Garda Bikers

Woodpecker1

Was on the road today. All day.

I noticed a Garda biker who was booking some lad in a twin cam for something.

After the Garda finished with him he got back on his bike and displayed the worst riding I have ever seen.

He rode up the N7 like a lunitic under taking, over taking and in-between cars.

No Blues and twos. Only to come to the next bridge and slow down and stop to get his Speed gun out again.

Is this acceptable even for a Garda?

I know they are exempt from many traffic laws, but my question is.

Should they behave like this? I understand they have to do a job, but putting other motorists at risk to simply get ahead and catch a speeder doing a few over seems reckless to me. No matter how well they are trained.

Any thoughts on this?

Supergurrier

He probably wanted to get set up ahead of the twin cam again to see if he learned his lesson.

hansfrei

Id have had words with him. That sounds dangerous. If he had lost control some way someone else might pay the price for.it.

Supergurrier

hansfrei wrote: »

Id have had words with him. That sounds dangerous. If he had lost control some way someone else might pay the price for.it.

How in the name of god yould you go about that ?

"Im sorry officer im going to need you to pull over for a talk about your driving, pull into the layby"

hobochris

Supergurrier wrote: »

He probably wanted to get set up ahead of the twin cam again to see if he learned his lesson.

Hard to say without being there, but garda like other class 1 riders are trained in this stuff on top of the 'system' of motorcycle control. What may seem dangerous to you may not be in the eyes of an advanced motorcyclist.

hansfrei

Supergurrier wrote: »

How in the name of god yould you go about that ?

"Im sorry officer im going to need you to pull over for a talk about your driving, pull into the layby"

Hes doing a stationary speedcheck.

It wouldnt be the first time Ive complained. Idiots come.in all shapes and have all kinds of jobs. Why wouldn't you is the question.

Woodpecker1

Excuse the picture quality of my dash cam. Its cheap.

It does not really get the whole story up into the distance but you get the jist of it.

Driver getting pulled is up to 10secs into vid

metal biker pass at 55 seconds in. And up the road weaving at well over the legal limit.

scwazrh

whats wrong with the cop biker in the video ??

fg10291

Is this the video from the incident you opened the post with?

Supergurrier

Looks pretty sedate, he wouldn't have had to even change lanes only for middle lane jockeys

Woodpecker1

scwazrh wrote: »

whats wrong with the cop biker in the video ??

As i said. Its hard to see in the vid due to quality. But eyeballs would have seen the bike undertake and then charge into the fast lane again over the hill and then back into the slow lane at speed. Weaving in between and in and out.

The main point I am trying to point out is,

Should a man who just told off some guy for what ever, continues up the road flaunting the same rules he is trying to preach to others?

I have a great respect for Garda but when I see some of the BS driving and riding they do, it makes me wonder. Im sure you have all seen it at some stage.

challengemaster

Supergurrier wrote: »

Looks pretty sedate, he wouldn't have had to even change lanes only for middle lane jockeys

So rather than doing his job and enforcing the law, and forcing people to drive in the correct lane, he decided to undertake them and drive on to set up a speed check.

Woodpecker1

challengemaster wrote: »

So rather than doing his job and enforcing the law, and forcing people to drive in the correct lane, he decided to undertake them and drive on to set up a speed check.

I was travelling at around 100kph. Im going to take that vid down as its getting away from the question in hand..

Cienciano

How the gardai was driving in that video was perfectly ok imho.

Supergurrier

Woodpecker1 wrote: »

I was travelling at around 100kph. Im going to take that vid down as its getting away from the question in hand..

In that it shows what actually happenned ?

Old diesel

Supergurrier wrote: »

He probably wanted to get set up ahead of the twin cam again to see if he learned his lesson.

In fairness - we don't know what if anything the Twin Cam driver did wrong.

For all we know - the Garda may have pulled him for no other reason then for driving a Twin Cam - ive actually heard of this happening previously.

I thought it was far from being a secret that the Gardaí tend to notice Twin Cams - and tend to be suspicious of them - especially with younger males driving them.

We do know however that the Garda was riding like a bit of an arse for no apparent good reason.

