Garda Traffic Watch - Anyone ever used it?

Countryripple

Hey guys,

Just wondering if anyone has used this service yet? I have the number in my phone for ages but never used it. Had a pretty scary experience yesterday on a motorway cos of some sh!thead. I decided then yesterday evening that id ring it and see what the deal was.

Rang the number and got straight through to a chap. None of this press one for, press 2 for cr@p which was great. He took a description of what happened, where, what time, type of car and reg etc. The report then goes to the nearest garda station and they will aparently contact me about it.

So what i want to know is, has anyone used it before and heard back from the gardai? Id like to think there is some satisfaction of reporting dangerous driving to this phoneline. Isn't that the whole point of it?

fletch

I used it before, was told the same as you, local Garga station never contacted me.

MarkN

Used it before about an ar5ehole on the Eastlink and Clontarf got back to me about it, I made a statement but the Supt. obviously felt there was insufficient evidence.

I went into Clontarf station before on a seperate occasion and reported a taxi driver who got out of his car for me flashing the lights at him and came up to my window roaring his head off asking if I wanted to get out and have a scrap with him - nothing would have given me greater pleasure than to box the head off the fat, stumpy git but my better judgement kicked in!! He was cautioned for it by the guards so it can go either way.

Apart from that, I don't hang around garda stations reporting people

Jumpy

Yes, I have used it, I was called back 3 weeks later, driver was cautioned. He slammed on his brakes in front of me on the M50 at 120kmph because I was overtaking too slowly (120kmph in the overtaking lane).
Personally I am not going to speed up for some dick flashing his headlights behind me, Gardai saw it the same way. I could have taken him to court but it didnt warrant the hassle.

yop

Jumpy wrote:

Yes, I have used it, I was called back 3 weeks later, driver was cautioned. He slammed on his brakes in front of me on the M50 at 120kmph because I was overtaking too slowly (120kmph in the overtaking lane).
Personally I am not going to speed up for some dick flashing his headlights behind me, Gardai saw it the same way. I could have taken him to court but it didnt warrant the hassle.

Same as that, called a few weeks later. They called out to his house.

whippet

I called it a few months ago on a driver that I knew was p1ssed .. he was clipping kerbs and the like.

I was near the local garda station and I had the pleasure of being able to watch as two guards walked out of the station to breathalize the driver .. who almost had to be peeled out of the car.

patrickc

i used it last night, cos some kids were playing chicken with cars on the main N9. took my details and that was that.

Countryripple

So its looking like it depends on the station really as to whether they'll pursue it. Hopefully they will. Guy came up flashing his lights at me in the overtaking lane, as i was overtaking a row of about four artic trucks. i was going the max speed of 120km and i was too close to the truck in front to pull in for the dope. he then went into the slow lane and undertook me almost clipping the nose of my car on the passenger side as he zipped back in. There would have been literally 15 feet between the front of me and the truck to my left. He then floored it up the motorway at god knows what speed. Got the reg thankfully and double checked it on cartell to make sure i had the right one before i reported it.

Its because these guys dont get reported or caught red handed that they will continue to put innocent people in danger. If more people start reporting dangerous incidents and they get an unexpected knock on the door, that'll satisfy me a little.

Anan1

Countryripple wrote:

So its looking like it depends on the station really as to whether they'll pursue it. Hopefully they will. Guy came up flashing his lights at me in the overtaking lane, as i was overtaking a row of about four artic trucks. i was going the max speed of 120km and i was too close to the truck in front to pull in for the dope. he then went into the slow lane and undertook me almost clipping the nose of my car on the passenger side as he zipped back in. There would have been literally 15 feet between the front of me and the truck to my left. He then floored it up the motorway at god knows what speed.

If he had enough room to overtake you on the left then you were in the wrong lane. Drive left, overtake right.

dingding

Rang it once a few months ago after an NI driver nearly hit me head on a windy road.

I had to come to a complete stop and he still nearly hit me.

When I rang, this automated machine asked to say what county I was in, could have been Cavan, Leitrim, I was not sure, could not get the machine to recognise the county so I gave up.

Poor service

tuxy

Wouldn't it be better to just ring the local station?
And just use this when you are away from home and don't know the number of the local station.

