Motorists may be encouraged to film and report bad driving

Jeremy Sproket

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/motorists-may-be-encouraged-to-film-and-report-bad-driving-1.4755077

This is music to my ears ! We can finally use our dashcam footage to expediently report bad driving without having to go to a Garda station first!

Granted, if the footage warrants a potential prosecution, then you might have to go in person, but at least you'll know something will be done. So the journey to the Garda station will be worthwhile.

On my journey to work, the speed limit on a certain stretch of road is 60 km/h, there is a slight curvature on the road and a continuous white line, despite doing 60 km/h, ie the speed limit, I am still overtaken (over the continuous white line) by some drivers.

Before anyone says that I am probably driving slower than 60 km/h, that may be true, but the speed at which the driver then proceeds ahead of my seems to be far in excess of the "undermeasurement" of the speedometer, so the likelihood is that they ARE speeding.

Vulnerable road users will hopefully be safe now and hopefully cyclists can use cycle cameras as evidence. I hope this also extends to phone camera evidence of dangerous parking in bike lanes etc.

magicbastarder

i would be surprised if that footage would be used specifically for speeding offences; as it does not provide a calibrated measurement of the speed of the other car, it would not specifically be a speeding offence which could be chased. it'd have to be a different offence based on other behaviour than speed alone.

liamog

We should get some of the regular posters here to review the footage.

"From this one dashcam we identified the reported driver committed one offence, however the submitter of the dashcam footage has been cited for 17 different offences in the same 30s of footage and has now been banned from the road."

Jeremy Sproket

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118322577#Comment_118322577

That's true, but it would show an overtake maneouvre was done over a continuous white line on a bend. An offence in itself.

Hopefully it also means cyclists can more easily report close passes and intimidating behaviour.

Miscreant

This will be a GDPR minefield I'm sure.

magicbastarder

ah jaysus the GDPR bogeyman. car regs are specifically required to be displayed in public, and submitting the footage to gardai would be reasonable use.

cena

How much are they paying for the footage 😁

Larbre34

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118322601#Comment_118322601

This.

And also, snitches get stitches.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118322700#Comment_118322700

not as much as the Daily Mail.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118322601#Comment_118322601

Take a look at any news article published on on any road incident in the country. There's always a standard line, that goes something like this:

Any road users who were travelling in the area at the time and may have camera footage, including dashcam footage, are asked to make this available to investigating Gardaí.

Dashcam, CCTV and mobile phone footage is used in investigations and court cases up and down the country every single day. If there were GDPR issues, you can be sure that a defence solicitor or barrister would have brought it up by now, and the practice would cease. There simply isn't any GDPR issues with private individuals recording video in public places.

Strumms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118322596#Comment_118322596

They’d be too busy breaking red lights and endangering pedestrians

Heraclius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323018#Comment_118323018

Fair number of cars and even buses driving through red lights too.

bazz26

Another day, another new thread by the OP. :)

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323018#Comment_118323018

Yeah, very busy indeed

https://twitter.com/AlanDub13/status/1470382273312788486?t=p6tkl3adkRR9K1cBzw3IFw&s=19

Strange reporting by the Times with their "motorists will be able to report...". Are motorists the only road users? Pandering to their car industry advertisers again.

bazz26

And we're off..

Miscreant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323015#Comment_118323015

I can guarantee you that there will be challenges to dashcam and CCTV footage in courts at some stage, just wait for someone with deep enough pockets to come along. I have not heard of anyone being convicted of anything on the back of dashcam footage yet. Also, plenty of private individuals have been asked to change the angle of their home CCTV setups as they have been filming outside of the boundaries of their property and onto the street (which is public, the last time I checked), all in the name of GDPR.

In any case, what is to stop someone deliberately making a nuisance of themselves on the road to bait people to do something stupid for the camera? There are plenty of idiots out there who would get their jollies from stitching up other motorists. I have read of instances of this in other countries that have snitch systesm in place, albeit usually with a "bounty".

