Trafficwatch for Tailgater?

Raiser

Seriously ignorant fcuk. Driving style got increasingly aggressive and really dangerous after I had flashed to hazards to let him know he was about 8 inches from my rear bumper.

Even more annoyed about his behaviour as had two small children in car-seats between Neanderthal man and myself....

- Anyway any point in reporting his reg to Traffic watch? Don't have an independent witness [?] just my Missus....... That matter?

Curious as to if its worth the bother; does some Garda just sternly warn him and he laughs it off etc.

Stark

No harm in reporting it. Chances are the Gardaí will just give him a stern talking to, then again if he's been reported before...

Gumbo

where did this happen?

was it a single lane road?
were you in the outside lane of the motorway?

better to report if you have the reg and time.

fletch

Was this on a single lane carraigeway? Motorway/dual carraigeway?

Raiser

Black 4X4 somewhere between Mountshannon and Scariff Co. Clare yesterday at 15.30.

Single lane country road [not a boreen] - few opportunities for overtaking; I pulled in at first opportunity to allow him race manically to the East Clare Wife-Beating Semi Finals.

Spotted him from 1/2 mile back and could tell right off that he was going to try and get nicely close to read the mileage off my dash....... I was driving at a fair but what I'd consider safe pace for the road, weather conditions etc.

- I just read somewhere that they get prosecuted if you'll go to court - otherwise warned and if they crop up again within 6 months they get hammered by the tiny arm of the law [?]

JimmyCrackCorn!

Waste of time tbh.

Bunch of suicidal nutters on the m50 every morning and iv never seen a garda pulling people.

fatboypee

For my tuppence, I know this road well, I also know the Gardai out and about there, my other half reported an incident locally to the local station some time back, vehemently expressing her desire to go to court over it. Heard NOTHING....

FBP.

Tech3

Not surprised it a 4x4 to be honest. They like to eat up the road on cars in front.

If this was the case op I would be reporting 3 or 4 cars a day to the gardai

A telling off is the worst they will ever get, the rules need to be enforced alot more aggressively here and then we might get somewhere with these clowns.

crc

It probably doesn't help you in this instance, but if I feel someone is aggressively tailgating me I just slow down. I know that you shouldn't try to deliberately anger people on the road, but from my view it is the only logical thing to do; it is the only thing which is in my power to prevent a likely accident (and one in which I would probably come out worse off).

Still, report the reg to the Gards. It can't hurt and his name will probably show up somewhere else within 6 months if everyone were to report in this way.

ronnie#1

or slam on the brakes

if he cant stop in time he's at fault

Anan1

ronnie#1 wrote: »

or slam on the brakes

if he cant stop in time he's at fault

Would that make it hurt less, ronnie?

Anan1

Raiser wrote: »

Seriously ignorant fcuk. Driving style got increasingly aggressive and really dangerous after I had flashed to hazards to let him know he was about 8 inches from my rear bumper.

Even more annoyed about his behaviour as had two small children in car-seats between Neanderthal man and myself....

- Anyway any point in reporting his reg to Traffic watch? Don't have an independent witness [?] just my Missus....... That matter?

Curious as to if its worth the bother; does some Garda just sternly warn him and he laughs it off etc.

Same thing happened my mother last week, was tailgated aggressively by a NI registered A4, she let him past as soon as she could Some time later she came upon the same car buried into a crash barrier, driver standing beside it. Apparently many of the cars passing were beeping & waving their sympathy.

Tropheus

Same thing happened to me yesterday. I was on the Naas road just past Goffs. I was overtaking 3 slower cars and noticed a black X5 right up my a$$. I had another car to pass before I could pull in. I put on my hazzards to get him to pull back and he started waving for me to pull over even though there was a car on my inside. I had two young children in the back of the car. I wasn't hogging the outside lane. I indicated and moved out to overtake and was going to move back in once I'd passed the 3 slower cars.

I eventually pulled over and he sped past me seriously breaking the speed limit. What an idiot.

Saab Ed

Watched a Garda car tail gate an ambulance the other day and when the ambulance didnt see him the Garda car flicked on the blue lights and sirens to get by. Unmarked mondeo on the dual cabbage way at Blanchrdstown. Probably get a load of guards bo**ockin me now for saying that with the " you dont know what they were doing or going to " excuse but in my opinion their standard of driving leaves a lot to be desired never mind their refusal to condem their own no mater what the reason and secondly , if they were'nt sitting in the back of a van taking pictures of you doing 65 in a 60 zone and sending you pictures in the post than I wouldnt bother. Nothing wil happen.:(

Eireann

I would always report to traffic watch. I have seen results from my calls so am pretty pleased with them. They do ask your name and number, I dont see why you'd want to remain annonomous so I always give it.

