Would you overake a police car?

btkm8unsl0w5r4

After an incident this morning, where I (in hindsight stupidly ) overtook a marked cop car on a Dual Carrageway. He was going slightly under the limit (60 on this streatch), after a round about I overtook a slow van and the garda car, and dropped back inot the left lane and the correct speed.The question is, is it ever a good idea to overtake one. Probable not....

The garda in question did give my car a good NCT style once over, and gave me a bit of a ear full., All this at 7 am.:(

bf

If i was within the speed limit, absolutely!

I often laugh to myself at the general Irish mentality not to overtake a Garda car - you can be quite happily cruising down a dual motorway at 120km/h & suddenly the traffic slows dramtically due to a sqaud car doing 80!

SV

Again, if it's within the speed limit then absolutely.
The Garda had absolutely no right to give you an earful if it is as you say.

Moanin

If you're not breaking the legal speed limit or driving dangerously, I can't see the problem??
Why did he pull you over?

blue42

Jaliyah Wooden Vaseline wrote: »

After an incident this morning, where I (in hindsight stupidly ) overtook a marked cop car on a Dual Carrageway. He was going slightly under the limit (60 on this streatch), after a round about I overtook a slow van and the garda car, and dropped back inot the left lane and the correct speed.The question is, is it ever a good idea to overtake one. Probable not....

The garda in question did give my car a good NCT style once over, and gave me a bit of a ear full., All this at 7 am.:(

were you over the speed limit or not? if not then you should not have taken an ear full,as you put it!

felim

Absolutely, as long as I wasn't breaking the limit.

Some people simply won't overtake a garda car though. I saw this on the way back from the Ireland match last night on the Limerick to Shannon dual carriageway. Garda 4x4 towing a horse box doing about 80 in a 100 zone and a line of cars behind refusing to overtake. I don't understand it myself.

Edit: other posters beat me to it.

JMcCR

I would so long as I didn't break the speed limit, although I like driving behind them and recording their stupidity on my X-Driven. Maybe I'll comile the clips some day and stick em on youtube

dudara

No problem as long as you're not exceeding the limit wildly. No reason to be stuck behind them doing 80 kmph

rebel.ranter

Did you overtake the van & the Garda car in one move?

I would have no issue in overtaking a Garda car going slow provided it was safe to do so. Gardai are not robots they are human like the rest of us, occasionally they lose concentration. Especially if they are on a switch over shift from lates to earlys. The Garda may have been oblivious to his going slow.

Gary ITR

I often have done. On the N7 there are usually Patrol cars cruising at 70/80km/h. Fecked if I'm going to sit behind them

BlackWizard

There was a garda escort going down the M50 a few weeks ago. Two garda bikes and about 30 other regular bikes. They were hogging the overtaking lane for the whole M50.

Anyway the garda bike on front went a few 100 meters ahead of the pack. So I figured I'm not staying behind the horse box I was stuck behind for 10min and I'm going to pull into the overtaking lane and overtake it. So I'm in the over taking lane and there is a Garda bike 100meters on front and a biker pack 100meter behind.

2 second later I almost rear ended the Garda bike :eek: He slammed on his brakes and stopped me from passing the horse box. He kept braking and pointing to the other lane. He wanted me to go into it :mad:

I think overtaking when a Garda around is like an insult to them or something. I wouldn't advise it!

btkm8unsl0w5r4

In all fairness I did get up to a stonking 80 Kph to get past him which is 20 over the limit, but come on 60Kph on a dual carrageway. Once past moved over and setteled back to the limit. Anyone who knows the outer ring road in waterford will know what i am talking about. usually guards have better things to do, was not a traffic corp car.

WillieCocker

M50 last week, went past fairly heavy traffic at 120km/h, all the traffic was doing 80 with a marked Garda car in the lead.
After about 1 min of travelling there was nothing at all behind me.
Sad.

Gary ITR

BlackWizard wrote: »

There was a garda escort going down the M50 a few weeks ago. Two garda bikes and about 30 other regular bikes. They were hogging the overtaking lane for the whole M50.

Anyway the garda bike on front went a few 100 meters ahead of the pack. So I figured I'm not staying behind the horse box I was stuck behind for 10min and I'm going to pull into the overtaking lane and overtake it. So I'm in the over taking lane and there is a Garda bike 100meters on front and a biker pack 100meter behind.

2 second later I almost rear ended the Garda bike :eek: He slammed on his brakes and stopped me from passing the horse box. He kept braking and pointing to the other lane. He wanted me to go into it :mad:

I think overtaking when a Garda around is like an insult to them or something. I wouldn't advise it!

That sounds like a different scenario altogether. I'd imagine they were more worried about the security of whoever/whatever they were escorting

Daroxtar

I've done that a few times and never had anything happen. I think the gards are just doing that to hold up traffic as virtually no one tries to go past them. Its kinda funny watching all the cars coming belting along and then suddenly slowing down when they see the squad car while i cruise along at a couple of km/h faster and disappear into the distance.

