Garda followed 20km to my home (Driving Offence)

kavo87

Hi All,

So my partner today was driving home and came across a tow truck in the middle lane dealing with a broken down car. She overtook the truck and car which happened to be a right turn lane and got back into the middle lane.

When she arrive home about 5 minutes later the garda arrive at the door to issue the fine and points. Where the the incident happened to our door was roughly 20km away.

Any thoughts on this?

seamus

Sounds more like there was a Garda present at the scene and she didn't notice, he took down the reg and either radioed it in, or got back in the car when he was finished dealing with the breakdown.

Samuel T. Cogley

kavo87 wrote: »

Any thoughts on this?

Fair play to the Guard for being persistent.

kavo87

Are you not allowed over take a broken down car? What's the correct thing to do just sit and wait until the car has been removed?

Smee_Again

If she didn't notice the Garda at the scene I wonder what else she missed.

ThewhiteJesus

The fact the guard was so persistent tells me he really felt she was in the wrong but i wasn't there so who knows.
But in my experience when dealing with guards in ireland, just say yes sir, massage their ego a little and take it on the chin.
At least that will be the end of it there and then, a fine and a couple of penalty points is nothing major but if you give him any reason to sniff around he will

seamus

kavo87 wrote: »

Are you not allowed over take a broken down car? What's the correct thing to do just sit and wait until the car has been removed?

We don't have the full details, but sounds like it was probably dangerous overtaking.
If she failed to notice the Garda at the scene and didn't realise she was using a turning lane, then she probably did it at speed and with minimal care for the circumstances.

In this case the correct procedure is to slow down, observe, and then pass the obstruction in the left lane when it is safe to do so.

ED E

Shocked at the RPU being that bothered, must have been some pretty ****ty driving.

kavo87

ED E wrote: »

Shocked at the RPU being that bothered, must have been some pretty ****ty driving.

Haha she said that she was driving safely and reduced speed to overtake as in any other situation.

I was surprised that the Garda came all this way to give a fine.

kavo87

seamus wrote: »

We don't have the full details, but sounds like it was probably dangerous overtaking.
If she failed to notice the Garda at the scene and didn't realise she was using a turning lane, then she probably did it at speed and with minimal care for the circumstances.

In this case the correct procedure is to slow down, observe, and then pass the obstruction in the left lane when it is safe to do so.

I think this was the main issue she didn't use the left hand lane to pass it.

hullaballoo

I know it wasn't your intention OP but the way you worded your post makes it look like your wife went 20km home in 5 minutes. That's how I read it initially and had a little difficulty understanding why you were querying points and a fine if she was travelling that fast. My poor maths skills lead me to believe it was approx. 240kph and that's when I read your post again.

That aside, it is likely that your wife is giving you half the story because unless the Road Corps in your area are very light of work, they are unlikely to have followed your wife home or radioed in if she was just temporarily in a turning lane for the purposes of overtaking an obstruction. There must be something more to it.

Might it be that this fine is for something totally different that happened closer to home? ie did the guard specifically mention where the alledged breach occurred?

kavo87

hullaballoo wrote: »

I know it wasn't your intention OP but the way you worded your post makes it look like your wife went 20km home in 5 minutes. That's how I read it initially and had a little difficulty understanding why you were querying points and a fine if she was travelling that fast. My poor maths skills lead me to believe it was approx. 240kph and that's when I read your post again.

That aside, it is likely that your wife is giving you half the story because unless the Road Corps in your area are very light of work, they are unlikely to have followed your wife home or radioed in if she was just temporarily in a turning lane for the purposes of overtaking an obstruction. There must be something more to it.

I can confirm our car is not capable of that speed lol I understand unless there it's heard to tell from the few sentences I've given.

Talking to her again she had stopped then pulled out into the right turning lane then back into the middle lane following a couple of cars ahead of her.

To me it could've happened to anyone. The left lane was full of cars and sounded like a bit of a mess with the middle lane blocked with the broken down car.

I've never heard the Garda follow you that distance to give you a fine. I'm no expect on the rules of the road but I I would've thought maybe in a situation like this might be a bit of leeway but obviously not.

kavo87

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Might it be that this fine is for something totally different that happened closer to home? ie did the guard specifically mention where the alledged breach occurred?

Yes she stated to us where it happened and actually suggested she might have been driving too fast as she in her words couldn't keep up which kind of made no sense to me anyways.

DesperateDan

Lads I've never heard of this 'only overtake obstructions on the left' rule, can anyone elaborate? If something is in my way in a middle lane, I would be wilfully tootling along down either lane to go around it

DesperateDan

DesperateDan wrote: »

Lads I've never heard of this 'only overtake obstructions on the left' rule, can anyone elaborate? If something is in my way in a middle lane, I would be wilfully tootling along down either lane to go around it

In a turning only Lane?

Lundstram

kavo87 wrote: »

Talking to her again she had stopped then pulled out into the right turning lane then back into the middle lane following a couple of cars ahead of her.

kavo87 wrote: »

Yes she stated to us where it happened and actually suggested she might have been driving too fast as she in her words couldn't keep up which kind of made no sense to me anyways.

The truth is slowly coming out.

Spook_ie

In all likelihood the Garda was assisting the tow truck to remove the obstruction, I wonder if the traffic in the left lane was being held up by the Gard for the retrieval of the broken down vehicle and your missus sailing past in a right turn lane mightily pissed him off.

What is the actual FCPN for and if possible a Google map link as this returning to the middle lane is slightly confusing.

NuMarvel

kavo87 wrote: »

Yes she stated to us where it happened and actually suggested she might have been driving too fast as she in her words couldn't keep up which kind of made no sense to me anyways.

What offence did the Garda state in the notice as being the reason for the fine and points?