Dangerous overtaking what should I do?

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blinkbelle

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Was coming along on a main road today, very heavy rain alot of traffic as there usually is on this road on a friday with people to and from dublin/galway.

Out of nowhere this car starts overtaking like mad behind me at least 2 cars i could see in my mirrow then he was behind me driving up my hole.

I didnt do anything was doing about 50 as there was a white van in front of me and a car in front of it. So i kept an eye on him and sure enough he went for me, think he wanted to get the van as well but then there was a car coming on opposite side and he just flew in front of me and jammed on.

This isnt unuasal on this road, there has been many accidents on it. I got make model, colour and reg of the car.

Im after trying to ring my local gardai but no answer. I was behind him then untill we got to the town. He was a young fella, with one passenger.

Is it even worth my while trying to keep getting in touch with the gardai?

It just annoying me as it was bad driving conditions, nobody could move any faster but yet he still wanted to beat the traffic. Unreal.
 
to be honest no.....

first its your word against theirs and unless your willing to give up a days work to go to court its pointless.

thats if the garda bother to even look into it.
 
I was listening to Joe Duffy awhile ago and a woman had a similar problem but it was with a truck, she reported it to the guards and they said they would handle it, next thing she gets a call from the truck driver, she was appauled that the gaurd had just passed on her details and done nothing else.

So I don't know would it even be worth your while!!!!
 
A few years ago I got a phone call from my local friendly garda station to say a man complained about me running him off the road on a roundabout. Lucky for me I could tell him exactly the make of the car the man was driving because I could see him on my left hand side as I went round the roundabout (one lane roundabout). I was going right - the trouble was so was he - but he was in the wrong lane but decide to go anyway and it seems he hit the kerb and damaged his wheel and then reported me in the garda station. I gave my account to the guard and he said he may need to get in touch with me again to get a statement but I never heard back from him. They do act sometimes. Thats 4 years ago.
 
Hi,
For a couple of months ,a young lad was driving dangerously on my route to work. Its a rural road and theres nowhere you can overtake safely. Theres usually a steady convoy of cars between 8.30 and 9am every morning. That never stopped him, intimidation tactics, riding on your bumper , flashing lights etc etc. ....so I went to the guards

They pulled up the guys address and visited his house, the guys father went "ballistic" and tore into the young lad on the doorstep in front of the the guards.
No problems since but the guard said he could prosecute if i was willing to testify in court.


maybe I've saved a life.
and you can too.
 
you can call the Garda Confidential Hotline on 1800 666111

I was turning right at a junction a few months ago and a van came up the left of the queue of traffic that was turning right, appearing to be turning left. Just at the last second it turned right as I was turning right and cut me off nearly sending me into the oncoming traffic. I called the number and reported him and it was followed up.
 
Usually when I see an asshole trying this type of manouvre-trying to overtake and pull in front of you I just ensure I leave no space between me and the car in front...and then they either have the choice of hitting the oncoming car or pulling back in behind me....blowing the horn while all this is going on tends to alert other drivers and they usually start blowing too....
 
If you don't like this particular kind of manouvre then NEVER, EVER come to Romania. It's a favourite at intersections and it drives me NUTS!!!

Seriously though, unless a guard is on the scene to witness the incident, then I think that very few such complaints are followed-up. Your word against theirs...
 
I know someone who reported a guy driving like that a few years ago. The next day the guards were in touch to thank them and asking them to make a statement because the car in question had been in a very serious accident and the driver was denying any claims of dangerous driving.

Luckily my friend wasn't the only one who had reported the a$$hole and the guards prosecuted. IMHO you should call the confiential telephone line and report it.

Roy
 
I've also seen someone harrassing a car (threw an empty bottle at it when overtaking, was driving dangerously, etc) - the passangers of the harrassed car must have called the police, because a couple of miles up the road a garda car was waiting at a junction and pulled over the car causing the trouble, we all stoped I gave a statement of what I'd observed and the two of us drove off, no idea what happened to the aggressor but I assume he got 'talked to'.
So it's definitly worth calling - in fact if your alone in a car a hands free kit could be a lifesaver if you need to report someone while driving along.
 
pennypincher said:
Usually when I see an asshole trying this type of manouvre-trying to overtake and pull in front of you I just ensure I leave no space between me and the car in front...and then they either have the choice of hitting the oncoming car or pulling back in behind me....blowing the horn while all this is going on tends to alert other drivers and they usually start blowing too....
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Don't the Rules of the Road state that if you don't intend to overtake the car in front, then you should leave sufficient room for someone to overtake you?

I know this doesn't make allowances for asses who want to act like lunatics, but to be honest, I wouldn't be forcing someone to drive even more dangerously than they are already. What if something happened and they tried to get past and had a crash? Could you live with that? Yes, it would be their fault, but had you let them in...

(And trust me, I feel the same urge to block them, but sometimes you just need to let things be!)
 
