Do you report dangerous driving?

Canadel

Recently I find more and more cars becoming more and more restless on the roads (most likely due to the increased amount of cars on the road). But along with insurance costs and claims skyrocketing it makes it very uneasy to drive with people tailgating and testing their brakes every few seconds in lines of traffic on national roads.

So recently, and just today, I stayed back from such a line of cars on a national road with a limit of 100km/hr as the cars in front swung in and out over the white line attempting to overtake, and were squashed so close together that it looked like a red light district ahead of me. I stayed back maybe a distance of a 4 second rule from all of this for my own safety but also so as to allow anyone behind me to overtake me if they wished and join in the nonsense. Some did. Fine. And then right on queue a car overtook me and encroached on my side of the road while parallel with my vehicle. They then proceeded to cut in in front of me due to oncoming traffic. Very annoying. And slightly shocking. But not surprising. Planning to buy a webcam next week.

However, the thought crossed my mind for a moment to take their reg and notify the garda traffic team when I got home. I didn't. Do you ever report dangerous driving?

Handsome Brute

About two years ago coming into Galway traffic corps stoped me saying my car was reported dangerously overtaking. I explained to him and it was the truth that I didn't know what he was talking about.

People must report it but without the Guards having evidence nothing can be done. If anything he was looking for an admission but it must have been a car just like mine.

Canadel

Handsome Brute wrote: »

About two years ago coming into Galway traffic corps stoped me saying my car was reported dangerously overtaking. I explained to him and it was the truth that I didn't know what he was talking about.

People must report it but without the Guards having evidence nothing can be done. If anything he was looking for an admission but it must have been a car just like mine.

Did the guards have your reg?

I'd be more inclined to report someone for the kind of overtaking I described in my post than simply a case of a car speeding yet overtaking correctly and not putting me in any direct danger.

zSparc

For some scared sh*tless morons driving 40km/h on Sunday simple overtaking is "dangerous driving".
No, I don't report and never will.

magentis

Handsome Brute wrote: »

About two years ago coming into Galway traffic corps stoped me saying my car was reported dangerously overtaking. I explained to him and it was the truth that I didn't know what he was talking about.

People must report it but without the Guards having evidence nothing can be done. If anything he was looking for an admission but it must have been a car just like mine.

Much coincidence.How many handsome brutes was there driving the same car as yours on that stretch of road at that time?

Handsome Brute

magentis wrote: »

Much coincidence.How many handsome brutes was there driving the same car as yours on that stretch of road at that time?

His words exactly.

Handsome Brute

Canadel wrote: »

Did the guards have your reg?

I'd be more inclined to report someone for the kind of overtaking I described in my post than simply a case of a car speeding yet overtaking correctly and not putting me in any direct danger.

He said something along the lines of a grey audi 12-G and he didn't have the rest.

Canadel

zSparc wrote: »

For some scared sh*tless morons driving 40km/h on Sunday simple overtaking is "dangerous driving".

Not really relevant to this thread though which is a discussion on objectively dangerous overtaking as described in my op.

No, I don't report and never will.

Would you report if another car directly put your vehicle and safety in immediate danger?

Handsome Brute wrote: »

He said something along the lines of a grey audi 12-G and he didn't have the rest.

Were you simply speeding?

biko

I don't but if something was caught on dashcam I'd have no hesitation handing a copy over to gardai.

Amanda.ie

Most of the time it's a driver pissed off because someone overtook them. It's their word against yours, unless you are prepared to make a statement and go to court there is feck all the guards can do. If I were to report all the dangerous driving I see then I would be a serial reporter.

Bazzy

A local garage sell high end cars and the owner/staff like to tear the hole out of them all the time.

Yesterday the owner came around a blind bend towards me on the wrong side of the road ( he broke a solid white line) I reported it and gardai called

I had to take highly evasive action to not have a head on collision. I had the kids in the car which really annoyed me

Owner of garage denied it so I produced dash cam footage , Gardai are going after him for it.

Guard told me he wasnt 100% sure how much the footage would stand up if it went to court but the reg and driver are very visible. So he said he would take it as far as he could to be fair to him

savagethegoat

Canadel wrote: »

Were you simply speeding?

Not really relevant to this thread

Canadel

savagethegoat wrote: »

Not really relevant to this thread

I disagree.

Have you anything relevant to contribute?

Diabhalta

Is driving sideways on a roundabout considered dangerous driving?

Handsome Brute

Diabhalta wrote: »

Is driving sideways on a roundabout considered dangerous driving?

