Driving Across the White Line

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One

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I was driving home this evening. There was a small car in front of me, and behind me for a few miles were the (Traffic Corps) Gardai.

I was not speeding. I was just driving at a normal speed, and I thought that I would pass the car that was ahead of me. After we passed around a bend the road was straight. I could see as far as the next bend which was about 400 meters ahead.

I then passed out the car ahead of me, but I made a mistake. I crossed a single continuous white line. If I had waited just another 20 meters I would have passed out on a broken white line. The broken white line stretched almost the length of the straight.

The honest reason that I did this was as follows. My car doesn’t have the tremendous acceleration that other cars with bigger engines have, and I am very conscious of it. The road was clear for 400 meters ahead. I believed that it is safer to pass out traffic when the distance of any potential oncoming traffic is furthest away. I didn’t want to wait until we had travelled along the road further before I passed out this car. I know that there was a continuous white line, but I believed it was safe to cross it when driving in the direction I was going. (I don’t think it would be safe to cross it when travelling in the opposite direction which would have involved passing out approaching a bend).

I got pulled over. I was told that I passed out over a continuous white line. I got told that I was getting a penalty point and a €60 fine. I told the guard that I ‘respectfully disagree’ that my driving was unsafe. He said that there were three members of the force in the vehicle behind me, and I could contest this matter in court if I wanted to, and that rules were rules. I don’t want to show any disrespect to members of the Gardai Siochana, for any reason, but I do disagree with them on this. I know strictly speaking I broke the law. I did not however drive dangerously, and I think that they were unnecessarily hard on me. I most certainly did not put myself or anyone on that road in any danger tonight. I think it was safer to pass sooner rather than later.

I know it is only a small thing but I am really annoyed with the Gardai Siochana about this. I know the law is the law. And I know that some road engineer made that a continuous white line rather than a broken white line for some good reason. But my driving was not unsafe, and I think that if there was no line in the road, the Gardai would not have stopped me. It was a technical offence in my opinion.

Am I correct in saying that the right thing to do is pay the fine, acknowledge I shouldn’t have crossed the continuous white line under any circumstances because it is illegal to do so, and forget about this incident?

Am I correct in saying that I would almost certainly result in a heavier penalty / fine if I went to court?

Would anyone advise contesting this matter if I felt so strong on principle that my driving was not unsafe?
 
One said:
... Am I correct in saying that the right thing to do is pay the fine, acknowledge I shouldn’t have crossed the continuous white line under any circumstances because it is illegal to do so, and forget about this incident? ...
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Yes, but why do I suspect that's you'll have difficulty doing this?
 
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I'm not here to lecture you but you knowingly broke a continuous white line while also knowing that the Traffic Corps were behind you. Not a good time to test their interpretation of the rules versus your own, regardless of the lack of immediate danger in your overtaking manoeuvre.
One said:
I know strictly speaking I broke the law.
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We all know it. So do the 4 Guards who were behind you.

Am I correct in saying that the right thing to do is pay the fine, acknowledge I shouldn’t have crossed the continuous white line under any circumstances because it is illegal to do so, and forget about this incident?
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Yes to all except the last part...forgetting about the incident I mean. It's a real pain I know but just pay the fine and move on.
 
Same thing happened to me one time- I overtook a horse-drawn caravan ( the tourist ones) on a continuous white line. Was pulled and summonsed. This was before fines. Just be grateful you have the fine option which is a damn sight easier and less embarrassing than court.
 
One said:
I was driving home this evening. There was a small car in front of me, and behind me for a few miles were the (Traffic Corps) Gardai.

I was not speeding. I was just driving at a normal speed, and I thought that I would pass the car that was ahead of me.
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Was the car in front of you going excessively slow? what's "normal" speed and was it appropriate for the conditions?

I can picture the scene and i do understand why you might have thought it was ok to overtake.
(as a side note, i've seen some road markings that are downright dangerous so i would never assume that road markings are always right but they are how a Garda will interpret the situation)

BUT, you knew the Traffic Corps were travelling behind you. I think most people would drive by the book for the duration of that little convoy! :)

Try to move on.
 
Were the Gardai intimidating you by driving too close to the rear of your car that you felt undue psychological pressure by the Gardai behind you and you felt you had to overtake?

The last time the trafiic corps tail-gaighted me on a similar road I gently decellerated to allow them to overtake me.

They then did so by overtaking my car and the car in front (2 cars!)simultaneously acroos white lines approaching a bend!

