Traffic watch-My day in court

Our man in Havana

Had my day in court today in Thomastown.

Case was not up till 12.45pm court sitting since 11am. Case called and guess what? No show from my boy racer foe.

Naturally judge was very peed off by this and issued a warrant for arrest of said foe. Downside I have to go back in 2 weeks time.

I will keep yee updated.

ambro25

If you don't mind, what is the case about?

Our man in Havana

Suicidial overtaking of myself and an artic on a blind bend with double white lines.

528i

class, when's the rematch (I presume popcorn is allowed on the premises?)

Our man in Havana

18th of July 11am.

528i

Is it your word against his, or do you need afew witnesses ? (thinks back on a very chequered overtaking history )

shakenbake

The very least you could do is provide more information. Or at least post a link to a previous thread if you've posted about this before.

Was their an accident, was anyone hurt? What happened?

drdre

good luck in 2 weeks time

jlang

Will you get your expenses paid - time off work and travel etc?

secret_squirrel

Original Thread

unkel

528i wrote:

thinks back on a very chequered overtaking history

Elaborate and confess! I hope the f00k it wasn't on blind bends

I break the law overtaking on a regular basis but not on blind bends though

phelo05

stupidity thats what i say i hope the judge flogs ya with the book my friend no hard feelings

ambro25

phelo05 wrote:

stupidity thats what i say i hope the judge flogs ya with the book my friend no hard feelings

Erm... Bond007 appears to be the guy who was overtaken, not doing the overtaking, so I doubt very much the Judge would flog him with the book.

You need to read the thread before you let your gonnads do your typing, m8ey - Oh, yeah, no hard feelings either

@528i - 'hope that wasn't you in Rathmines this AM, pootling at 20mph...

Our man in Havana

I am getting paid for time lost at work and travel @ €1 per mile. Works out to €110 a day in total. So I will get that again on the 18th.

I would hate to be on the receiving end of this judge, he fined one guy there €200 for wandering across a white line.

prospect

Fair play to you bond, felt like ringing traffic watch last night myself!

I was driving home the nangor road yesterday and an idiot in a black 02 VW passat TDI was behind me.
Its a 50 zone, and there is a bus lane, but it isn't opened yet. Nobody uses it though.
So without and indications, the VW pulls into the bus lane, accelerates past four or five cars on the inside and then pulls back into lane and immediatly into the right turn lane at the lights.
This guy broke 4 road laws (crossed solid white line twice, changed lane without indicating twice, broke the speed limit, passed out cars on the inside), in about 30 seconds, and ended up sitting almost beside me at the next set of lights. A guy ina red octavia got out of his car at the lights and told him off.
So if you are the driver of the black VW and you are reading this, you are a proper ar$ehole, get a fupping life!

Rant Over.

magpie

Just out of interest - isn't the burden of proof on the prosecution in these cases? In other words someone phones up grasswatch to complain about someone elses driving and it goes to court, then surely its a case of one person's word against the other's? Which isn't sufficient proof to get a conviction in any other case.

Our man in Havana

Of course its on the prosecution.

In my case he didn't show. So He will defo be there the next day. His non appearance yesterday is already against him.

Apparently he has admitted the offence.

magpie

So if he had the brains to hire a solicitor to say "prove it" there's no way he could be convicted? Then again if he was stupid enough to perform the manouevre you describe then its not surprising.

unkel

Bond-007 wrote:

Apparently he has admitted the offence.

If he's pleading guilty, do you still need a witness?

And if he's pleading not guilty and there is only one witness (yourself) is that enough proof? One word against one word?

Our man in Havana

As there is no Garda witness, I am still needed to present the facts of the case.

De Hipster

Another great example of Irish legal system expecting the busy-bodies of this country to police the state.

Just because one person thinks it's dangerous doesn't mean it is, I seriously can't believe the courts are taking this vendetta-line seriously.

MrPudding

De Hipster wrote:

Another great example of Irish legal system expecting the busy-bodies of this country to police the state.