Silvera

I'd agree!
Phone the nearest station directly whenever possible, that way they may also even catch the offender within minutes of the offence!

oleras

Devils advocate here but its one persons word against another is it not ? So if the person you reported goes on the defensive and says it was actually you who cut him up what are the cops going to do ?

slightly ot but, its a pity sometimes we dont have the law of the jungle on the road ( some might say we do !) If someone annoys you you could "Mad Max" them off the road.......:D

Vikings

Anan1 wrote:

If he had enough room to overtake you on the left then you were in the wrong lane. Drive left, overtake right.

He was overtaking in the overtaking lane when he was undertaken. Overtaking a row of 4 artics, I for one would not be changing lane in between each and every one of them.

Anan1

Mustangs wrote:

He was overtaking in the overtaking lane when he was undertaken.

Think about this statement for a moment. It simply can't be true.

Jumpy

oleras wrote:

Devils advocate here but its one persons word against another is it not ? So if the person you reported goes on the defensive and says it was actually you who cut him up what are the cops going to do ?

slightly ot but, its a pity sometimes we dont have the law of the jungle on the road ( some might say we do !) If someone annoys you you could "Mad Max" them off the road.......:D

You made the complaint, he did not. They will brush it off.

Jumpy

Anan1 wrote:

Think about this statement for a moment. It simply can't be true.

No, I agree with Mustangs. Weaving for the benefit of an impatient driver is not necessary nor advised, the speed limit was being followed and he was indeed overtaking, there is no requirement to pull back in immediately after an overtaking maneuver if you have to drastically adjust your speed before pulling out again.

fletch

Anan1 wrote:

Think about this statement for a moment. It simply can't be true.

Yes if the car which undertook had time to actually perform the manouevre then Countryripple most certainly had time to move back into the driving lane, unless of course the "undertaker" was driving something very powerful.

Mustangs wrote:

Overtaking a row of 4 artics, I for one would not be changing lane in between each and every one of them.

The artics were obviously spaced quite a distance apart from each other if the other road user was able to undertake Countryripple. Sounds to me like Countryripple was lane hogging and annoying other road users

TwoShedsJackson

oleras wrote:

Devils advocate here but its one persons word against another is it not ? So if the person you reported goes on the defensive and says it was actually you who cut him up what are the cops going to do ?

slightly ot but, its a pity sometimes we dont have the law of the jungle on the road ( some might say we do !) If someone annoys you you could "Mad Max" them off the road.......:D

If they get regular calls or enough calls in a period about a particular reg number, they should be inspired to go and have a chat.

I rang that line about a month ago to report some fool undertaking me in the hard shoulder of the M50 so he could get to the Sandyford off ramp three seconds sooner.

Haven't heard anything since.

Tigger

fletch wrote:

Yes if the car which undertook had time to actually perform the manouevre then Countryripple most certainly had time to move back into the driving lane, unless of course the "undertaker" was driving something very powerful.
The artics were obviously spaced quite a distance apart from each other if the other road user was able to undertake Countryripple. Sounds to me like Countryripple was lane hogging and annoying other road users

i laugh at people who ring the garda to report themselves lane hogging

Marcus.Aurelius

fletch wrote:

Yes if the car which undertook had time to actually perform the manouevre then Countryripple most certainly had time to move back into the driving lane, unless of course the "undertaker" was driving something very powerful.
The artics were obviously spaced quite a distance apart from each other if the other road user was able to undertake Countryripple. Sounds to me like Countryripple was lane hogging and annoying other road users

Agreed. Unless the other car was very powerful, it sounds like Countryripple was in the wrong.

Anan1

Jumpy wrote:

there is no requirement to pull back in immediately after an overtaking maneuver if you have to drastically adjust your speed before pulling out again.

Drastically adjust his speed? Where do you get the idea that countryripple would have had to do that? It's quite clear from his post that he could have driven in the correct lane and allowed the other car to overtake while maintaining his previous speed.

GoalsGoneWild

I agree that people lanehogging is extremely annoying - but i think that people are being a bit harsh on Countryripple here. From time to time, the person who wants to overtake someone who is doing the speed limit in the overtaking lane has to look at the whole situation.