Overall, I think this is just putting the onus of policing the traffic laws on to ordinary citizens and is covering up for the lack of investment in law enforcement in this country by successive governments. Besides, if someone is driving dangerously and you have it on camera, there is nothing stopping you from calling into the local garda station and reporting it right now anyway.

I doubt this will be implemented at all.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118322978#Comment_118322978

Victims of dangerous driving get stitches, life changing injuries and often funerals too.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323411#Comment_118323411

How specifically can anyone bait another driver? What would this look like? Driving at the actual speed limit maybe and watching all the "baited" drivers zooming past?

I've had drivers prosecuted for mobile phone use based on helmet camera footage. The current system is extremely cumbersome and very hard work.

Atlantic Dawn

I'd share zero in the current environment, you could have your camera or phone seized for 2-3 years while a court case looms with your full name and address openly disclosed to a potential fooking looper in court.

Dempo1

Isn't this shower already snitching and reporting bad driving behavior at enormous cost to the state 😁

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323599#Comment_118323599

Your phone seized? They just get the footage off you.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323599#Comment_118323599

This isn't standard procedure with dashcam or CCTV footage. One Garda did try it on recently in an attempt to deter reporting. Unless they come with a warrant, they're not getting my camera.

https://twitter.com/righttobikeit/status/1468867968432025604?t=zyY4PpashfvwzulW5Ym-vA&s=19

mickuhaha

I am up for helping out if they set up a dedicated unit and also use the recordings of Garda braking the law to sort out the few Garda's that believe that they can operate above the law.

Wanderer78

i already do my bit in helping slow traffic down, by flashing oncoming drivers, every little helps!

Dempo1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323769#Comment_118323769

And its sincerely appreciated 😏😏

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323828#Comment_118323828

again, every little helps, just like surveillance does with dashcams!

DarkJager21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323659#Comment_118323659

What a dickhead the guy in the video is, he can't even use the road correctly but wants to white knight against everyone else?

Pawwed Rig

The courts wouldn't be able to deal with the amount of submissions. Every cyclist (for example) could easily send in multiple instances of poor motoring behaviour everyday as could any motorbike or even a pedestrian if they wanted to equip themselves. On my 15 min walk to school with my kids I could easily spot 50 issues whether driving on footpaths, poor parking, excessive speed on school zones, ignoring lollipop ladies, red light breaking.

This is not going to happen imo.

I would love if it did though.

The bad parking thread would have a new significance ;)

Stephenc66

Interesting incident re-dash cam footage a few years ago in the UK. I was a passenger in a car that was involved in a minor crash on a roundabout.

In this case it was the other drivers fault. As we are discussing the incident with the police on the side of the road, a driving school car stops and beckons one of the policemen over. It turns out he was on a driving lesson and had been behind us at the time of the crash. His dash cam had recorded it all. He was returning back the road after leaving his student off and spotted we were still there. One of the police officers sat into his car and viewed the footage

I was later asked would I give a statement in court as the woman driving the other car was to be convicted of dangerous driving. I think this may have been exacerbated by the fact that there were more children in the car than there were seats for them and they were unrestrained.

As it happened it never went to court and the other drivers insurance paid for the damage done to the car in which I was a passenger.

I do know that the police man after viewing the footage there and then did say "well there is no doubt what happened there". I don't know if the footage its self was to be used in court but both the driver of the car I was in and myself were asked to give statements and if necessary to appear in court.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323870#Comment_118323870

Those who can’t do teach I guess?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058222879/motorists-may-be-encouraged-to-film-and-report-bad-driving

Is there something stopping you doing this right now?

If you feel so strongly about someone's driving, off you pop to the Garda station, make a statement and go to court.

Miscreant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323595#Comment_118323595

It is not that hard to imagine circumstances where this could be done... it is already done plenty in road rage situations where idiots emergency brake for no reason. Driving at well below the posted limit would be the most common way of baiting another driver. Some people just like to make a nuisance of themselves for sport and I have seen this done regularly on some roads I drive on.

