Do you call the Gards?

The Novacastrian

This may have been done before, if so - lock it.

Anyway, driving on M7 on Friday evening, I noticed a car with a passenger in front seat holding a small child on her lap. To me this is dangerous and against the law.

I wasn't sure whether or not I should call the Gards and report it or just leave it go. What do fellow boardsies do? It doesn't have to be as in example above, it could be reporting speeding, careless driving, etc.

corktina

i say yes...and a confidential phone line is available i think...

Ayrtonf7

I assume your talking about small Mr Meaners yeah ?

The Novacastrian

Anything really from unsecured kids to suspected drink driving. Anything that might put someone at risk of injury or death.

djimi

Ive called the guards on numerous occasions, usually because of lunatics trying to race me/run me off the road in the process. Most of the time I may as well be calling my granny for all the good it did, but once they followed up and caught the guy racing around the back roads later that night.

Id sooner call the guards knowing that there is at least an outside chance Ive prevented an accident and possibly saved someones life. I just wish they would do more or at least sound in some way interested when you speak to them.

Mr Magners

I've done it before when I see somebody endangering myself or others. Unsecured children is a real pet hate.

CokaColumbo

No I would not report it; I leave that kind of stuff to the busy-bodies of this world.

You should defo have reported it, "Hello Garda, yes I'm on the M7, on my handsfree of course and have just seen a car, the front seat passenger has a toddler in their arms" They'd be straight onto it.

Brendog

Definitly report it!!

do you have a licence plate number or anything??

PaddyFagan

Hi

I would have called the guards - and have done so once before for exactly this kind of instance. I won't for most things - but someone putting a child (who has no understanding of their own safety) at risk in that way gets my goat.

I rang traffic watch, about 40 minutes latter I got a follow up call from the local station - they'd looked up the owners address and we're sending someone out and asked if I'd prefer they pushed for a prosecution or just "used their discretion" based on the reaction when they talked to them - I said "used their discretion", but I was willing to give evidence if it came to it... That was the last I heard of it....

Paddy

Anan1

goslie wrote: »

This may have been done before, if so - lock it.

Anyway, driving on M7 on Friday evening, I noticed a car with a passenger in front seat holding a small child on her lap. To me this is dangerous and against the law.

I wasn't sure whether or not I should call the Gards and report it or just leave it go. What do fellow boardsies do? It doesn't have to be as in example above, it could be reporting speeding, careless driving, etc.

What exactly are you asking? Whether i'd report someone driving with an unrestrained baby on a motorway - yes. Whether i'd report someone speeding on a motorway - no.

Mr Benevolent

You should defo have reported it, "Hello Garda, yes I'm on the M7, on my handsfree of course

You can legally use a phone while driving to call the emergency services.

Confab

Confab wrote: »

You can legally use a phone while driving to call the emergency services.

In the case of an emergency

Ayrtonf7

Id like to say I would, But I know I wouldnt.

mullingar

RoverJames wrote: »

You should defo have reported it, "Hello Garda, yes I'm on the M7, on my handsfree of course and have just seen a car, the front seat passenger has a toddler in their arms" They'd be straight onto it.

You do not need a hands-free kit to ring the Guards.

Its on the list of exceptions in the Road Traffic Act amendment for mobile phones.

MetzgerMeister

CokaColumbo wrote: »

No I would not report it; I leave that kind of stuff to the busy-bodies of this world.

What if by doing so, these "busy-bodies" saved your life by getting these people cautioned???

mullingar

mullingar wrote: »

You do not need a hands-free kit to ring the Guards.

Its on the list of exceptions in the Road Traffic Act amendment for mobile phones.

In an emergency

Using it to call the Gardai, an ambulance, fire brigade or other emergency service
Involved in or acting in response to a genuine emergency

It can be used as a defence, ringing the Garda Confidential line while on a motorway travelling at up to 120kph to report a toddler is a front seat passengers arms wouldn't be classed as such I would think.

Jomcc

Interesting question OP.......often meant to ask something like it.

My one relates to Agricultural vehicles driving on motorway.......should I or shouldn't I call the guards. I very seldom call guards about dangerous driving, but criteria I use is if I would be able to live with myself if I heard later that the offending person had caused an serious accident. I have phoned when I feel there is a danger to other people, but not just to be a "busy body" as someone else suggested.

DanR

What if someone had seen those 7 people getting into the Passat in Donegal and reported it last night?

Might have saved a few lives!

Anan1

RoverJames wrote: »

It can be used as a defence, ringing the Garda Confidential line while on a motorway travelling at up to 120kph to report a toddler is a front seat passengers arms wouldn't be classed as such I would think.