Cienciano

Old diesel wrote: »

In fairness - we don't know what if anything the Twin Cam driver did wrong.

For all we know - the Garda may have pulled him for no other reason then for driving a Twin Cam - ive actually heard of this happening previously.

I thought it was far from being a secret that the Gardaí tend to notice Twin Cams - and tend to be suspicious of them - especially with younger males driving them.

We do know however that the Garda was riding like a bit of an arse for no apparent good reason.

How do we know the Twin Cam didn't stop for the gardai? Or it was driving dangerously before it was pulled over?
And how do you know the garda wasn't told to get somewhere on the radio, and then told it was ok? Sounds like you've made up your mind already

twowheelsonly

Haven't seen the video but Garda bikers in general are top class riders.

I've been on a private course with some of them and they're so far ahead of the field it's scary. Like a chess player they're about 10 steps ahead. Bikers, intelligent ones anyway, tend to develop a sixth (and seventh!!) sense regarding what other road users are going to do and it tends to be fairly accurate. From what I've seen and experienced with Garda riders though they have at least ten!!

As someone else said here, it may look dangerous to you but to a guy that does it all day every day and is trained to a very high level it's not half as dangerous as it appears.

Old diesel

Cienciano wrote: »

How do we know the Twin Cam didn't stop for the gardai? Or it was driving dangerously before it was pulled over?
And how do you know the garda wasn't told to get somewhere on the radio, and then told it was ok? Sounds like you've made up your mind already

We don't - but someone suggested the garda may have been looking to get ahead of the twin cam to see if he had learned his lesson.

"to see if he had learned his lesson" implies that the Twin Cam driver must have done something wrong.

Im merely pointing out that the Twin Cam may have been pulled merely for driving a Twin Cam. Ive heard of it happening previously - and gardai have been known to hassle people with Twin Cams and other such cars like Skylines etc - simply for been parked as a group somewhere.

It just f:mad::mad:ks me off when just because your driving a Skyline or a Twin Cam or something Jap and high performance - or a Civic - your a target for Gardaí.

Ive never owned one of those cars - but know of people into that "scene" - or rather used to - what with changing workplaces and all of that

Oral Surgeon

Maybe the twin cam guy stopped the garda to tell him off for undertaking him!!!

Supergurrier

Maybe the undertaking twin cammed the pulling over for the garda ?

grainnewhale

twowheelsonly wrote: »

Haven't seen the video but Garda bikers in general are top class riders.

I've been on a private course with some of them and they're so far ahead of the field it's scary. Like a chess player they're about 10 steps ahead. Bikers, intelligent ones anyway, tend to develop a sixth (and seventh!!) sense regarding what other road users are going to do and it tends to be fairly accurate. From what I've seen and experienced with Garda riders though they have at least ten!!

As someone else said here, it may look dangerous to you but to a guy that does it all day every day and is trained to a very high level it's not half as dangerous as it appears.

they may be great riders. but bikes are harder to see and definetly if they are passing on the inside. they are asking for trouble.

grainnewhale

Had a garda car pass me approaching a corner. car came round the corner they had to cut me up. They then proceeded to dawdle in the road.

traco

I don't think I'd be questioning a Garda bikers ability, very skilled and streets ahead of 99% of other road users in terms of road/traffic awareness. If that display of riding catches some other clown that is driving beyond their abilities and ends up playing pinball with the barriers then I'm all for it.

For whats its worth I just avoided such and incident on the N7 with a male driver and some buddies last year on the N7. Moron shot up behind a line of overtaking tarffic in the outside lane, tried to squeeze between another car and the median, lost it on the debris and bounced into the barrier and hopped all over the place.

Woodpecker1

traco wrote: »

I don't think I'd be questioning a Garda bikers ability, very skilled and streets ahead of 99% of other road users in terms of road/traffic awareness. If that display of riding catches some other clown that is driving beyond their abilities and ends up playing pinball with the barriers then I'm all for it.

For whats its worth I just avoided such and incident on the N7 with a male driver and some buddies last year on the N7. Moron shot up behind a line of overtaking tarffic in the outside lane, tried to squeeze between another car and the median, lost it on the debris and bounced into the barrier and hopped all over the place.