Mr Benevolent

Jaliyah Wooden Vaseline wrote: »

In all fairness I did get up to a stonking 80 Kph to get past him which is 20 over the limit, but come on 60Kph on a dual carrageway. Once past moved over and setteled back to the limit. Anyone who knows the outer ring road in waterford will know what i am talking about. usually guards have better things to do, was not a traffic corp car.

Ok, that's 33% over the limit. Not necessarily unsafe but definitely illegal. It's a fair cop.

BlackWizard

Onkle wrote: »

That sounds like a different scenario altogether. I'd imagine they were more worried about the security of whoever/whatever they were escorting

That's spot on alright. But he shouldn't have left the escort. He was nearly 300km away and the escort was 200m behind me. Sure he let me go eventually because there was an accident with the bikes behind me when he hit his brakes so suddenly. I don't think all the bikers were paying attention to a stopped car in the overtaking lane His brakes where incredible though. I'd swear it only took him a second to go from 60kph to 10kph. I had to steer into the rough to avoid him. All cars should have brakes like them bikes!!

mick.fr

I overtook the police once at over 200Kmh, in Germany though.
I shiit on myself, even though I was legally driving at that speed.
They did not came after me

Drummerboy08

Done it this morning - Unmarked car sitting in the inside lane tipping on @ 60kmph, loads of cars behind him, i just sailed on by.

rameire

i have overtaken and undertaken gardai on many occasions.
usually the undertaking happens on the N7 road.
feck that im not going to be sitting well under the limit if idiots in the overtaking lane dont know how to drive.

daveyboy_1ie

The bottom line is its not advisable to do so as they hold all the cards in that respect. I once was driving along at the speed limit and was being undertaken by a marked Patrol car who happened to be in the bus lane, anyway she (yes she) misjudged it and did not take into account the bus in front of her might have the cheek to stop at a bus stop once hailed. Anyway, she had to brake and I went from being slightly behind the garda car, albeit in a different lane, to alongside and she had to brake as she was fast running out of room and be damned if am braking t let her out. Now I was the one driving within speed limits, in the correct lane and noticing my surroundings, but this did not stop me being pulled over and the passenger copper (in fairness she did not embarress herself by getting out) gave me the once over (TAX, NCT, Drivers License etc.) and a warning about my future conduct, when I asked what exactly I did wrong he then went to the tyres and all my lamps, disgusted he found nothing he came back and told me 'go on, I will let you away with it............' :P (felt like asking him is it ok to turn my radio on but thought would be pushing it)

The bottom line is, you are powerless when it comes to coppers as they hold all the cards and will use them if they think you are not respecting them. In fairness to this situation, I will give her benefit of the doubt as it was him who got upset over me, but still annoys me whe I see reckless driving everyday and am stopped cos I drive correctly

Hooch

Anyone ever think we just drive down at 80kmph just to observe traffic?? Provide a high visibility patrol?? Observe the vehicles overtaking at see if anything is supect??

If an AGS vehicle is driving under the limit, espicially on a dual carriageway, then by all means, if traffic and weather conditions allow it, over take!! However if the AGS vehicle is driving down the motorway bang on the limit ie 120kmph at 7am in the morning....I wouldnt advise an overtake. The 7am crawl at the speed limit is becoming a bigger part of Traffic policing. Plod along at the limit and slow all the potential speeders down.

JimmyCrackCorn!

I overtook an unmarked garda car one night on my way to the hospital with an emergecy at over 70 in a 30.

He did persue and but i didnt stop till i got there, I also told him to take my reg and id be into the station later cant talk now.

I can only poo myself so many times in one night.

TBH when i left the hospital at 2am and went to the station to apologise they were nice about it.

The majority of the time i delt with the traffic corps they were ok to deal with. I bought a Nissan Silvia and i got to meet the trafic corps quite allot as i got pulled over everywhere. (record of 3 times in two days)

I even had them overtake me rush ahead doing what looked like 3 digits set up a speed trap one night just for me. Only to find me doing well under the speed limit (girlfriend was asleep)

Voodoomelon

On a motorway provided I was doing no more than the limit, absolutely I would overtake. Same goes for a primary road. I'd certainly never undertake one.

If I was stuck behind a Garda car on a country road, I'd stay there until he turned off.

--Kaiser--

I have overtaken an unmarked garda car on the dual carriageway at 120/130 kph, but feckit they would have had to stop half the people on the road if they were stopping cars for speeding.

anthony4335

I remember once comming home from work, doing about 65MPH, and there was line of cars ahead of me, going about the 50 mark, could see the patrol car in front, but could not understand what was going on, double checked my speed and continued to over take them all in the fast lane.
After I got past the patrol car, and the ones behind it obviously saw no flashing lights they all started pulling out. The Gardai in the car must have been pissing themselfs. As for overtaking them on a normal road, would really depend on there speed, no point in drawing them upon you.

Saab Ed

daveyboy_1ie wrote: »

The bottom line is, you are powerless when it comes to coppers as they hold all the cards and will use them if they think you are not respecting them.

Me Ar$e. I've had little or no run ins with cops in my lifetime but the couple of times that I did and they were in the wrong I stuck the boot in and blocked lots of traffic in doing so. When Im wrong I'll hold my hands up , when they're power tripping well they better be ready for a bloody good argument

BrianD3

Have done it numerous times on dual carriageways and M ways and a couple of times on single carriageway roads. On one occasion I overtook 3 cars pootling along at 80 in a 100 with the middle car being an unmarked Corolla.

