minor road incident and a garda.

mossfort

this happened a while ago but i was coming home on a minor road with no white lines not far from my home when at a narrow corner i met an oncoming car which was travelling at a fair speed. the road wast just wide enough for two cars to pass but the guy must have hit the brakes flew past me and skidded , lost control of his car and as it transpired hit the wall.i was doing about 30mph at the time so stopped reversed and could see the guy pulling away in my rear view mirror and at this stage another car came up behind me so i just continued on my way assuming the guy who i met had driven away. about a half hour later the guy his brother and his mother arrive at my door accusing me of causing the accident saying i was on the wrong side of the road. they were cursing and swearing and i told them to clear off or i would ring the guards. then the following day i get a visit from the local gardai . the garda who called is a close friend to the other guys family and regularly socialises with his uncle in law. the guard is only interested in seeing my vehicle and proceeds to take down my insurance details . he basically says that the accident is my fault and when i say the other guy was driving too fast he goes on to say that most accidents happen at 30mph or less. as he was taking my insurance details i asked him how i was going to get the other guys insurance details and he said i could get them them if i produced my documents at the garda station which i did the following day. on advice i got i rang my insurance company and filled out a report denying any responsibility , and as can be guessed the other guy put in a claim for 3500 euros with an invoice from a garage owned by a friend of his.
as it ended up my insurance company didnt pay out anything to him , but the question i have was the garda in abuse of his powers in doing what he did and if theother guy did hit my car would the damage be 50/50 ? as there were no road markings?

Arciphel

Garda ombudsman all the way, sounds like a blatant abuse of power.

Mycroft H

Never mind the Garda Ombudsman, get onto the district superintendent first. But in saying this, you have an uphill battle as its your word vs the gards word.

Bloody parish pump parochialism is alive and well I see.

mossfort

Arciphel wrote: »

Garda ombudsman all the way, sounds like a blatant abuse of power.

this happened about two years ago so im not interested in pursuing it but i think this sort of thing is a big problem in small towns where gardai are good mates with some of the locals.

Skuxx

Arciphel wrote: »

Garda ombudsman all the way, sounds like a blatant abuse of power.

+1 on this, have you got the guards name/number??

Jimbob 83

50/50 regardless on an unmarked road tbh, he drove away form the scene so he obviously had no problem until he got thinking of a possible claim, again and i cannot say it enough, DASHCAM !

duckysauce

Jimbob 83 wrote: »

50/50 regardless on an unmarked road tbh, he drove away form the scene so he obviously had no problem until he got thinking of a possible claim, again and i cannot say it enough, DASHCAM !

dashcam would not see this

"guy must have hit the brakes flew past me and skidded , lost control of his car and as it transpired hit the wall"

Jimbob 83

duckysauce wrote: »

dashcam would not see this

"guy must have hit the brakes flew past me and skidded , lost control of his car and as it transpired hit the wall"

It would see both of your relative speeds 50/50 thats enough

duckysauce

Jimbob 83 wrote: »

It would see both of your relative speeds 50/50 thats enough

eh does it record your speed and the other car speeds by what ?

Jimbob 83

duckysauce wrote: »

eh does it record your speed and the other car speeds by what ?

It will record your speed/road position and any action you had to take to avoid the other eejit while showing he is obviously going faster than he should be.

duckysauce

Jimbob 83 wrote: »

It will record your speed/road position and any action you had to take to avoid the other eejit while showing he is obviously going faster than he should be.

cool didn't know they were this advanced sweet:)

Jimbob 83

duckysauce wrote: »

cool didn't know they were this advanced sweet:)

Well technically it will only record your speed but a well placed dashcam placed behind your rear view mirror will capture everything perfectly and is almost invisable.

mossfort

mossfort wrote: »

this happened about two years ago so im not interested in pursuing it but i think this sort of thing is a big problem in small towns where gardai are good mates with some of the locals.

YOur question has been answered, he was abusing his position.

Indricotherium

BX 19 wrote: »

Bloody parish pump parochialism is alive and well I see.

I'm not sure you understand this expression.

To the op, it doesn't sound like that Garda did abuse his position in any way? Your insurance didn't pay out?? The guard done nothing other than take down your details?

He obviously didn't push the matter in any way as you didn't even need a court appearance to clear you name?

padd b1975

A potentially bent copper and the wrath of an Irish mammy!!

I feel your pain OP.

Vikings

I read that as a guard took a report of an accident where the other driver possibly exaggerated the truth. If the accident happened as you say it did then obviously you were not at fault, your insurance didn't pay out and as a statement was not taken from you no investigation was done which then resulted in no prosecution for you! Was he the local garda for your area? Because if he was then he was just doing his job, not abusing his power.

Hal1

Well they did call to his door and hurl abuse at him Vikings. To me that sounds like scare tactics to try and make the OP fold to admit libility for causing an accident which was not responsible for.

