't come down on your side. Maybe other boardsies are putting themselves in the frame of mind of the driver being hit which in this case is clearly the victim.

Contesting it is like claiming you did nothing wrong, quite the opposite in fact. It's easy to see why the gardai reached the assumption you were speeding and in reality you probably were. It's been very icey lately and even if you were going the speed limit it could be argued that your speed was inappropriate to the road conditions so as a result you were negligent.

Sorry but I can't come down on your side here, if you want to gamble on a judge taking your word against the other driver, gardai and independent witness then you go ahead. You are perfectly entitled to deny everything.

I am just wondering if it will make matters worse if i go to court and try to contest it will i get a fine and the penalty points, i also see a 3 months jail term. But jeez that would be harsh for a first offence.

Can i get off with just a warning or will i get the points regardless.

I'd say its extremely unlikely you'll go to prison, so no point in dramatizing. But if I was you I'd brace meself for a fine/points/ban/endorsement.

ill be talking to a solicitor of course.

That, and taking responsibility, are your best options in my humble opinion.