There's a big difference between the situation that was described and a case where someone just sits in the lane for the sake of annoying the person behind him. I personally would not be forced into pulling in between some arctics (i'm assuming here that there wasn't sufficient space to do so safely) just so i can leave someone who is driving agressively get past me.

P.a.t.i.e.n.c.e

Countryripple

Anan. Im not stupid. I know how to drive correctly and within the law. If you read my post properly, you will see that I was overtaking the trucks at the time. The fact that you think that the other driver had "enough" room to undertake me says alot about your own driving. He other driver broke the law and the speed limits and performed a very dangerous manover. As I said. It was unsafe for me to pull into the slower lane as if i did ther would only have been about 15 feet between me and the back of the artic. I dont know what your definition of tailgating is, but in my view, at a speed of 120km, gaining up on a vehicle, that is not a safe distance to have between you and the car in front. I was in an alfa and the car that undertook me was a 1.9. Regardless of this, I am not willing to put myself in danger for some a$$hole who cannot wait 10 seconds until I have overtaken another vehicle. This guy had barley enough room to get diagonally between us. He almost clipped the front of my car doing so. How was I hogging the lane if I was using it to overtake at the legal limit?

I think its a sorry state of affairs that some of you have posted saying this. I hope to god that you dont actually think this sort of behaviour is ok. Its people like this who end up wrapped around trees and other cars.

GoalsGoneWild

Countryripple wrote:

Anan. Im not stupid. I know how to drive correctly and within the law. If you read my post properly, you will see that I was overtaking the trucks at the time. The fact that you think that the other driver had "enough" room to undertake me says alot about your own driving. He other driver broke the law and the speed limits and performed a very dangerous manover. As I said. It was unsafe for me to pull into the slower lane as if i did ther would only have been about 15 feet between me and the back of the artic. I dont know what your definition of tailgating is, but in my view, at a speed of 120km, gaining up on a vehicle, that is not a safe distance to have between you and the car in front. I was in an alfa and the car that undertook me was a 1.9. Regardless of this, I am not willing to put myself in danger for some a$$hole who cannot wait 10 seconds until I have overtaken another vehicle. This guy had barley enough room to get diagonally between us. He almost clipped the front of my car doing so. How was I hogging the lane if I was using it to overtake at the legal limit?

I think its a sorry state of affairs that some of you have posted saying this. I hope to god that you dont actually think this sort of behaviour is ok. Its people like this who end up wrapped around trees and other cars.

Very fair point, well made :cool:

RobAMerc

I did not and probably never will.

Its is too subjective, I have had oncoming cars flash the lights at me for overtaking when there was enough room for me to overtake two or three cars more ! If this guy decided to phone in and started talking sh*te like "Well this car zoomed out and was tearing along towards me and then he shot back into the his lane nearly giving me a heart attack" where would I end up for making a perfectly legal overtaking maneuver?

I also had a woman who told me she was going to call the Gardai because I was being aggressive when I blew the horn at her for blocking the exit on a roundabout.

Did you ever think that the guards didn't ring you back because you might have been over reacting to a situation where you could even have been in the wrong yourself, such as hogging the outside lane of the M'way?

Countryripple

Rob. It was an ILLEGAL manover. Re-read the description (and grow a brain).

Anan1

Easy on countryripple, this isn't a personal attack on you. Remember that I wasn't there, my entire opinion is being formed on the basis of what you are telling us happened. And you are telling us that a car behind you flashed you while you were doing 120km/h, moved into the left lane, undertook you, pulled back into the right lane and drove off. Was the other car extremely accelerative? If so, I could perhaps see your point. From what you've told us so far, though, it sounds as though you were blocking the overtaking lane between overtaking maneouvres.

GoalsGoneWild

Agree with the point about subjectivity. I got into trouble with some gimp driving towards dublin on the M7 a few months back for what I could only describe as him thinking that i was hogging the driving lane. I was doing 80mph (I still work on old money - apologies!) in the driving lane. This was late at night. Traffic was very, very quiet. As I drove past a slip road onto the motorway, a car was pulling out of that. I stress though that he was behind me as I passed the slip road exit. He then accelerated along the filter lane so that he was level with me. I kept on driving at 80mph. He then proceeded to tailgate me with his mainbeam on for about 2 miles. We approached 3 artics. He overtook me and then blocked me in behind the last of the artics. At this stage we were doing about 60mph - same speed as the arctics. I slowed to 50 to let him past, but he followed suit. At that stage, I floored it and essentially undertook him. He then tailgated me again, I pulled back into the driving lane after overtaking the last of the 3 trucks (i was again back up to around 80mph) and he then shot off into the distance at well over 100mph.