One day I saw a driver overtake an Irish Explosives convoy (unmarked Mondeo + two trucks) on a bend across hatch markings and clearly breaking the speed limit by a big margin. Cops may have radioed another car or noted his reg but they did nothing obvious at the time. Not that I'd expect them to abandon their escort duties to go after someone.

bazzachazza

As long as it's all legal and above board I wouldn't even think twice about it. Done it loads and even got to see the faces of all the people who didn't dare go past. Shocks not the right word for there expressions.:D

ottostreet

I overtook a traffic corps car last January or so on the N7. I did go a few kms over the limit, but nothing major, but he pulled me over for 'swerving all over the road', because i didnt undertake cars that were in the wrong lane.

ive been paranoid about overtaking them ever since. and if its an unmarked car i just sit there, regardless of speed.

chickenhawk

Jaliyah Wooden Vaseline wrote: »

In all fairness I did get up to a stonking 80 Kph to get past him which is 20 over the limit, but come on 60Kph on a dual carrageway. Once past moved over and setteled back to the limit. Anyone who knows the outer ring road in waterford will know what i am talking about. usually guards have better things to do, was not a traffic corp car.

I've gotten pulled a few times on that road. The limit is ridiculous. I know the law is the law and all that bull but common sense should prevail sometimes.

Keith186

I almost overtook an unmarked on the M50 at about 160kph but as soon as I got alongside it I dropped right down to the same speed, 120kph approx then slowly overtook them just in case. Legal speed limit was 100kph on that section.

A fair bit of the time they'd have the boot down and I'd stay right behind them to get home faster. Tried to keep up with a garda bike before, I was doing 180kph and I couldn't get near it, he must have been doing 210kph, he wasn't on an emergency call either, just on his way home, think he lives in my old estate...

Ambulances and fire brigade cars are the best to follow with their sirens on as you are safe in the knowledge they can't do anything about it.

Twice I've followed a fire brigade car with sirens from North Circular to Auburn roundabout, took about 5 mins or so to do it and then they turned off the sirens once they got through the traffic!

Bluefoam

Dangerous practice to follow emergency vehicles like that. If you get caught they'll go for you.

L1011

I'll overtake of them where I can do it in within the speed limit and legally. Have done it on a single carriageway once before, the guard in question was defining the term "pootle" by doing about 70km/h on a dead straight stretch of the road to Kilrush (can't remember the number).

My van has a GPS tracker and the most accurate speedo I've ever had so I'm more than willing to take it all the way if one of them tries to claim I was speeding when overtaking them. But its never happened.

Holsten

No way.

bagaspuds

Overtook a cop car once on the N7. I was following behind. He pulled in and I took it as an invitation to overtake. Next thing flashing lights in the rear mirror. An old guy on his own. Jaysus he had steam coming out his ears. He read me the riot act. I overtook right at the end of a double white line which didnt help. He said he'd me for dangeroius driving - never heard anything.;)

peasant

Bluefoam wrote: »

Dangerous practice to follow emergency vehicles like that. If you get caught they'll go for you.

Not only that, it's also very dangerous just on its own. all the cars that cleared a path for the emergency vehicle are highly likely to pull back in right behind it ...often in a panicked and uncontrolled manner. The wake of an emergency vehicle is not a safe place to be.


To answer the original question:

Have overtaken police cars, do overtake police cars and will continue doing so. As long as my conscience is clear and I'm not speeding or driving dangerously, a police car is just like any other car, just with funny markings.

congo_90

Garda car in my way is no problem as others have said.. I wouldn't go blazin past at ridiculous speeds! oh I wouldn't dare pass one who has their blues in twos on (granted they're still driving of course and not parked ) :rolleyes:

This is like saying I won't pass a learner who is going slightly slower than me... Pass em and go

brayblue24

BrianD3 wrote: »

Not that I'd expect them to abandon their escort duties to go after someone.

They can't!

galwaytt

Did so myself on Sunday, on way into Galway.

Dual carraigeway traffic tootling along behind the marked GTC car at.....80kph.

Pulled out, pulled past, pulled away, no problem. I looked in the mirror.........they were like sheep for miles'n'miles behind him.........

Lord Nikon

Good story for ya.

I was up in Northern Ireland a few years back, heading into Belfast from the Ballymena side. On the motorway stretch people were crawling along, so I sat in the overtaking lane cruising along, can't remember the speed. Anyhow, I come up behind a VW Passat and he was crawling along in the overtaking lane with the right lane empty, I gave a flash and nothing, he just sat there, so I flash again and nothing. I had enough, dropped a gear and undertook him.

Then I get a earful of his sirens, and I nearly shat myself. Anyway, it was an unmarked with one occupier, and I slowed down and he threw me a dirty look. Still, we were both in the wrong, but moreso him cause I'm a "great driver".

FYI - It turned out to be a Volkswagen 4.0L AWD W8 Passat, quad exhaust.