I'd think it would, TBH.

Atlantic Dawn

Take a photo of it and create a new thread here called obnoxious driving.

no1beemerfan

DanR wrote: »

What if someone had seen those 7 people getting into the Passat in Donegal and reported it last night?

Might have saved a few lives!

If I'm understanding correctly there were 8 people in the Passat. Dreadful what happened.

Back on topic I honestly don't know what I would do unless I actually find myself in that situation....like to think I would ring but who knows.

biko

I would ring the Garda if the "bad car" may cause injury to others.
For the example above, no as they would only hurt themselves*.

* yes, won't someone think of the children etc.

?Cee?view

Jomcc wrote: »

My one relates to Agricultural vehicles driving on motorway.......should I or shouldn't I call the guards.

I think that agricultural vehicles are allowed on Irish motorways, provided they can do over 50kmh. It's a difference between us and the UK where the signage there (I believe) specifically excludes agricultural vehicles.

MadsL

Not a hypothetical for me, I once passed a woman driving quite slowly (about70kmph) on the M50. As I drew level (I was on the inside lane, her in the middle lane) I noticed she had a baby in her lap as she was driving!

I pulled off the M50 to call the Guards - they were very good, and even called back to see if I wanted to push for a prosecution - I told them a stiff warning would probably do the trick...

Unreal the idiocy sometimes...

positron

If you are driving along and see something like what OP described, and want to call the garda, what number should one use? Is it 911, or is there a number for reporting dangerous driving? (Assuming you are driving and is not in the 'local' area to call your 'local' garda station).

GTE

goslie wrote: »

This may have been done before, if so - lock it.

Anyway, driving on M7 on Friday evening, I noticed a car with a passenger in front seat holding a small child on her lap. To me this is dangerous and against the law.

I wasn't sure whether or not I should call the Gards and report it or just leave it go. What do fellow boardsies do? It doesn't have to be as in example above, it could be reporting speeding, careless driving, etc.

To answer all the questions:

I would call them.
I would not call them.
I may call them.

Guy:Incognito

no1beemerfan wrote: »

If I'm understanding correctly there were 8 people in the Passat. Dreadful what happened.

Back on topic I honestly don't know what I would do unless I actually find myself in that situation....like to think I would ring but who knows.

RTE wrote:

Eight killed in Co Donegal road crash
Monday, 12 July 2010 13:23
Eight people have died in a two-car crash on the Buncrana to Clonmany road in Co Donegal.

Seven men in a black Volkswagen Passat, along with the driver of a second car a red Toyota Corolla, were killed in the crash.

The driver of the Passat was taken to Letterkenny General Hospital with serious injuries following the collision at around 10.40pm last night.

It is believed that a car first collided with another vehicle but no-one was injured and it travelled on towards Buncrana and was involved in a second collision a few hundred yards later when all eight were killed.

The road is expected to remain sealed off for some time. A forensic examination of the scene is under way.


Gardaí are appealing for anyone who was in the area or who was travelling on the Buncrana to Clonmany road between 10pm and 11pm to contact Buncrana Garda Station on 074-9320540..

Huge amount of stupidity on display there. They even got a warning but decided to be even more cavalier about it.

biko wrote: »

I would ring the Garda if the "bad car" may cause injury to others.
For the example above, no as they would only hurt themselves*.

* yes, won't someone think of the children etc.

What if that car ended up hitting you and the child found itself dead on your car? Not the nicest image to have to deal with from your pov.

mullingar

RoverJames wrote: »

In an emergency

Using it to call the Gardai, an ambulance, fire brigade or other emergency service
Involved in or acting in response to a genuine emergency

It can be used as a defence, ringing the Garda Confidential line while on a motorway travelling at up to 120kph to report a toddler is a front seat passengers arms wouldn't be classed as such I would think.

Your not 100% correct:

From the road traffic act:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2006/en/act/pub/0023/sec0003.html

(7) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under subsection (3), in relation to holding a mobile phone while driving a mechanically propelled vehicle, or under subsection (6), in relation to the use of a mobile phone or an in-vehicle communication device, to show that he or she was—
(a) using it to call the Garda Síochána, an ambulance, fire or other emergency service on numbers prescribed for such service, or
(b) involved in or acting in response to a genuine emergency.