In my opinion, he could have pulled out behind me and directly into the fastlane from the sliproad. He obviously felt that I was blocking him into the slip road. But I'm open to other people's interpretation as to whether I should have moved across to allow someone coming from a slip road to essentially undertake me?

So...if you were that gimp in the old Lexus LS400, I salute you Sir. Hope you made it in one piece...ish :rolleyes:

Countryripple

I dont see how you think i was blocking the lane if i was using it to overtake? It was the fact that he had the minutest of space getting between the two vehicles and almost hit me that is so careless. Remember, I was gaining on the vehicle in the left lane and this gap was very quickly getting very short.

I guess its too hard to give an acurate visualisation of these thing through words only. Me and the truck drivers are the only ones who saw what happened. In fact the truck behind actually flashed him as he swerved in as he was not too far behind.

Regardless of the details of this particular incident, all I really wanted to know was if anyone had had any joy from this service and if it is a waste of time or if is serving any purpose in the fight against dangerous driving and accidents.

RobAMerc

Countryripple wrote:

Rob. It was an ILLEGAL manover. Re-read the description (and grow a brain).

I wasn't referring to you mate, I would have said so if I was, but I suppose I could have picked a better example sorry.

Countryripple

Sorry if i insulted you then.

MGrah

Couple of questions for people jumping on the OP here:

Considering that an Arctic in theory is restricted to 100KPH and say you are moving at 120KPH how much distance do you think there should be between two of them before it's safe (note: safe, not possible) to return to the left hand lane while overtaking them?

Second question - a tailgater who let's say leave approx 2 metres betwen himself and the car in front, obviously not a safe driver, how much space do you think this guy would leave before moving into the left hand lane in front of a truck?

Third question - if someone tail-gating you (which I think from the first two answers we should agree is possible without you being a 'lanehogger') and dangerously moves into the left hand lane without enough space cleared of the car you were both overtaking, would you think - oops that's my fault if he could move in, then so could I, I'll move in real quick? Or would you stay put and curse the guy for putting your life at risk?

Finally - cars over-taking have a responsibility to the car they overtook, not to move back into the left hand lane until they are sufficiently clear. Going by guidelines (i.e. 2 seconds) at 120kph you should be leaving almost 70m between you and the car in front, this should go for the car behind also. This suggests that the answer to the first question is that you should be leaving 55m in front of a truck travelling at 100kph behind you before you move in, and you should have at least 70m in front of you, meaning the trucks would be 125m apart before you'd even consider it, considering the truck in front is travelling 20kph slower than you I would say it should be further. It's pretty obvious from the OP that this guy didn't leave a hell of a lot of room, the OP wouldn't have had to be more than 10m clear of the truck before the other guy pulled into the left hand lane at which point there was nothing the OP could do about the situation. To say that if it's possible for a car to undertake you it was possible for you to get out of the overtaking lane might be true, but it's not necessarily safe.

I for one would not make a manouver that I don't consider safe under normal circumstances in order to facilitate someone else speeding, unless I think that my own safety is better served by doing it (i.e. getting the idiot the hell away from me).

The Tourist

If the OP is doing 120 noone should be trying to overtake them anyway. Also, chances are the left lane is doing 80-100 and the OP WANTS TO DO 120, and is within their rights to do it. Just cos someone else wants to do 140 doesn't mean the OP should be forced into doing 100. Chill out FFS.

TwoShedsJackson

The Tourist wrote:

If the OP is doing 120 noone should be trying to overtake them anyway. Also, chances are the left lane is doing 80-100 and the OP WANTS TO DO 120, and is within their rights to do it. Just cos someone else wants to do 140 doesn't mean the OP should be forced into doing 100. Chill out FFS.