Isn't there some very aggressive drivers out there these days??

Is the Garda confidential line really confidential? I too was listening to Joe Duffy and the woman who complained about the truck driver....I would be horrified if I complained about someone to the guards and then they gave my number out to that person...luckily it seems the truck driver really just called to apologise but the next time it might be some psycho who makes your life miserable.

Can we trust our guards to do the sensible thing? I don't have much confidence in them as you hear an awful lot of bad press and very little good press...such is life.
 
pennypincher said:
Usually when I see an asshole trying this type of manouvre-trying to overtake and pull in front of you I just ensure I leave no space between me and the car in front...and then they either have the choice of hitting the oncoming car or pulling back in behind me....blowing the horn while all this is going on tends to alert other drivers and they usually start blowing too....
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This is what causes accidents do you ever think of the innocent driver comming in the opposite direction put yourself in his position how would like it? The same thing happened to me comming from Killarney years ago some fool behind decided to overtake me as there was a car comming in the opposite direction I had to slam on my brakes to leave him overtake to prevent an accident I was traveling behind him for some distance he must have got a fright because he stopped overtaking cars that was until he recovered about half an hour after he overtook a car on a bend. You must make allowances for these bad drivers.
 
I would inform the Gardai and ask them for a reference number so that you can follow it up later, never mind 1800 number, ring 999, that way you can ensure the call is recorded.
 
Johnny1 said:
This is what causes accidents do you ever think of the innocent driver comming in the opposite direction put yourself in his position how would like it?
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I agree...what'll probably happen is the fool will take the lesser of two evils and slam into the side of your car, driving you off the road possibly killing you. Plus you're increasing the chances of rear-ending the car in front of you bigtime!
It's hard not to sometimes though...have done it myself when guys try and undertake on dual-carraigways/motorways. Isn't clever though.
 
pennypincher said:
... I leave no space between me and the car in front.......
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I also don't get the point of this. If you are not willing to overtake, why prevent someone else from doing it, and by tailgating??? I slow down and leave a gap so they can use the space and thus get away. Last thing I want to do is have them sitting behind me for a few miles.

Had a incident tonight in heavy city traffic. Some muppet in a 4x4 almost caused an accident accelerating to close a gap in from of him. Just to stop me pulling into an easy gap in another lane. As the traffic was queued in his lane anyway, all he achieved was defending that 8ft of space for about 30 secs. I'd already moved past him in another lane by then.

Why people can be nice and let people ahead of them I have no idea. It makes no difference to your journey time.
 
aircobra19 said:
I also don't get the point of this. If you are not willing to overtake, why prevent someone else from doing it, and by tailgating??? I slow down and leave a gap so they can use the space and thus get away. Last thing I want to do is have them sitting behind me for a few miles.

Had a incident tonight in heavy city traffic. Some muppet in a 4x4 almost caused an accident accelerating to close a gap in from of him. Just to stop me pulling into an easy gap in another lane. As the traffic was queued in his lane anyway, all he achieved was defending that 8ft of space for about 30 secs. I'd already moved past him in another lane by then.

Why people can be nice and let people ahead of them I have no idea. It makes no difference to your journey time.
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It depends though...I'm always considerate when it comes to letting the deserving in. But make a point of not letting people who deliberately stay in the wrong lane to gain ground and then try and get back in ahead of those who've bothered to be in the right lane!
 
KalEl said:
It depends though...I'm always considerate when it comes to letting the deserving in. But make a point of not letting people who deliberately stay in the wrong lane to gain ground and then try and get back in ahead of those who've bothered to be in the right lane!
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You've no way of knowing why they are in the wrong lane. Could be mistake, could be unfamilar with the junction, could be anything. So it makes sense to force them to stop and hold up and entire lane (the one they are in) in order to prevent them from merging in turn in your lane. I don't see the point.

Its got to the point now where no one lets anyone go ahead, so people just force their way in, otherwise you could sit for 5 mins with your indicator, for someone to let you in.
 
aircobra19 said:
You've no way of knowing why they are in the wrong lane. Could be mistake, could be unfamilar with the junction, could be anything. So it makes sense to force them to stop and hold up and entire lane (the one they are in) in order to prevent them from merging in turn in your lane. I don't see the point.

Its got to the point now where no one lets anyone go ahead, so people just force their way in, otherwise you could sit for 5 mins with your indicator, for someone to let you in.
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I don't agree...people making mistakes would be in the minority.
You see it every morning on the M50 northbound at the N7/Red Cow exit. People make the effort to be in the correct lane and sit queuing to get onto the off-ramp. Then you get idiots who drive all the way to the hatched area, stick their indicator on and block the traffic in the slow lane. I make a point of not letting these people in.
I think most drivers are mannerly...they let people out, acknowledge generosity etc. But I see nothing wrong with refusing to allow drivers to take the proverbial michael!
 
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