Just because one person thinks it's dangerous doesn't mean it is, I seriously can't believe the courts are taking this vendetta-line seriously.

Bond-007 thinks it is dangerous to overtake on a blind corner having crossed double solid white lines. I have to say I would agree with him. Do you think it is safe?

MrP

impr0v

I rang 'grasswatch' yesterday about a guy who I followed up the N4 from Mullingar to Kilcock and who was driving extremely erratically. There wasn't anything conclusive for the most part, just general weaving, varying speed, and picking strange lines through roundabouts, but on the Enfield bypass he suddenly swerved the whole way over the white line and then back again, with nothing coming, and then something similar on the stretch between the bypass and the M4. He seemed to be on the phone at the time but to me it looked like he was drunk.

So I pulled in and rang the line, was put on hold for about 3 or 4 minutes, and was then told blunty by the female robot voice 'We are experiencing a very high level of calls to traffic watch and cannot take your call, please call again some other time' - before I was promptly cut off. This is at 9:30 on a monday night.

I don't think the observations I had made warranted making a 999 call so I decided I had no real alternative but to leave it.

De Hipster

MrPudding wrote:

Bond-007 thinks it is dangerous to overtake on a blind corner having crossed double solid white lines. I have to say I would agree with him. Do you think it is safe?

MrP

I'm not a cop or traffic professional so therefore my unqualified opinion would not or certainly SHOULD NOT hold up in court.

Besides perhaps he could see further round the corner from the otherside of the road!

amerden

De Hipster wrote:

Another great example of Irish legal system expecting the busy-bodies of this country to police the state.

Just because one person thinks it's dangerous doesn't mean it is, I seriously can't believe the courts are taking this vendetta-line seriously.

It this moron serious, I bet this is the prat that should have been in court yesterday, its a shame that others don't take "Bond-007"'s lead and get idiots like you off the road, if you drove properly you would not have that view, think (rub the two brain cells you have together) of others including your own family.

magpie

I am still needed to present the facts of the case.

Unless you've got a video recording its just your recollection/opinion, not fact.

expecting the busy-bodies of this country to police the state

Indeed.

Bond-007 thinks it is dangerous to overtake on a blind corner having crossed double solid white lines. I have to say I would agree with him. Do you think it is safe?

I saw some people acting suspiciously yesterday, and they were possibly foreign. Do you have the number of my local Gauleiter so I can have them deported?

amerden

De Hipster wrote:

I'm not a cop or traffic professional so therefore my unqualified opinion would not or certainly SHOULD NOT hold up in court.

Besides perhaps he could see further round the corner from the otherside of the road!

Proves my previous post

Squirrel

De Hipster wrote:

I'm not a cop or traffic professional so therefore my unqualified opinion would not or certainly SHOULD NOT hold up in court.

Besides perhaps he could see further round the corner from the otherside of the road!

Maybe he could, just like seeing a big artic 2 seconds earlier, but unfortunately heading straight for you, the guy broke the law and deserves to be done for it, if you see a murder but the police don't he can still be done.

De Hipster

amerden wrote:

It this moron serious, I bet this is the prat that should have been in court yesterday, its a shame that others don't take "Bond-007"'s lead and get idiots like you off the road, if you drove properly you would not have that view, think (rub the two brain cells you have together) of others including your own family.

Nice friendly attitude you have there amerden...are opinions offensive or threatening to you?

Obviously name-calling is justified due to my having an opinion that is not perfectly agreeable with your vastly superior one.

My driving record speaks for itself, it the likes of your good self that need to jump down off your high horse & get on with your own exciting life, whilst of course presuming that you can take on the role of the state police, continuing to judge & interfere with others day-to-day existances.

De Hipster

magpie wrote:

Unless you've got a video recording its just your recollection/opinion, not fact.



Indeed.



I saw some people acting suspiciously yesterday, and they were possibly foreign. Do you have the number of my local Gauleiter so I can have them deported?

My point exactly!

amerden

De Hipster wrote:

Nice friendly attitude you have there amerden...are opinions offensive or threatening to you?