Get a flame suit on now, the 'I can drive whatever speed I want, you have no right to police my speed, now get into the driving lane whether or not there are four artics in there' brigade will be here momentarily...

The Tourist

TwoShedsJackson wrote:

Get a flame suit on now, the 'I can drive whatever speed I want, you have no right to police my speed, now get into the driving lane whether or not there are four artics in there' brigade will be here momentarily...

LOL.

dak

If I was the op I'd be p**sed off and sorry I posted this at this stage. Give the op a break. When someone posts a event they are looking for your opionion based on the posted details. A post soon becomes a farce with all the subjectivity about the op rather than the the subjective view of whether the guy behind was a idiot .

Based on the ops post I'd say the guy behind is an idiot unless there was a medical emergency or life threatening event that he had to get to.

Jumpy

Anan1 wrote:

Drastically adjust his speed? Where do you get the idea that countryripple would have had to do that? It's quite clear from his post that he could have driven in the correct lane and allowed the other car to overtake while maintaining his previous speed.

Think ahead a bit here.

Trucks are limited to 100km/h, you pull in behind one, then you are going to have to reduce your speed. The person behind you may not be the only one in the queue and you may be forced to wait until two or three cars have passed.
It is safer to continue until a sufficient gap with no heavy vehicles ahead.

Anan1

Jumpy wrote:

Think ahead a bit here.

Trucks are limited to 100km/h

They should be, but many don't seem to be. I certainly wouldn't assume any truck to be limited to 100km/h.

Jumpy wrote:

you pull in behind one, then you are going to have to reduce your speed. The person behind you may not be the only one in the queue and you may be forced to wait until two or three cars have passed.
It is safer to continue until a sufficient gap with no heavy vehicles ahead.

This is a very fair point. As i've said before, I wasn't there - i'm merely reacting to countryripple's description of the situation. And just so we're clear - i'm in no way trying to argue that what the other driver did was anything but dangerous.

GoalsGoneWild - UK drivers tend to move into the overtaking lane to facilitate merging, but I can't see why anyone here should expect it. I'd be wondering whether your 'friend' hadn't had a few drinks?

MarkN

Let's not assume truck drivers are all law abiding drivers here lads.

I was behind one idiot driving a 40ft last Friday morning, M50, 6.30, drove the whole way from Finglas to the airport in the overtaking lane with nothing on his inside a lot of the time. He was either completely thick or just didn't care but the blast of the horn I gave him when I finally got past him hopefully woke him up. :rolleyes:

GoalsGoneWild

Anan1,

I'd actually always move across to facilitate merging myself - assuming it's safe to do so of course. In this case tho he actually accelerated along the filter lane so that he was level with me. The drinking thing did cross my mind to be honest. I felt at the time that the guy was looking for a confrontation of sorts. Not the kind of behaviour I would normally expect from someone in an LS400!

Head The Wall

MarkN wrote:

Let's not assume truck drivers are all law abiding drivers here lads.

I was behind one idiot driving a 40ft last Friday morning, M50, 6.30, drove the whole way from Finglas to the airport in the overtaking lane with nothing on his inside a lot of the time. He was either completely thick or just didn't care but the blast of the horn I gave him when I finally got past him hopefully woke him up. :rolleyes:

Trucks are not supposed to do more than 80Km/h, most manufacturers limit the speed to 85-90, anyone going more than that has rigged the tachograph and limiter (serious offence)

Secondly no truck is allowed to drive in the outside lane of a motorway!

chop

I know it's an old thread, but I just have to thank the one poster who seems to know the speed limit for trucks. Well done! Everybody, please take a good long look at the rules of the road. NO BUS AND NO TRAILERS (including artics!) may go above 80km/h even on a motoway.
http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/speed-limits/speed-limits_for-vehicles.html

Anan1

chop wrote: »

I know it's an old thread, but I just have to thank the one poster who seems to know the speed limit for trucks. Well done! Everybody, please take a good long look at the rules of the road. NO BUS AND NO TRAILERS (including artics!) may go above 80km/h even on a motoway.
http://www.rulesoftheroad.ie/rules-for-driving/speed-limits/speed-limits_for-vehicles.html

Please read the charter and don't resurrect old threads.