Do you report dangerous driving?

Canadel · 26-06-2016 06:18PM #1

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 · 26-06-2016 06:22PM

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 · 26-06-2016 06:26PM

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 · 26-06-2016 06:28PM

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 · 26-06-2016 06:29PM

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 · 26-06-2016 06:32PM

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 · 26-06-2016 06:33PM

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 · 26-06-2016 06:39PM

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 · 26-06-2016 06:41PM

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

Amanda.ie · 26-06-2016 06:48PM

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 · 26-06-2016 06:58PM

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 · 26-06-2016 07:51PM

Canadel wrote: »

Were you simply speeding?

Not really relevant to this thread

Canadel · 26-06-2016 07:55PM

savagethegoat wrote: »

Not really relevant to this thread

I disagree.

Have you anything relevant to contribute?

Diabhalta · 26-06-2016 08:01PM

Is driving sideways on a roundabout considered dangerous driving?

Handsome Brute · 26-06-2016 08:04PM

Diabhalta wrote: »

Is driving sideways on a roundabout considered dangerous driving?

Depends if your in Donegal or not

Handsome Brute · 26-06-2016 08:10PM

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 · 26-06-2016 08:13PM

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 · 26-06-2016 08:16PM

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 · 26-06-2016 08:16PM

Handsome Brute wrote: »

Depends if your in Donegal or not

Cork city.

wandatowell · 26-06-2016 08:17PM

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 · 26-06-2016 08:17PM

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 · 26-06-2016 08:46PM

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 · 26-06-2016 09:23PM

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 · 26-06-2016 10:20PM

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 · 26-06-2016 10:42PM

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 · 26-06-2016 10:55PM

- 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 · 26-06-2016 11:20PM

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 · 27-06-2016 12:11AM

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..

27-06-2016 12:19AM

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 · 27-06-2016 12:23AM

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 · 27-06-2016 12:23AM

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

Do you report dangerous driving?

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