My reading of that is that you can contact the Guards without a hands-free kit to report sh1te driving as it does not specifically state "for emergency only". which is clarified a bit better in the next line as "OR, (b) involved in or acting in response to a genuine emergency"

The alternative to the "OR (b) involved in or acting in response to a genuine emergency" is NOT a genuine emergency, hence you can ring them

robbie_998

Ayrtonf7 wrote: »

Id like to say I would, But I know I wouldnt.

I myself now would look and think to myself "what kind of fecking eejit would allow that to go on... its a disgrace and stupid blah blah blah" .... but at the same time i wouldn't call the guards over it

concussion

I was northbound on the M8 a few weeks ago and saw some people throwing stuff off the overpass onto southbound traffic. I called the Trafficwatch number and gave them as much detail as I could, about 5 minutes later I got a call back from a local Garda station asking for more details. Unfortunately as I wasn't familiar with the area I could only tell them '5 bridges south of Exit 4' but they took it pretty seriously. Would never hesitate calling again either.

daveharnett

positron wrote: »

If you are driving along and see something like what OP described, and want to call the garda, what number should one use?

From http://www.crimecouncil.gov.ie/crimestoppers.html

Traffic Watch
Traffic Watch allows motorists to report incidents directly to the Gardaí.
LoCall: 1 890 205 805

Muckie

Once came up behind a Starlet that had two little boys
rolling around the back of the car while the mother was on her mobile.
Very fast and reckless driver she was too!

Came up behind her as she was stopped at the lights, took a picture
on my phone as we were stooped. Rang the local Garda Station.

Gardai called me to the Station later, first off herself and her partner tried
to say the car wasn't on the road and it wasn't her!
But once informed of the evidence. She was all apologies and was given
a warning.

Could you imagine what would have happened if she had of crashed!
Grand Little twins they were, makes me wonder about people sometimes.

Matt Simis

MadsL wrote: »

Not a hypothetical for me, I once passed a woman driving quite slowly (about70kmph) on the M50. As I drew level (I was on the inside lane, her in the middle lane) I noticed she had a baby in her lap as she was driving!

I pulled off the M50 to call the Guards - they were very good, and even called back to see if I wanted to push for a prosecution - I told them a stiff warning would probably do the trick...

Why would they ask you if you wanted to Prosecute, surely this would be a state prosecution?

a_v525

Matt Simis wrote: »

Why would they ask you if you wanted to Prosecute, surely this would be a state prosecution?

Nope. Because you are the witness to the offence, you have to prosecute the accused, i.e. you must go to court as a witness for the state. Witohut you agreeing to take it to court, Gardaí cant do anything.

Thats why alot of people end up not bothering to prosecute anything they see on the roads, just dont want to. Although even a call from the Gards would scare the beejaysus out of the offender so they mightnt do it again

dirtydiesel

Anyone who puts their child's safety at risk should be prosecuted, there is no excuse for it.

sesna

a_v525 wrote: »

Nope. Because you are the witness to the offence, you have to prosecute the accused, i.e. you must go to court as a witness for the state. Witohut you agreeing to take it to court, Gardaí cant do anything.

Thats why alot of people end up not bothering to prosecute anything they see on the roads, just dont want to. Although even a call from the Gards would scare the beejaysus out of the offender so they mightnt do it again

If you're a witness to the state, then surely it is the state that is prosecuting ? Since when do civilians prosecute other civilians when they have witnessed road traffic law being broken.

They ask that to check your commitment to actually showing up to court to give evidence, not to mention going to the garda station etc to give statements.

Aside from that I called traffic watch to report a car driving with no lights on (at 2am in the morning) up the wrong side of the n7 before the Red Cow.

I also called about two Honda Civics racing on the M4 at well over 100mph weaving in and out of traffic, and driving just a few feet from each other.

I never heard back from either call, but will still continue to report in future whenever I witness very dangerous driving.

CokaColumbo

einheisserschre wrote: »

What if by doing so, these "busy-bodies" saved your life by getting these people cautioned???

Be realistic.
If I found out that a fellow motorist reported me to the Gards for not wearing my seat belt or for not following general safety protocol to the letter, I would be pretty p*ssed off, and would not think: that citizen potentially saved the lives of my family and I, he/she should get the Nobel prize for his diligence; I would think, that guy is a little ratty do-gooder who should mind his own business before trying to get other people in trouble with the Gards over trivial, minor issues.

Ayrtonf7

CokaColumbo wrote: »

Be realistic.
If I found out that a fellow motorist reported me to the Gards for not wearing my seat belt or for not following general safety protocol to the letter, I would be pretty p*ssed off, and would not think: that citizen potentially saved the lives of my family and I, he/she should get the Nobel prize for his diligence; I would think, that guy is a little ratty do-gooder who should mind his own business before trying to get other people in trouble with the Gards over trivial, minor issues.

