Should I report him?

Stinicker

I had a close call this morning because of some moron, I was driving behind said moron who was behind a laden lorry struggling to get up to 50km/h.

Anyway I came to a stretch of road and had visibilty clear for half a kilometre. I was about 3 car lengths behind the car and lorry and checked my mirrors (nothing behind me) and went to overtake on what is a slightly downhill section (thus the great visibility across the stretch below).

After about a second I was just about up to the first cars bootlid when he suddenly swerves over to take the lorry without ever checking mirrors or indicating, I was doing 100km/h and had to swerve into the ditch/soft margin to avoid a collision but there is a stone wall there also so had to swerve back out, neither of us then overtook the lorry who probably saw the whole thing and pulled in up the straight.

When both of us went overtaking it was on a continuous white line, however the broken white line is about 5 metres from where it happened, I am very angry at him as the soft margin could have pulled me in causing a head on collision at 100km/h with a stone wall = dead me, all of this because the other driver never checked his mirrors before moving out. Technically we both broke the white line, however it was me was nearly killed and not him, nothing happened or no damage was done.

I really want to report him for dangerous driving but am afraid I myself might get in trouble because I broke the continuous white line.

Paulw

You both could be charged with careless driving, for overtaking across a solid white line.

Abelloid

What are you going to report him for? Dangerouser driving?

Rabies

You prob were in his blind spot when he decided to over take.
Sounds like both of you were in the wrong.

vectra

Stinicker wrote: »

I had a close call this morning because of some moron, I was driving behind said moron who was behind a laden lorry struggling to get up to 50km/h.

When both of us went overtaking it was on a continuous white line.

And you call him a Moron...!!!

He probably pulled out to stop you from overtaking on a Continous white line

OP
Drop it and learn when and where it is safe to overtake..
Dont judge others by your dangerous driving skills :rolleyes:

Bruthal

Stinicker wrote: »

the lorry who probably saw the whole thing and pulled in up the straight.


I really want to report him for dangerous driving but am afraid I myself might get in trouble because I broke the continuous white line.

So its get someone else into trouble for doing something wrong, and try avoid getting into trouble yourself for doing something wrong in the same incident?

If i reported every driver i seen who did anything like that i would be out of credit by the time i got home. And get reported myself for using the phone while driving:D

The lorry driver looks like the the one that did the decent driving here.

EPM

Before this gets into a slagging match the OP asked a question. If you feel the need to answer please do so without making it personal.

Bruthal

Rabies wrote: »

You prob were in his blind spot when he decided to over take.
Sounds like both of you were in the wrong.

Yes and if the road was wet the driver behind the truck could of been in a cloud of mist. I think a lot of drivers drive up too close to the truck in this situation before overtaking, and then cant see around the truck as good as if they were a bit further back. So they then tend to suddenly move out.

Bruthal

vectra wrote: »

And you call him a Moron...!!!

He probably pulled out to stop you from overtaking on a Continous white line

OP
Drop it and learn when and where it is safe to overtake..
Dont judge others by your dangerous driving skills :rolleyes:

I doubt there are many drivers that have not overtaken on a continuous centre line at sometime in fairness though. Would you stay behind a tractor for example in the above situation if you have a straight stretch and clear view for a long way? Very few if any who are truthful would.

OldmanMondeo

Don't bother to report him, as already pointed out, you where also doing somehting you shouldn't have been.

Also, 1/2 kilometre is nothing at 100kph, you do not know aht is around that bend. You did not leave yourself with enough room to complete the manevour. Next time wait until it it much safer to pass, as you can already see what could have happened.

MagicMarker

robbie7730 wrote: »

I doubt there are many drivers that have not overtaken on a continuous centre line at sometime in fairness though. Would you stay behind a tractor for example in the above situation if you have a straight stretch and clear view for a long way? Very few if any who are truthful would.

If there's a straight stretch of clear road then there's unlikely to be a solid white line.

The Muppet

Its the other driver that should be reporting your dangerous driving not the other way around.

It sounds to me like he was waiting until he could legally pass and you didn't have the patience to wait for your turn to pass the slow moving truck.

Bruthal

OSI wrote: »

Over take a tractor? Maybe

Overtake a truck and the 2 other car's following him? F*cking lunacy.

Of course, although he was going to overtake the truck and one car i thought, but im just saying if we go by the white line rule then we should never even pass a tractor. But at 50kph for the truck and half a kilometer there are plenty of drivers who would of went for that. I am in no way saying its right, just that many of us have done things like that i think. But then wanting to report another driver for also doing something thats not right is the problem here.

It would of taken the truck 40 seconds to reach that bend if it was half a km away, i would say most of us have overtaken before with a lot less to spare than that.

Bruthal

MagicMarker wrote: »

If there's a straight stretch of clear road then there's unlikely to be a solid white line.

There are a few places you would see it. But probably not too often with a half km stretch alright. But you do sometimes on roads that are not very wide.