Seanieke

I cant see the gardai or the driver taking it very serious seeing as there were no witnesses!

If you think about if, if you got a call from someone saying you were a guard and you'd been reported, would you take it seriously?

And then there's the question of what's stopping people reporting someone they've a grudge against?!

It just wont work unless they're caught red handed!

I do like a dab of the brakes with the left foot though (brakelights come on without loosing speed & causing a pileup!)

furtzy

Complete waste of time reporting that. As I posted in After Hours on another thread i recently rang the local station about a dodgy smashed up abandoned car with a false reg at the bottom of my road (checked on cartell) and the garda said to me "what the **** do you want me to do about it"

Any respect I had for the Gardai went out the window that day

timmywex

Lef tfoot braking ftw

darc

Reporting to local garda station is probably useless as they don't have any real interest in road issues.

Reporting to trafficwatch is far better. They link in with the traffic corp who have a particular interest in assh0le drivers. The complaint is put up n the system and when the assh0le gets stopped in the future your complaint is on the system.

if the piece of driving is particularly dangerous, the driver will get a visit and be given a verbal warning. - The advantage of this is that if he is stopped for bad driving / speeding in future, the gardai will not use their discretion and let him off.

darc

Seanieke wrote: »

I do like a dab of the brakes with the left foot though (brakelights come on without loosing speed & causing a pileup!)

Drop a couple of gears without touching the brake is far better - frightens the sh1te out of thm!

biko

Have a prepared sign "When you can read this I have already alerted Traffic watch to your tailgating" and then your missus just add his reg number to the sign

ArphaRima

Or you could just allow them to pass. (not directed at OP by the sounds of it; mainly the m50 people). 2 or 4 lanes no excuse to hog the overtaking lane.

JimmyCrackCorn!

fluffer wrote: »

Or you could just allow them to pass. (not directed at OP by the sounds of it; mainly the m50 people). 2 or 4 lanes no excuse to hog the overtaking lane.

Theres an over taking lane on the M50? When did that happen?:eek:

Threes an outside lane alight but that's just to drive at the speed limit or slower.

unkel

timmywex wrote: »

Lef tfoot braking ftw

LFB FTF TBH

TheNog

darc wrote: »

Reporting to trafficwatch is far better. They link in with the traffic corp who have a particular interest in assh0le drivers. The complaint is put up n the system and when the assh0le gets stopped in the future your complaint is on the system.

if the piece of driving is particularly dangerous, the driver will get a visit and be given a verbal warning. - The advantage of this is that if he is stopped for bad driving / speeding in future, the gardai will not use their discretion and let him off.

I have seen a few of these type of posts and should probably correct this now.

When a report is made to TrafficWatch the only details taken are your name and phone no. and the reg of the offending vehicle and your location. Now all this is put in the narrative only but not put on an item list (for want of a better way of explaining it) except for the location.

The key here is items in that list are searchable.

An example would be say if I caught Peasant driving at 200kph in a 50kph zone the items on the list of the incident contains his name, car reg, location, investigating guard (me) and any garda assisting. Thats it and only these items can be found using a search of PULSE.

For some reason TrafficWatch reports only have these items in the narrative only. Again an example is say Anan1 reported Peasant for speeding, Anan1s name and contact details along with Peasants reg are put into the narrative along with description of driving. Therefore if I stop Peasant a mile away and not knowing that he was reported to TrafficWatch, do a check on PULSE of his reg will not reveal to me that he had just been reported for speeding. Thats cos Peasant's reg was not put on the item list

It is only when Anan1 actually makes a statement with the view of going to court, will Peasants name and reg be put on the item list which will then be viewable during a search.

Another thing to clear up is TafficWatch dont contact the local Traffic Corp for these incidents, its the District HQ which is contacted first by phone followed up by a fax.

Now on some occasions TrafficWatch incidents appear on PULSE during daylight hours which is also the busiest time for phone calls so they may ring and ring and ring the station and not get an answer. This is not cos we are on our break or in the chipper or just too lazy to answer, its cos we are already on the phone. My station's main phone has 3 lines just to give you an idea and only one me.

So I know some of ye are already asking the question:

Why isnt the car reg details put on the item list?