Obviously name-calling is justified due to my having an opinion that is not perfectly agreeable with your vastly superior one.

My driving record speaks for itself, it the likes of your good self that need to jump down off your high horse & get on with your own exciting life, whilst of course presuming that you can take on the role of the state police, continuing to judge & interfere with others day-to-day existances.

It is the duty of EVERY citizen to uphold the law of the country they reside in and likewise if they see the law being broken or peoples life's being put at risk this should be reported to the appropriate authority.

If YOUR opinion is that it doesn't matter how you drive or how much danger YOU put others in, then you deserve to be called a "moron", I am not name calling, you will find that the meaning of "moron" is "a mentally deficient person", this I deduced from your previous statement.

As for your DRIVING record, carry on with the attitude that it is OK to overtake or cross double white lines and you will end up with a different kind of record, at best.

De Hipster

It is up to each citizen to uphold the law, it is NOT up to each citizen to supervise other individuals adherence to the law, that why the state police force exists.

The introduction of the traffic-watch vendetta-line is typical of this country & ridiculous at best that it be admissible in court, nevermind that the 'recollection of fact' is by an individual who is seeking retribution/comeuppance for an individual who 'in their limited capacity/opinion' has committed an offence...RIDICULOUS & only in Ireland!

De Hipster

amerden wrote:

It is the duty of EVERY citizen to uphold the law of the country they reside in and likewise if they see the law being broken or peoples life's being put at risk this should be reported to the appropriate authority.

If YOUR opinion is that it doesn't matter how you drive or how much danger YOU put others in, then you deserve to be called a "moron", I am not name calling, you will find that the meaning of "moron" is "a mentally deficient person", this I deduced from your previous statement.

As for your DRIVING record, carry on with the attitude that it is OK to overtake or cross double white lines and you will end up with a different kind of record, at best.

...a better definition of 'moron' might be : one who willing pays a fee to complain about others & therefore on a self-imposed moral high ground opts to take on the role of the police voluntarily...just my 2cents.

magpie

We need more trafffic police rather than an 1850 phone line whose sole purpose is to distract away from the real problem and give the Miss Marples of this world an outlet for their Famous Five inclinations.

amerden

De Hipster wrote:

It is up to each citizen to uphold the law, it is NOT up to each citizen to supervise other individuals adherence to the law, that why the state police force exists.

The introduction of the traffic-watch vendetta-line is typical of this country & ridiculous at best that it be admissible in court, nevermind that the 'recollection of fact' is by an individual who is seeking retribution/comeuppance for an individual who 'in their limited capacity/opinion' has committed an offence...RIDICULOUS & only in Ireland!

So are you saying that Bond-007 is seeking retribution towards this other driver and that he has "limited capacity" to make a judgment whether or not this individual was breaking the law or not.
Within his "limited capacity" he must have been right otherwise the police would not have prosecuted nor would the driver have admitted his guilt.
If this traffic watch prevents just ONE life from being lost, it could be yours, then it has worked.

Jip

impr0v wrote:

I rang 'grasswatch' yesterday ....
So I pulled in and rang the line, was put on hold for about 3 or 4 minutes, and was then told blunty by the female robot voice 'We are experiencing a very high level of calls to traffic watch and cannot take your call, please call again some other time' .......

I thought the traffic watch phone line was been done away with and you're just put directly through to the Gardai now ?

De Hipster

amerden wrote:

So are you saying that Bond-007 ... has "limited capacity" to make a judgment whether or not this individual was breaking the law or not.
QUOTE]

Unless he is a qualified lawyer, who's expertise lies in Irish Road Traffic acts or is a member of the garda traffic corp, then yes that is precisely what I'm saying.

amerden

De Hipster wrote:

amerden wrote:

So are you saying that Bond-007 ... has "limited capacity" to make a judgment whether or not this individual was breaking the law or not.
QUOTE]

Unless he is a qualified lawyer, who's expertise lies in Irish Road Traffic acts or is a member of the garda traffic corp, then yes that is precisely what I'm saying.