The OP is not completely clear though, he said where the incident happened it was the continous white line but a few meters from the broken white line, does this mean they were coming to a broken white line on the long stretch?

Bruthal

The Muppet wrote: »

Its the other driver that should be reporting your dangerous driving not the other way around.

It sounds to me like he was waiting until he could legally pass and you didn't have the patience to wait for your turn to pass the slow moving truck.

Yea no matter what way you look at it, this looks most likely if they were in fact coming to a broken white line, thats very annoying with other drivers not waiting. Left turns after bus lanes are the worst for it, with other cars racing into the bus lane not even taking account that other drivers ahead might properly then move into the left turning lane.

dr.fuzzenstein

vectra wrote: »

And you call him a Moron...!!!

He probably pulled out to stop you from overtaking on a Continous white line

OP
Drop it and learn when and where it is safe to overtake..
Dont judge others by your dangerous driving skills :rolleyes:

Yes, we all know that when someone does something dangerous we should swerve wildly into their path to teach them a lesson. If the Gardai aren't around we must take the law into our own hands!:rolleyes:
If someone does something like that on purpose he's a dangerous psychopath and deserves having his head smashed in with a car door Vinnie Jones style.
It is also possible that he's simply a dozy git and pulled out without looking, the big eejit.
Or it could have been the OP was in his blindspot.

stevenmu

You also should give the car in front the chance to overtake the truck before you just decide to overtake both. There's a good chance the other car was going to overtake as soon as you all got to the broken lines. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he pulled out because he felt entitled to go first and didn't want to risk being stuck behind you the rest of the way up the road (not saying that justifies what he did).

To answer the question, I'd suggest not reporting him, trying to learn from where you went wrong and hoping that he does the same.

MrDerp

Posts like the OP's help me to understand why I see so much bad driving on our roads. Bad and dangerous drivers genuinely believing they are in the right.

OP you need to be patient. I know its frustrating being in a queue when the 2nd in line won't overtake the slow moving vehicle, but that's really tough ****. You have to wait for a safe opportunity to overtake, one vehicle at a time preferably!

As for the car in front, equally bad driving. Based on what I've seen over the years, I doubt it had anything to do with mirrors or blind spots, he probably just thought it was cheeky of the OP to go first and cut him/her off. This mentality is alarmingly common on Irish roads.

If it were me between the truck and the OP, I'd have seen his agitated preparation for overtaking beforehand and pulled in a bit and dropped back to let him pass me and then have a fair crack at the truck, if its that important to him. I'll wait for the genuine safe spot thanks, as determined by my observations and the guidance of the road markings

barryfitz

Hey OP, to answer your question, No, you shouln't report him.

Stinicker

Ok to clarify the situation there is a small hill in the road and there is a continous white line half way down the hill with a slight curve at the bottom where the road weaves around to the left, from the top of the hill you can see the road ahead for 500 to 750 metres in conditions like today which were clear, dry and perfect.

The same car in front of me had failed to take the lorry on a straight stretch before but instead I was patient and decided to hold back for a few km's until I got to this place where the incident happened as it is a great place to overtake due to the massive vision offered and downhill approach which allows you to accelerate quicker with the downhill momentum. Alot of drivers would immediately start overtaking downhill which is about 150 metres back, I held back in anticipation of the broken white line because I could see the road ahead was empty and thus there was no need to rush it.

I then committed to the manoeuvre about one or two seconds away from the broken white line when the other driver went for it also without ever checking his mirrors forcing me to move all the ways over into the soft margin and narrowly escaping a wall. Obviously I jumped the gun by a split second as this is where I would normally overtake as further back up the hill there is some entrances (thus the continuous line) and I wouldn't overtake down there. I had my indicator on for about four seconds before the incident and moved half way across so the other car would see I was going to overtake, by the time I was just all the ways across he went for it and cut me off completely forcing me to take an emergency swerve to the right into the soft margin to avoid collision.

Ok I admit I crossed the continuous white line by a split second although this was mainly for the benefit of the driver in front so he could see I was going for it in my own attempt so he would avoid exactly what happened. Whether it was plain stupidity or something deliberate I will probably never know.

Zubeneschamali

Stinicker wrote: »

Ok I admit I crossed the continuous white line by a split second

This is why you shouldn't report him. If you make a statement which includes this line, the guards will give you points and a fine. All the other driver has to do is deny your statement, and the guards can't touch him.

MagicMarker

Stinicker wrote: »

Ok I admit I crossed the continuous white line by a split second....

The rest of your post is really irrelevant.

Cavehill Red

To answer the OP's question, he absolutely should report the other driver.
Hopefully then both that driver and he will then be punished or even removed from the roads, making them a little bit safer for the rest of us.
Go for it, OP.

EPM

Cavehill Red wrote: »

To answer the OP's question, he absolutely should report the other driver.
Hopefully then both that driver and he will then be punished or even removed from the roads, making them a little bit safer for the rest of us.
Go for it, OP.

I did put a warning in but as some people ignored it I'm closing this, OP's question has been answered and there's no reason to keep it open.