Depends if your in Donegal or not

Handsome Brute

And I wasn't speeding. If you managed to do the speed limit around Galway during rush hour your doing well. Didn't surprise me though. Audis and dangerous overtaking are common on the N17 as the traffic is mental in the morning as always and lads do be in a hurry.

gutteruu

Dangerous driving is subjective. I've overtaken people doing 30mph on major roads and they flash like hell and freak out (thinking I am dangerous driving). Cops are there for a reason. Its their job to police the roads. Unless it was blatantly dangerous or a near miss I wouldn't report it.

There were people on the dash cam thread who report people to their employers listed on their vans because they got cut off on a roundabout etc. That is total BS. Taking away someones livelihood because you don't like their driving should be a punchable offence.

Handsome Brute

Just to add to this when i was coming home from Belfast home on a day with good conditions it was clear a drunk driver was in front of me. I called 999 and told them to get the PSNI out asap.... I remember saying "this lad is going to kill someone" He was basically going into on-coming traffic and weaving back and forth. Long story short I had enough of it and over took the driver put my hazards on and slowed him down forcing him into the hard sholder. He was only doing about 30mph anyways. He stoped and I got out. Opened the door and took the keys out of his ignition. A man of about 75 with one far too many on him.

He nearly forced two people carriers into a ditch and I just tought I can't live knowing I could have prevented a crash. The police arrived fast enough and said my actions were perfectly justified. It was a pain too because I was in the North I didn't really know where I was.

If I think that someone is going to get hurt or killed I have no problem calling the Guards but on that day I had to do a bit more.

Diabhalta

Handsome Brute wrote: »

Depends if your in Donegal or not

Cork city.

wandatowell

I came across a driver who I thought was drunk and reported driver/car to Gardai. The car was was all the place, driving on both sides of the road, going from very high speeds to extremely slow and back up again.

Turned out the Gardai couldn't have cared less.

fin12

I often get beeped by the car I'm overtaking and i don't know what their problem is, I overtake on a straight stretch of road and the way ahead is clear.

savagethegoat

Canadel wrote: »

I disagree.

Have you anything relevant to contribute?

yes I do...it's the 2 second rule. Maybe you were failing to make progress and getting in the way.

Bazzy

I do a fair bit of mileage with work and have seen some stupid stuff from the slowest of slow to the fastest

I drive from Galway to Dublin and back one a week normally alone , one week I had a colleague and we we're coming back to galway there was a white seat mii rent a car ( sticker in back window) and it was all over the motorway , white lines where in the middle of the car, we we're coming into athlone road slows down to 100kph they stayed on the phone until they got someone to us the guy driving the car fell over when he got out, I never heard anymore he could have been tired I assumed drunk but I did think he was going to hurt or kill someone or himself again reporting was the difference

jharr100

The standard of driving in this country is horrendous IMO .

If any of the antics I see on a daily basis in Cork were commited on the continent these drivers would be off the road in weeks.

There's little or no enforcement. Everyone knows where the camera vans park and where you might see a motorbike cop.

I got overtaken on the left yesterday by a woman with her mobile up to her ear and 2 kids in the back, and I was doing exactly the speed limit.

I did report a dangerous driver a few years ago , but the guard on the phone said unless I was willing to testify and go to court there was nothing they could do.

Canadel

savagethegoat wrote: »

yes I do...it's the 2 second rule. Maybe you were failing to make progress and getting in the way.

If I applied the 2 second rule I would have simply been stepping on the brakes every two seconds like the line of cars in front of me, and could well have had the car behind tailgating me.

Instead I stayed back a bit, far enough to allow space for anyone behind me to overtake me and join in the nonsense going on up ahead. I don't know how much more safe or courteous I could be given the precarious conditions!

Progress does not necessarily mean automatically applying the 2 second rule. I was maintaining perfectly acceptable progress for the conditions, and driving in a safe manner. If I had applied the 2 second rule as said I would have been stepping on the brakes regularly and more at risk of incident due to the erratic behaviour of the cars in front The person who overtook me and encroached on my side of the road parallel to my vehicle, and then cut in in front of me, was driving dangerously, as I think everyone else in this thread would agree!