Mossfort wrote:

about a half hour later the guy his brother and his mother arrive at my door accusing me of causing the accident saying i was on the wrong side of the road. they were cursing and swearing and i told them to clear off or i would ring the guards.

conor-mr2

mossfort wrote: »

this happened about two years ago so im not interested in pursuing it but i think this sort of thing is a big problem in small towns where gardai are good mates with some of the locals.

Huh!? This happened two years ago. What made this pop into your head at midnight on a Saturday/Sunday night?

djimi

Indricotherium wrote: »

I'm not sure you understand this expression.

To the op, it doesn't sound like that Garda did abuse his position in any way? Your insurance didn't pay out?? The guard done nothing other than take down your details?

He obviously didn't push the matter in any way as you didn't even need a court appearance to clear you name?

How exactly was he not abusing his power? He arrives at the OPs door, in an official capacity but presumably at the request of the other party, takes one look at the car and then declares that the OP was at fault for the accident. Gardai cannot apportion blame in an accident even when they arrive at the scene of the accident, let alone the next day and only by giving one of the vehicles a quick once over.

It sounds to me like the Garda was using intimidatory tactics to help his mate out, which is complete out of line. OP I would absolutely persue this further and make a full compaint to his superintendant/the Garda ombudsman.

Bensmyth

Sounds like the Garda was been Biased but you couldn't prove it.
Firstly no matter who reported the accident the Garda would probably have called out to your house and took your details so that would all be according to the book.
Proportioning the blame onto you would be stepping over the line but that would all be hearsay in court as you couldn't prove it likewise even to just report the garda is just hearsay.

Even if you were completely 100% at fault for causing the accident the other car has to hit your car in order to make any claim against from your insurance and at that stage you would equally be entitled to claim from his insurance.
Likewise If he was 100% at fault and hit your car, because you would be unable to prove anything he would be able to claim from your insurance.
As far as I know it's not about road markings it is road width and if the road is not wide enough for two cars to pass then all damages are 50/50 if there is impact between both parties.
For there to be a prosecution of any type he would have to prove you were at fault which he couldn't.
It's an unfortunate incident like all accidents and the other guy came away with the bill.

Farmer Pudsey

TBH the garda had a claim of an accident you had not reported he called to investigate. In this situtation you are always better to report yourself even near misses.You were lucky that the other car did not tip you as it would be 50/50.

I know guards can take sides but in theory he had to investigate the accident he claiming it was your fault which was wrong it is his word against your's unless he wrote it in his notebook, I be slow pursung it as he was entitled to investigate.

How has he treated you since is he on your case?

Turner

As with all reports here I am sure there is more to this story.

O/P if you feel the Garda abused his position contact GSOC, let them investigate.

dilallio

The Garda Ombudsman requires that complaints are generally made within 6 months, unless there is a very good reason for the delay

http://www.gardaombudsman.ie/gsoc-garda-ombudsman-complaints.htm

While you have a very good reason for making a complaint, you might be too late.

ieoinu

So you were involved in an incident which was reported to the Gardaí. A Garda called to your house and demanded to see your car and for you to produce your insurance details etc. These are not the actions of some rogue officer of the police but bascic proceedure.

"....he basically says that the accident is my fault and when i say the other guy was driving too fast he goes on to say that most accidents happen at 30mph or less...."

What EXACTLY did he say? Basically is a bit loose to say the very least (when you accuse someone of something as serious as corruption poetic licence doesn't apply). Drawing a conclusion of who was to blame in the absence of both of your accounts is probably a bit foolhardy but notwithstanding that, how was he abusing his power?

Did the Garda try to influence your insurance company to the effect that they'd pay out? Did he say you better "you better pay for the damage to my drinking buddy's-brother's/sister's-daughter's-husband's car"?

Your knowledge of the Garda and the fact that he socializes with a distant relation of the person who reported the matter is somewhat perplexing. Just because you can link one person to another doesn't mean that they are aware of the link themselves. For example do you know who your uncle in law drinks with, more importantly, do they know you? And to be fair is uncle-in-law an actual relation?

You obviously have a high level of local knowledge with the paranoia to match.

I suspect that there is more to this story than meets the eye (ye all seem to know each other, even the lad that crashed was able to call to your door), because if it was such a blatant action of corruption/bias etc etc and it was the only interaction you and yours have ever had with the Garda you'd have done something about it.

And in answer to your question, if ye did connect and in the absence of no other evidence that would suggest that either of ye were conclusively to blame ie more than just your word against his, yes it would more than likely have been split 50/50 (just like the road is)

Yeah report to the ombudsman, all made up of Ex guards or solicitors, that will get you far, all part of a big click in Ireland to keep an Garda Síochána a law on to itself without control, they answer to no one and protect bent police, solicitors, barristers and all the clan of the big click in Ireland!

stoneill

How did the brother and mother know where you live?