So this training and ability gives them super human instincts that can avoid any accident?

Sign me up. I want some of that.

They are bikers. They can be knocked off that bike as easy as any other.

I personally know a copper biker, I ride with him on and off the track. He is no better or worse than any of the other novice track day lads.

They are generally fairly great road riders and are well trained, but if you think they are invincible then you are sadly mistaken. They will end up on the arse like anybody else, when they ride like spanners.
And that's the point im trying to make.
Is it OK them them to ride like they are chasing a bank robber just to get back to the speed trap.

I don't think it is.

Greyfoot

People with authority usually abuse their power in any sector 90% of the time, I don`t know what is the big deal about this thread??

veetwin

Woodpecker1 wrote: »

I personally know a copper biker, I ride with him on and off the track. He is no better or worse than any of the other novice track day lads.

That's because track and road are quite different disciplines. Garda training is all about the road craft. Track riding plays no part in the training. Garda bikers themselves acknowledge they are no better than anyone else on the track.

Max Headroom

It always makes me laugh when i read posts defending garda riding/driving skills......i'm a civilian biker/driver , i can control my bike/car as good as any garda ....BUT theres no accounting for what anyone else might do , its more down to luck than skill, couriers ,although some might see them as reckless are equally as competent as any garda biker....I know garda bikers, the reason they can drive wrecklessly is because they can get away with it....;)

bazzachazza

So let me get this right, you have video of the actual "alleged" motorcycle Gardas lunatic driving, you post it but 18mins after take it down claiming "its taking away from the question at hand".

Seriously?!

You have "evidence" but because it doesn't show exactly what you are trying to claim you have taken it down. That I'm sorry is just ridiculous, good bad or otherwise you should leave the video up otherwise your allegations are just that allegations.

Oh and by the way there is no FAST lane and no SLOW lane.

cantdecide

A motorcyclist is rarely in more potential danger than when he is stuck in a blind spot. A speeding motorcycle is in the danger zone and blind spots when under/ overtaking for split seconds at a time. Driving your car like that is an entirely different proposition to a bike because of their size and weight. I'd bet that statistically, bikers are involved in most incidents in towns and on country lanes. If an unfortunate set of circumstances conspire to knock over a biker who is undertaking motorway traffic, I think you know the chances of anyone other than the biker being injured or worse are minuscule....

Guards, I understand, are allowed to break the rules of the road in the course of their duties and IME, they're among the best drivers on the road.

Cee-Jay-Cee

hansfrei wrote: »

Id have had words with him. That sounds dangerous. If he had lost control some way someone else might pay the price for.it.

No you wouldn't so stop lying about it.

carzony

Sure I was on the Lucan by pass 2 nights ago, when all of a sudden a brand new focus and a traffic bike flew past me. No lights or sirens. By the look of it they were racing each other. The speed of them was unreal.

I went to the garage to get petrol and there the 2 coppers were having a cup of tea:rolleyes::rolleyes:

galwaytt

Supergurrier wrote: »

Maybe the undertaking twin cammed the pulling over for the garda ?

... there I see you did what

Turner

Why take down the video??

Let us see the ohh so dangerous driving.

Woodpecker1

Turner wrote: »

Why take down the video??

Let us see the ohh so dangerous driving.

I took it down because when I transferred it to Youtube the bad quality became worse and you could not see the nutter ride into the distance.
This then became a thread about what people could see in a bad vid.

I will get a new dash cam for Christmas. Promise.

Cienciano

Turner wrote: »

Why take down the video??

Let us see the ohh so dangerous driving.

Taken down because it wasn't that bad. OP said he was "driving like a lunatic"!! Gardai wasn't doing anything too bad

Woodpecker1

As I said. People were starting to comment on their own assumption of something they did not see^^^^ case and point.

joe swanson

Never posted in this forum before but theres a lot of assumptiona, chips and shoulders in it.

Supergurrier

joe swanson wrote: »

Never posted in this forum before but theres a lot of assumptiona, chips and shoulders in it.

You forgot high horses

Alfasudcrazy

Ah I miss my days as a Garda motorcyclist - getting paid for doing something I loved was great - well at least when it was not raining.