On the subject of Gardaí taking a dashcam device as evidence; this happened to a friend of mine 3 years ago where his camera was taken to be used as evidence of an incident. He never got the camera back but after almost a year of chasing up, he did get compensated for the equipment once he showed the purchase receipt.

Fair play to you for having drivers prosecuted for mobile phone use. It shows that the current system works, albeit there is some leg work involved. The current system clearly also works for the "Righttobikeit" individual you posted above.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323870#Comment_118323870

What did he do wrong?

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323905#Comment_118323905

often if you have dashcam footage you can avoid the trip to court. if it's just a statement without footage, it can be their word against yours. if the offending motorist or other road user knows there's footage which shows the incident, they'll often just cop the charge because they'd run a high risk of a stiffer fine in court.

DarkJager21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118324240#Comment_118324240

1:14 - Why do you think he gets blown out of it by 2 cars who overtake him?

the_pen_turner

Have they the manpower to go through all the videos. Surely there would be thousands a week

the_pen_turner

The one thing that I learned from watching dash cam vids on YT is that the cam car is often just as wrong or even more so in some cases that the peraon they are blowing at. . Every weekly video has several contenders for c of the week.

mrcheez

Nice my bike AND car camera investments pay off :)

So many cars going through red lights... *rubs hands with glee*

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118324303#Comment_118324303

because they're assholes? he was doing nothing to warrant being blown at, just cycling along a road.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323905#Comment_118323905

The first thing that's stopping you is the most likely Garda response in the station is to take the details of the incident on a yellow post-it, along with promises of swift action, but the post-it then gets filed in the bin when you depart.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118324303#Comment_118324303

Try answering the question- what did he do wrong?

As far as I can see, he continued cycling in the straight ahead lane as he was going straight ahead. Do you have a problem with this?

DarkJager21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118324401#Comment_118324401

Cycling in the middle of the traffic lane causing traffic to overtake him (it appears to be a link road as well so 80-100kph speed limit).

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118324511#Comment_118324511

What's a "traffic lane"? Haven't heard of that concept in traffic law before.

And how exactly does he cause drivers behind to overtake or do anything? Does he possess ninja mind control techniques?

MakersMark

Best thing would be an insurer database to which bad driving footage could be uploaded.

Bad drivers then get a nice premium hike!

whisky_galore

Ah GDPR, the eternal excuse to do nothing because GDPR.

JimmyVik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323411#Comment_118323411

Do you remember the cyclist a few years ago who was going around Dublin and then posting videos on youtube of altercations he was manufacturing with drivers. People went into his other videos and found him holding up ambulances and all sorts. Even driving around a roundabout 10 times until he finally got someone about to pull out in front of him so he could have a row.

When he was rumbled he started tweeting about how he was only trying to help other road users, but he really came off badly. He disappeared after that i assume.

DarkJager21

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118324555#Comment_118324555

It’s quite simple - it’s the lane that those vehicles weighing a ton plus are travelling at 80kph in and then this muppet is toddling up the middle of the road. He should be over on the hard shoulder not in lane because

1) He’s not travelling at 80kph

2) The vehicles behind him are and are forced to overtake the ignorant prick.

magicbastarder

He should be over on the hard shoulder not in lane

he's going straight on, it's not possible to do what you suggest even if you thought it was a good idea.

and no-one can force anyone else to overtake. an overtake is 100% the driver's decision.

AND he's cycling very noticeably in the left hand side of the lane, not the middle of it.

again, people blew at him cos they're being assholes.

JimmyVik

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118324745#Comment_118324745

When im cycling i certainly wouldnt be as far out in that lane on that road as he was. Hes asking to get clipped just for the moral high ground. No good to you if you are dead.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118324511#Comment_118324511

...and we're off again.

Let's not go down the rabbit hole of yet another motorist Vs cyclist thread only to reveal you to have been lacking in your knowledge of the rules.

Effects

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118323411#Comment_118323411

I'm pretty sure there's already been convictions for careless driving based on camera footage.