Garda tailgating

JumpShivers

A strange incident earlier today when driving with my boyfriend. I was coming off the M50 towards Blanchardstown and coming onto the stretch where is changes to 50 kph and then to 30 kph. My boyfriend was driving and slowed down to 30 kph as he had seen speed traps there before.

A car came very, very close almost sitting on his bumper. My boyfriend gently tapped the brakes and put on his hazards to get the car behind to back off.

The driver behind put up his hands and started clapping sarcastically and waving my boyfriend to speed up.

My boyfriend put his middle finger out the window.

Upon reaching the end of this 30 kph limit, the car overtook us erratically and came up close to the outside of our car and flashed what appeared to be a Garda badge (he also appeared to be taking pictures on a phone or camera when behind us).

Is this normal behavior of the Gardaí and can my boyfriend expect penalty points or punishment for tapping brakes / giving the finger?

Thanks for reading.

I doubt very much it was a Garda. Just some prick. Don't worry about it.

Chris_Heilong

giving the finger to a Garda sounds like the only thing your bf did wrong, I have heard about and seen undercover Garda cars tailgate other cars on the M50, a few minutes later their blue lights go on.

slimjimmc

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

giving the finger to a Garda sounds like the only thing your bf did wrong, I have heard about and seen undercover Garda cars tailgate other cars on the M50, a few minutes later their blue lights go on.

Hardly. Tapping the brakes was an even worse thing to do regardless.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I'd say it was some arsehole messing about. Did you get the registration plate of the car?

I doubt there's a Garda in the country that goes around flashing his badge out the car window at people.

If he was on the job he'd be in uniform. If he wasn't on the job then, much like everyone else in the world, he doesn't want to be working on his time off and more than likely flashing his badge to people is at the very back of his mind.



Sounds like some chap was in ToyMaster an hour earlier and bought a Sheriff set for halloween and thinks he's hilarious.

RandomAccess

slimjimmc wrote: »

Hardly. Tapping the brakes was an even worse thing to do regardless.

Probably to show the brake lights rather than a brake check.
I've only ever had one case of genuine tailgating, sometimes brake lights are best option and if they don't get the message then slow down very gradually so they overtake.
The extreme distraction of a true tailgater hovering at your bumper is not safe to continue on your journey with.

I disagree with brake checking, be clear on that.

Del2005

slimjimmc wrote: »

Hardly. Tapping the brakes was an even worse thing to do regardless.

At 30km/h you'd want some moron to crash into you and at that speed and it'll only be a new bumper if you get hit, serve the person right for tailgating.

slimjimmc

Del2005 wrote: »

At 30km/h you'd want some moron to crash into you and at that speed and it'll only be a new bumper if you get hit, serve the person right for tailgating.

Why would you want anyone to hit you at all :eek: and why would you want to put yourself through all the hassle of a damaged car, delayed journey, insurance claims, quotes and repairs just to teach some moron a lesson? Surely the prudent approach would be to not make a bad situation worse.

unkel

JumpShivers wrote: »

My boyfriend gently tapped the brakes and put on his hazards to get the car behind to back off.

JumpShivers wrote: »

My boyfriend put his middle finger out the window.

You're lucky you have such a well brought up gentleman as your boyfriend.

Lurching

slimjimmc wrote: »

Hardly. Tapping the brakes was an even worse thing to do regardless.

I'm not sure where you get that logic.
If someone is so close to your rear bumper that a tap of the brakes causes an accident, then it's not you that's at fault.

It's the responsibility of the person behind to ensure enough distance in case of an unforeseen event.

slimjimmc

Lurching wrote: »

I'm not sure where you get that logic.
If someone is so close to your rear bumper that a tap of the brakes causes an accident, then it's not you that's at fault.

It's the responsibility of the person behind to ensure enough distance in case of an unforeseen event.

It's not about blame, it's about not making a bad situation worse. Brake tapping rarely has the desired effect and just increases the tailgaters frustration and teaches them they can ignore your brake lights (because they see you're just bluffing anyways).

_Kaiser_

Could well have been a Garda. Had a similar incident happen to me in the past.

In that case though I did slow right down to make the point and when he hopped out at the next lights to flash a badge at me and whinge about me "hogging the fast lane" (while in fact overtaking a line of cars to my left with traffic ahead of me), he soon slunk off when I suggested he check the Rules of the Road for the section on tailgating

TL;DR: There are tossers everywhere and the Gardai are not exempt fron this!

V Eight

It's hard to do but reacting to other drivers with brakes, fingers, hazards is never a good plan. Take a deep breath and be cool. You will have forgotten about the incident in a couple of days. There is a lot of complete idiots driving around out there with less to lose than you.....VE

Wailin

Tailgating eh? We've all gone American have we?


In my part of the world it's called driving up yer hole!

vectra

What car was he driving?

advertsfox

vectra wrote: »

What car was he driving?

I'm envisioning this:

vectra

Does anyone know if there is a silver unmarked Mondeo 2.5 V6 patrolling around that area?

Gazzmonkey

RandomAccess wrote: »

Probably to show the brake lights rather than a brake check.
I've only ever had one case of genuine tailgating, sometimes brake lights are best option and if they don't get the message then slow down very gradually so they overtake.
The extreme distraction of a true tailgater hovering at your bumper is not safe to continue on your journey with.

I disagree with brake checking, be clear on that.

I find using the rear fogs irritates them enough to get rid of them.

Vicxas

vectra wrote: »

Does anyone know if there is a silver unmarked Mondeo 2.5 V6 patrolling around that area?

I think it vary's between that and the dark grey Camry that they use too.

But yeah ive heard some rumours that some Gardai just drive up your arse to force you to make a mistake.