Well I dunno for sure but Id imagine its because the incident itself wasnt seen by a Garda and/or there is no official complaint made at that time i.e. statement of complaint, in writing, not verbally over the phone, as some people tend to think....

So is TrafficWatch really worth it??

IMO yes it is but only if you are willing to go to court. In my opinion if you want me to warn someone I will not do it. I used to do it in the past until a fella I was warning complained to my Super wanting evidence of complaint etc, it started a sh!tload of a paper trail, I had no one to verify complaint in writing or even verbally (complainant fecked off an wanted nothing more to do with it) and I looked like a complete d!ck.

End Communication

ArphaRima

Theres an over taking lane on the M50? When did that happen?

Threes an outside lane alight but that's just to drive at the speed limit or slower.

Alright whats the outside lane on a 4-lane motorway called then? I havent a clue. But I do know that regardless of my speed, I move in when somebody is behind me.

In short. Move in when I'm behind you.

DubTony

fluffer wrote: »

Alright whats the outside lane on a 4-lane motorway called then? I havent a clue. But I do know that regardless of my speed, I move in when somebody is behind me.

In short. Move in when I'm behind you.

I thought everyone knew that. It's the BMW lane. So, gettouttatheway.

doolox

I remember driving from Galway to Ballyvaughan during the day.
With all the German campervans doing 50 kph it used to take me over an hour.
At night the same journey takes half an hour.
No overtaking opportunities no hope when slow traffic on road.
Up in Donegal they have pull in spots where slow traffic is supposed to pull in and let faster people by.
They don't use them.
Apart from putting 2 lane highways everywhere I don't see a solution to this problem except people pulling in to let faster people by.
Golfers have a rule where slow players have to make way for fast.
Similar rule wouldn't go amiss on the road.

Saab Ed

In some parts of the States ( and maybe all Im not sure ) if 8 other vehicles are queing behind you its the law that you must pull over and let them by. PS , If anybody brake tests anybody else in the outside lane of a motorway or similar then they are a complete and utter Gobs**te

Seanieke

Had to post this!!

rocknchef

TheNog wrote: »

I have seen a few of these type of posts and should probably correct this now.

When a report is made to TrafficWatch the only details taken are your name and phone no. and the reg of the offending vehicle and your location. Now all this is put in the narrative only but not put on an item list (for want of a better way of explaining it) except for the location.

The key here is items in that list are searchable.

An example would be say if I caught Peasant driving at 200kph in a 50kph zone the items on the list of the incident contains his name, car reg, location, investigating guard (me) and any garda assisting. Thats it and only these items can be found using a search of PULSE.

For some reason TrafficWatch reports only have these items in the narrative only. Again an example is say Anan1 reported Peasant for speeding, Anan1s name and contact details along with Peasants reg are put into the narrative along with description of driving. Therefore if I stop Peasant a mile away and not knowing that he was reported to TrafficWatch, do a check on PULSE of his reg will not reveal to me that he had just been reported for speeding. Thats cos Peasant's reg was not put on the item list

It is only when Anan1 actually makes a statement with the view of going to court, will Peasants name and reg be put on the item list which will then be viewable during a search.

Another thing to clear up is TafficWatch dont contact the local Traffic Corp for these incidents, its the District HQ which is contacted first by phone followed up by a fax.

Now on some occasions TrafficWatch incidents appear on PULSE during daylight hours which is also the busiest time for phone calls so they may ring and ring and ring the station and not get an answer. This is not cos we are on our break or in the chipper or just too lazy to answer, its cos we are already on the phone. My station's main phone has 3 lines just to give you an idea and only one me.

So I know some of ye are already asking the question:

Why isnt the car reg details put on the item list?

Well I dunno for sure but Id imagine its because the incident itself wasnt seen by a Garda and/or there is no official complaint made at that time i.e. statement of complaint, in writing, not verbally over the phone, as some people tend to think....

So is TrafficWatch really worth it??

IMO yes it is but only if you are willing to go to court. In my opinion if you want me to warn someone I will not do it. I used to do it in the past until a fella I was warning complained to my Super wanting evidence of complaint etc, it started a sh!tload of a paper trail, I had no one to verify complaint in writing or even verbally (complainant fecked off an wanted nothing more to do with it) and I looked like a complete d!ck.

End Communication

what i dont get is why did Anan1 report peasant for speeding:D

Anan1

rocknchef wrote: »

what i dont get is why did Anan1 report peasant for speeding:D

Because i'm the world's biggest hypocrite.;)