Nekarsulm

- Was driving home along the n3 one night, and as I passed Lisgrey House a car pulled out of the car park. Drive up so close behind me, his headlights disappeared. Must have been less than a metre away. Then he swung left and passed on the hard shoulder. He suddenly realised that his turn off was immediate so he stamped on the brakes and swung right and up a side road. I had to nearly stand my car on its nose to avoid ramming him. Reported to Gardai in the morning.
The upshot was "your word against his" even though I had a passenger. The Guard had interviewed him but he denied driving at all that night. The Guard told me that this particular client would be known to them for his "driving style".
Then I was contacted by the Guard asking me to come in to the station to withdraw my complaint. I refused, and over the next few months got several more phonecalls from the Guard asking me to withdraw it. Eventually be stopped calling me.
So no, i would never bother ringing them again. In fact, if it happened again I would hold the little bolix on the hard shoulder and see what a Peugeot 205 could do to a twenty year old Mercedes 300d.

gutteruu

jharr100 wrote:

I got overtaken on the left yesterday by a woman with her mobile up to her ear and 2 kids in the back, and I was doing exactly the speed limit.

Were you in the speed limit lane? I have a feeling you're one of the people I was on about.

jharr100

gutteruu wrote: »

Were you in the speed limit lane? I have a feeling you're one of the people I was on about.

I don't know if I'm one of the people you are on about.. if you mean careful drivers , then yes I am.
I was overtaken on the hard shoulder. .
You probably think I shouldn't drive at all cos I'm holding up your progress..

jharr100

jharr100 wrote: »

The standard of driving in this country is horrendous IMO .

I got overtaken on the left yesterday by a woman with her mobile up to her ear and 2 kids in the back, and I was doing exactly the speed limit. .

If you were overtaken on the left, you were in the wrong lane!

Get out of the way & drive on the left.

jharr100

bubblypop wrote: »

If you were overtaken on the left, you were in the wrong lane!

Get out of the way & drive on the left.

It's ok to overtake on the hard shoulder is it ?
Because it's not ok to drive on it.

Armchair Andy

Was it the hard shoulder you were undertaken on or the driving lane?

jharr100

Armchair Andy wrote: »

Was it the hard shoulder you were undertaken on or the driving lane?

Hard shoulder

CiniO

Diabhalta wrote: »

Is driving sideways on a roundabout considered dangerous driving?

I assume your question was rhetorical, as everyone would assume it is.

But it was actually nicely explained on the Legal discussions forum once by someone, that dangerous driving can only take place when your driving causes danger to other road users...

So if you're driving sideways on a empty roundabout with no other traffic around, this can't be dangerous driving, as you couldn't cause danger to anyone simply because there was no one there. There's no way you could be prosecuted for dangerous driving in such case.

CiniO

Canadel wrote: »

Do you ever report dangerous driving?

So far I never did, and I don't think I will.

jharr100

jharr100 wrote: »

It's ok to overtake on the hard shoulder is it ?
Because it's not ok to drive on it.

If you were overtaken by someone driving in the hard shoulder i would have expected you to put this in your original post.
Seeing as how that makes a big difference.
I think your making it up, after the fact.

Driving standards in cork city are absolutely horrendous lately. Not too long ago I was walking up to the gym in Ballyphehane through friars walk by the friars walk tavern. It's a very narrow street and traffic builds up heavily as cars try and get through.
Traffic was stationary for a few minutes. A guy in a newish red Toyota hilux drove up on the footpath on the wrong side of the road and absolutely booted it to get around the traffic jam. All the houses along there have no gardens, the doors open almost directly onto the street. Anyone coming out their door then wouldn't have stood a chance.
Would have reported him but couldn't see his reg, by far the most dangerous thing I've ever seen anyone do on the roads here.

jharr100

bubblypop wrote: »

If you were overtaken by someone driving in the hard shoulder i would have expected you to put this in your original post.
Seeing as how that makes a big difference.
I think your making it up, after the fact.

I consider driving the speed limit in the overtaking lane idiotic, and wouldn't have brought it up in a motoring forum had I done such.
I was on a single lane stretch of road when the incident occurred.
I don't really care what you think.

Jesus.

Handsome Brute wrote: »

Audis and dangerous overtaking are common on the N17.

Still, i wish I was on it

Mc Love

I have tried to report dangerous driving while driving but more often than not the Garda Trafficwatch line is busy or no-one is manning it. It's pointless calling some times unless you have evidence or even a reg number and by the time the Corps get mobilised the offender could be well gone and sometimes in a different direction.

Jesus.

wandatowell wrote: »

Turned out the Gardai couldn't have cared less.

Nekarsulm wrote: »

Then I was contacted by the Guard asking me to come in to the station to withdraw my complaint. I refused, and over the next few months got several more phonecalls from the Guard asking me to withdraw it. Eventually be stopped calling me.

Serves you both right. Some of the Guards' best work is politely telling busybodies to F off.