Well I presume that Bond-007 is like the MAJORITY of drivers in that he/she will have a good knowledge of the rules of the road and know what is right and wrong, but what you are really saying that it is perfectly OK to cross over a double white line to overtake putting other road users and yourself in danger, tell that to the parents of the next child that is killed by some lunatic that doesn't give a toss about anyone else.

You can break the law as long as you don't get caught

Comments like that only back up my previous conviction.

Borzoi

De Hipster wrote:

I'm not a cop or traffic professional so therefore my unqualified opinion would not or certainly SHOULD NOT hold up in court.
!

By your own standards, ie the criticism of unqualified opinion, and the follow up about the activities of the court I must conclude that you sir are a barrister/judge or solicitor.

How about we leave this to the courts.

Though I am interested in the €1 a mile expenses

528i

I know if someone pursued a case against me (and there have been 'incidents' ) that I'd have a friend (or three) report & take a case against them for something similar.

MrPudding

Yeah, it's more people like you our society really need.

MrP

Our man in Havana

€1 a mile is the standard civil service rate for mileage expsenses.

528i

MrPudding wrote:

Yeah, it's more people like you our society really need.

MrP

I don't like your attitude bucko, Four Courts - 3 weeks - Dangerous driving - you're going down

De Hipster

What's the number again?...I'm almost positive I could have nearly witnessed some almost seriously lethal infringements that'd be worth weeks in court!

De Hipster

528i wrote:

I don't like your attitude bucko, Four Courts - 3 weeks - Dangerous driving - you're going down

I may have seen that too...what was he driving, where & when?

Jumpy

De Hipster wrote:

It is up to each citizen to uphold the law, it is NOT up to each citizen to supervise other individuals adherence to the law, that why the state police force exists.

The introduction of the traffic-watch vendetta-line is typical of this country & ridiculous at best that it be admissible in court, nevermind that the 'recollection of fact' is by an individual who is seeking retribution/comeuppance for an individual who 'in their limited capacity/opinion' has committed an offence...RIDICULOUS & only in Ireland!

Dont be an idiot... by your logic 999 shouldnt exist. Because its up to the state police force to identify and deal with crimes.

If I saw someone breaking the road laws in a dangerous manner I would report them and follow through in court.

amerden

Jumpy wrote:

Dont be an idiot... by your logic 999 shouldnt exist. Because its up to the state police force to identify and deal with crimes.

If I saw someone breaking the road laws in a dangerous manner I would report them and follow through in court.

Thank you Jumpy,

Someone with common sense.

De Hipster

Jumpy wrote:

Dont be an idiot... by your logic 999 shouldnt exist. Because its up to the state police force to identify and deal with crimes.

If I saw someone breaking the road laws in a dangerous manner I would report them and follow through in court.

It's not up to you to prove & follow through court, that's what we have a state police force for.

If I thought someone committed murder would it stand up in court on my say so alone with no proof or investigation...I'd sincerely hope not!

Jumpy

De Hipster wrote:

It's not up to you to prove & follow through court, that's what we have a state police force for.

If I thought someone committed murder would it stand up in court on my say so alone with no proof or investigation...I'd sincerely hope not!

You as a witness stands as proof mate. Its up to the judge and jury.

However...

If you have read through the thread from start to finish you would notice that the individual in question has admitted to the dangerous driving offense. A confession is enough to convict. Normally though a second witness is required. However I am sure that if the accused has a poor driving record then he can still be convicted on a 'your word against mine' situation.

Jumpy

De Hipster wrote:

It's not up to you to prove & follow through court, that's what we have a state police force for.

Also... you have obviously never been in an accident, the Gardai will do anything and everything to try and wiggle out of making any sort of decisions unless someone is injured. Its up to you and a solicitor, the gardai assume they have better things to do.

amerden

De Hipster wrote:

It's not up to you to prove & follow through court, that's what we have a state police force for.

And what do you think they did in this case, took the driver to court.

They have a witness, the driver admitted the offense.