Sorry but theres nothing trivial about dangerous driving.

Rabidlamb

goslie wrote: »

Anyway, driving on M7 on Friday evening, I noticed a car with a passenger in front seat holding a small child on her lap. To me this is dangerous and against the law.
I wasn't sure whether or not I should call the Gards and report it or just leave it go. What do fellow boardsies do? It doesn't have to be as in example above, it could be reporting speeding, careless driving, etc.

My wife was driving me home from a Christmas party in Naas last year.
Came out onto the M7 going southbound after B&Q.
About half a mile down the motorway we met a car coming up the hard shoulder towards us.
It was dark & happened so fast we didn't get a reg.
I rang Naas guards but they didn't want to know.

Lando Griffin

Me and the OH was going to a large shopping mall once and a car passed on beside up and then cut into traffic. The OH saw the top of a childs head in the front passanger seat and was fuming. We followed the car into the parking lot discreatly to photograph the evidence and out pops a dwarf!

Redderneck

I've called the Gardaí twice in the past 12 months; one for a doddery old fella to come barrelling blindly down the wrong carriageway of the newly opened Nenagh bypass stretch. When put through to local station, the Gara says "thanks for the call; you're not the first and we have a car on it's way" - sure enough, two mins later squadcar hares by in full look at me mode.

Other was for a very obvious Pished-in-Control/Dangerous driving, on a country road, outskirts of a village, where some tool was tying to do doughnuts at a junction, only to repeatedly keep slapping his Volvo estate into various soft objects such as stone walls, a phone kiosk, a gate post and a built-up flower bed. I had to pull over a hundred metres short of his display, as it wasn't safe to drive through. Godbaw had another audience too - bunch of locals standing outside the pub, falling about the place laughing. Gobdaw eventually stalled it, and sat there gurning. As I drove through, I saw in my rear view mirror that he had started it again and off he tore back down the road I'd just some from, on the wrong side of the road. I pulled over and called it in. Had to go back a few days later to file a written statement at the local station and was glad to do so.

What threw me was that I had my family in the car with me and when I saw the loon take off down the road we'd just driven, on our side of the road, I knew just how close we'd come to being hit. We wouldn't have stood a chance.

Would the locals have cracked up at that, I wonder?

Gardaí handled it as promptly & professionally as they possibly could IMO, given that they can't be everywhere; nor would we want them to be everywhere.

hondasam

did you have a speed gun to clock the milage of the honda civic, i did not think so, people like you just annoy traffic watch and the gardai, anyone that rings traffic watch should be prepared to go to court and not waste the guards time. people seem to think the can just make a call and get the gardai to call to someones house and caution them, this somehow makes the caller feel better. gardai cannot just caution an innocent person based on a phone call from often a jealous neighbour or a slow driver who thinks everyone is driving fast. traffic watch is been used for the wrong reasons, it is for reporting dangerous driving but unfortunately people are using it to get at people the do not like. think of it the other way if the guards called to you next week and said the got a call to say you overtook dangersouly, would you just accept it an agree based on an unknown caller to traffic watch. you could be 100% in the right but the other caller thinks the are in the right. what can the guards do, nothing thats what.

L1011

1890 205 805... but only in certain circumstances. Cyclists on motorways, tractors with no reg plates on motorways, unsecured kids in overloaded vehicles; kiddo in a Civic using all three lanes on a very busy N7 to weave up at speed.

Two times I've just been pissed off enough to call it for less likely-to-cause-death cases, old bloke in a Kia doing 85-95 in the outside lane on the M6 and wobbling over the lane divider line often enough that you'd get sideswiped if you attempt an undertake; and an Irish registered truck (so no ignorance of the law excuse) who took 7km to overtake another truck on the M9

edit: oh, and loose horses on the N4 Curlews Bypass, mainly because it was foggy and someone was likely going to kill themselves. Guard in Boyle phoned me back about a minute after asking me where they were, cause they'd had multiple reports and couldn't find them!

Run_to_da_hills

You should have taken a vid shot of it and posted it on Utube.

sesna

Rabidlamb wrote: »

My wife was driving me home from a Christmas party in Naas last year.
Came out onto the M7 going southbound after B&Q.
About half a mile down the motorway we met a car coming up the hard shoulder towards us.
It was dark & happened so fast we didn't get a reg.
I rang Naas guards but they didn't want to know.

sounds familiar

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/madcap-chase-as-mcdaid-arrested-for-drink-driving-266337.html