4.— (1) The following sections are substituted for sections 51A, 52 (inserted by sections 49 and 50, respectively, of the Act of 1968), 53 (as amended by section 51 of the Act of 1968, section 49(1)(f) of the Act of 1994 and section 13 of the Act of 2004), 54 (as amended by section 6 of the Act of 1968) and 55 (as amended by section 52 of the Act of 1968) of the Principal Act: “Driving without reasonable consideration. 51A.— (1) A person shall not drive a vehicle in a public place without reasonable consideration for other persons using the place. (2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence.
A motorist is facing prosecution after he allegedly drenched children walking to their primary school by driving through a puddle. He has been summonsed to appear before magistrates for driving without reasonable consideration over the incident, which was witnessed by a passing policeman. The man faces a charge under a little-known provision covered by the Road Traffic Act, which makes it an offence to “drive through a puddle causing pedestrians to be splashed”
Personally im fairly confident anyone that engages in this lives a miserable and sexually unfulfilled life.
You mean you didn't give her the reg number straight away? Only course of action would have been to give her the reg number of the car and your details as a witness
bmstuff wrote: » What do you do in that case, slam the brakes and cause the car behind you to rear end you? Or do you deport yourself to the other lane very quickly and cause an accident possibly too. Hard to see the puddles of water sometimes and impossible to predict how deep it is. Sorry but this is only water, it was probably not done maliciously, try to prove it otherwise. As you stand on a footpath ready to cross the road and it rains like hell, just use half your brain to stay away from the big puddle of water.
lovelyhurler wrote: » Hopefully this is the right forum. Anyway, walking along the footpath. There's a mother and child about 20m or so in front of me. Large volume of water alongside the path due to recent bad weather. Along comes a car, and drives straight into the standing water and completely drenches - and I mean completely drenches - the mother and child. The driver made NO attempt whatsoever to avoid the standing water. I got the reg of the car no bother. Now, I'm convinced that this is an offence, and if the woman involved wants to report it I can give her the reg number. I'm sure that I've heard of people being prosecuted for this sort of behavior. Or am I just dreaming. That sort of driving and ignorance of others around you does my head in. Any opinions?????
RosieJoe wrote: » If you were a half decent driver with any sort of driving skills that meant you were aware of hazards in front of you, you would never need to slam on the brakes or swerve because of a stationary puddle! It's not as if it jumped out in front of you! And where in the OP did you see the pedestrians were trying to cross the road? If you reread it you will see that they were walking along the footpath.
MarkR wrote: » I didn't think I'd see anyone playing devil's advocate on this one.
bmstuff wrote: » I am an excellent driver thanks and i do not do that, I drive on dublin quays each day and I am conscious of that, all I am saying is that you can not always see a big puddle due to their physical nature and you might have someone sticking to your arse. Sorry but between getting someone wet and writting my car off and causing a road accident with physical injury my choice is quickly made. Let's be real and let stop this stupid inquisition.
jackofalltrades wrote: » It's the motors forum, I'm amazed no one has come on so far and blamed the whole situation on the mother and child.
..Brian.. wrote: » If you are driving at a sensible speed and paying attention to what you are doing you should have to do none of the above. You should have plenty of time to slow down. Do you have kids? If a driver soaked my 6 month old daughter and I was possibly a 10, 15 or 30 minute walk from home and it 3 degrees outside, it would not end well if I could do anything about it.
Spook_ie wrote: » I doubt any offence is comitted unless it's done deliberately. Many times you can be driving and slow for a minor puddle which turns into a major puddle, you cannot judge the depth of puddles unless you know the road Example, imagine it's a wet rainy day and road surface is wet, would you think this would look like a deep puddle or just a puddle?