I feel for them sometimes having to listen to A-holes with nothing better to do bombard them with irrelevant waffle. I wonder could the Police prosecute people like this for wasting Garda resources/time?

Brian Scan

Jesus. wrote: »

Serves you both right. Some of the Guards' best work is politely telling busybodies to F off.

I feel for them sometimes having to listen to A-holes with nothing better to do bombard them with irrelevant waffle. I wonder could the Police prosecute people like this for wasting Garda resources/time?

That's ironic.

Esel

Mc Love wrote: »

I have tried to report dangerous driving while driving but more often than not the Garda Trafficwatch line is busy or no-one is manning it. It's pointless calling some times unless you have evidence or even a reg number and by the time the Corps get mobilised the offender could be well gone and sometimes in a different direction.

Just call 999 / 112.

rebel.ranter

Esel wrote: »

Just call 999 / 112.

The emergency numbers.....reserved for emergencies?

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Aside from one timewhen I was given Garda permission to break the rules of the road to keep up with a criminal, who i was reporting for a previous crime (a very fun spin, i must admit), then I've only ever reported one person.

It was because his car was all over the road. It was evening time (Saturday i think) but it was obvious he was drunk.


To be honest, I wouldn't be fussed reporting someone for 'dangerous driving' otherwise. If they're drunk, and the Gardai stop them, they can acutally act on it. Otherwise it's all hear-say.

whippet

I have used the traffic watch number twice.

First time was to report a car swerving all over the place approaching a town late at night .. Obvious drink driver and had the pleasure of being able to watch the guards bring out the breathalyser and arrest the lad.

And more recently I reported a driver for a pretty nasty bit of road rage against me .. Just shy of a physical assault but very nasty (considering I had young kids in the car.) - got a call from the local Garda station yesterday to make a statement against the other driver and I intend to follow through with it.

If you do make the call you have to be prepared to follow up with a statement and be willing to pursue it .. Otherwise you are only wasting Garda time as their hands are tied otherwise

Esel

rebel.ranter wrote: »

The emergency numbers.....reserved for emergencies?

So you think a dangerous driver does not qualify ...... say a drunk who is all over the road etc.?

endagibson

gutteruu wrote: »

Taking away someones livelihood because you don't like their driving should be a punchable offence.

That's not what's happening.
It's getting put at risk by someone elses behaviour, not disliking their driving.
And no one is taking away their livelihood, they're being careless with it.

gutteruu

endagibson wrote: »

That's not what's happening.
It's getting put at risk by someone elses behaviour, not disliking their driving.
And no one is taking away their livelihood, they're being careless with it.

Then ring the cops, follow them home, do whatever. But trying to get them in trouble at work is just being a total dick.

endagibson

gutteruu wrote: »

Then ring the cops, follow them home, do whatever. But trying to get them in trouble at work is just being a total dick.

Several posters have said that the Gardai don't care. If they're so worried about what might happen with their work, then maybe don't endanger other road users with your employers name plastered all over your vehicle.
All attempts at deflection aside, any consequences from a drivers behaviour belong to them alone.

John_Rambo

I've reported drunk drivers (one of whom got "done for the bag"). The only time I've reported a non-drunk was on my way to Dublin from Galway I was overtaking in the overtaking lane on the clear the motorway and some right lane clown came up behind me flashing, beeping and tailgaiting. I was doing about 125kph and felt I had to speed up, I certainly wasn't going to slow down and slide in behind the cars I was overtaking. That would have driven him nuts. I pulled in as soon as I had completed my overtake to let him, making it obvious I was doing so by indicating early and waved in a friendly manner, but he followed me in to the driving lane and continued to harass me. I had kids in the car. Then he proceeds to drive beside me in the overtaking lane with his passenger sitting on the sill shouting and gesticulating.

I sped up, he matched, I slowed down he matched, then he got in front of me and started braking.

Disaster.

Took the next exit and he followed me and then veered back on to the motorway at the last minute over the cross hatchings to the sound of beeping and tyre screeching. Wife was fairly shook up, kids thought it was great fun. I was a bit rattled.

Gardai took it fairly seriously. Turns out two other cars reported him. Got a few follow up calls and ended up dealing with a fairly diligent Garda. Myself and the other two drivers story matched perfectly, one of them actually thought he'd tipped me. The guy got an embarrassing house (squad car outside) call at six in the morning that woke up his family. Stern talking (serious bollicking) to and a (I presume unofficial) caution. He was told his reg was going to be monitored and if it came up for attention the guard would come down on him like a tonne of bricks.

Turns out he was late for a GAA match in Croker.