Dublin: motor insurance scam or drug-induced suicidal behaviour?

Rebelheart

Well, last night was something else.

The girlfriend and I drove out of the back entrance of UCI Tallaght at 23:45 and the road was quiet and dark with no traffic around. There was this guy up ahead on the right walking along the footpath and all of a sudden he started running into the middle of the road in front of us - rather, at us - with his arms out (yes, like an aeroplane) and was right up at my driver's window and I was ****ting it, trying to lock the driver's door/central locking while watching in front of me expecting one of his allies to jump in the middle of the road (I was thinking of the scams a few years ago where somebody would lie on the road and a driver would stop and she would then be robbed).

His face was totally out of it and because we had just pulled out of UCI we had been going at around 20/30km so given the circumstances I accelerated before he could get in front of me/open my door/smash the window. Then I heard a thud at the back of the car but kept my eyes on the road for fear that there would be other people there if I slowed down even marginally - I had no intention of having a conversation with this individual. When I got to the top of that dark back road, I looked in the rearview mirror and your man was on the ground. I turned left and went into a dead end, turned around and drove cautiously back with the doors locked and the phone next to me. I parked a bit further down, rang the Garda, and reported it. A Garda car was passing while I was waiting so the two gardaí in it looked after it, and a couple more cars came thereafter, followed by the fire brigade and ambulance.

The gentleman concerned darted from the ground when gardaí attempted to revive him, and he gave his first name, and they took him off to Tallaght Hospital, which was around the corner. A bangarda took all my relevant details and asked me to produce my insurance certificate and reproduce my Driver's License at my local Garda station as soon as possible. She said she would get in touch with me later for a statement.

Has anybody experienced something similar to this man's actions? I thought this stuff had been sorted out years ago when they came down on the 'whiplash' claims. My girlfriend is sure the guy was high as a kite and just suicidal, but I suspect he merely banged the back of my car with his hands and threw himself on the ground in order to later sue me. Any help/experience/advice/wisdom would be great. Thanks.

Matt Simis

To answer you question, no Ive never heard of that, it indeed sounds like a "compo" case mixed with drugs or alcohol. Bit strange he was on his own, I would assume those pulling a con work in pairs. Someone planning suicide can do a much more effectively by jumping in front of a bus or motorway.

Im not going to make any friends for saying this, but if some coked out junkie threw himself on my car then was on the ground (faking or injured, I dont care) I wouldnt be ringing the guards and effectively turning myself in. He can stay there.


PS: If you have a VW/Audi etc you can have your car recoded to automatically lock the snaps when you start driving. Rather useful feature.

kazul

I wouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions. There was a bloke on Newstalk during the week who suffered from epilepsy, instead of seizures he used to just run blindly until he got exhausted. He was hit by traffic on 3 seperate occasions :eek:
He had no control over his actions. Best thing to do is avoid. Remember that a pedestrian on the street technically has right-of-way.

unkel

kazul wrote: »

There was a bloke on Newstalk during the week who suffered from epilepsy, instead of seizures he used to just run blindly until he got exhausted.

That was on the radio last Wednesday, wasn't it?

craiginireland

Matt Simis wrote: »

.

Im not going to make any friends for saying this, but if some coked out junkie threw himself on my car then was on the ground (faking or injured, I dont care) I wouldnt be ringing the guards and effectively turning myself in. He can stay there.

Im with you on this. I know that particular area and you can tell the junkies quite easily as opposed to someone with epilepsy.

Its now worth it stopping for those scumbags in case they do try something