50 meteres up the road I safely overtook the slow moving car and caught up with the Gardai and at that stage we were both driving at the appropriate speed limit for the road we were both on.

I personally suggest you pay the fine as the law about appealing discriminates against motorists
 
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I know the law is the law. And I know that some road engineer made that a continuous white line rather than a broken white line for some good reason.
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This is the same old story about people saying that the speed limit in such and such a place should not be 50 because "I am a good driver and it's safe to drive at 80".

Who is better able to estimate the appropriateness of road markings? You or a road engineer trained in the subject?

I was stopped at traffic lights on my bicycle at a very dangerous junction. It is a nightmare for bikes to cross in moving traffic. The lights were red. Cars coming from the left had a green light but there were no cars. It was much safer for me to crash the lights than to wait for a green light and fight with cars.

As I was just about to go across, I saw a traffic garda on a motorbike. I decided on principle that I was not a hypocrite so I continued. He pulled me in and summonsed me. I went to court and was planning to argue that it was the safest thing for me to do, but I didn't like the look of the judge so I just apologized and paid my fine. Now I walk the bike across the road in such circumstances.

Interestingly enough, that day in court, most of the offences that day were for people crossing the white line as they entered from a slip road onto a main road.

Brendan
 
Would you also get done if you were following a tractor doing about 10 mph with about 20 cars behind? of course you would but we all pass them this way.
 
roker said:
Would you also get done if you were following a tractor doing about 10 mph with about 20 cars behind? of course you would but we all pass them this way.
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Is there something in the rules of the road stating you are obliged to pull over if you are holding up more than 7 cars?
 
While it may be safe to cross the continuous white line where you did it, the line is there to forbid you from doing so. There is no question that you were fined correctly.

There is a set of traffic lights on a roundabout leading from the M1 to Donabate. There is good visibility all round and quite often, late at night, I drive through the red, having made sure there is nothing coming towards me. If you know the stretch of road, you will know that this is safe. It is also illegal though and I would have to take the consequences on the chin if I were to be stopped for it.
 
You broke the law right in front of the guards. You were just asking to be pulled over. They probably though what a cheeky @"i*k doing that with a marked car behind you.
 
It's Road Safety Week - I would suspect that there will be a stronger presence on the roads to enforce the rules ...........and hopefully we will all benefit!
 
I have to amend / add to my original post in three ways.

(1)Was the car in front of me going excessively slow? No. It was going at about 45-50 mph. I had 15 more miles to go and I wanted to overtake. What's "normal" speed and was it appropriate for the conditions? Normal speed for me is around 55 - 60mph, and I think it was appropriate for the conditions.

(2) I said that I was about 20 meters away from the end of the continuous white line when I crossed it. I re-visited the scene today, and I now think I must have overtaken the car in front of me when I was about 35 meters away from the end of the continuous white line. It makes a difference. It was a much more evident breach of the law in my opinion.

(3) I did not make it clear in my post that I did not intend to cross the white line. All I was thinking about was is it safe to pass out here? I thought that yes it was! It was in those split seconds that I actually overtook the car; I asked myself would the Garda Traffic Corp think that my overtaking was safe? To my dismay I realised that even though the road was straight and clear, I had actually crossed a continuous white line. I wouldn’t have crossed it if I had paid proper attention to the road markings. It was not my intent to cross a continuous white line. But that makes no legal difference to what I had done.

Legally I was in the wrong. And in terms of concentration, I was not as alert as I should have been. I don’t blame the guards for pulling me over. They were correct to do so. I am sure they were thinking “what a cheeky @"i*k doing that with a marked car behind you”.

Over the years of driving, I had become (a little too) anxious to overtake early and as far away from the next bend as I could. I thought that it was safer practice. And I thought my manoeuvre was completely safe.

What annoyed me a little bit is this. I think that there is a significant difference between ‘what is legal’ and ‘what is safe’.

It is possible to drive within the law and yet not be driving safely. For example a driver can be within the speed limit but can be driving much too fast for the given road conditions.

(Maybe controversially) I think is possible to be safer on the road by actually breaking the law sometimes. For example, the law forbids a driver to break the speed limit while overtaking. I think that under certain circumstances it is perfectly acceptable to momentarily break the speed limit in order to ensure a shorter overtaking time. I think that when a pedestrian is walking on the road and there is no footpath he / she has to by law walk on the right hand side of the road. I have often been running on country roads and felt much safer to cross over to the left hand side because of things like bad bends, etc. Whenever I pass a parked school bus that is dropping off children, I drive much wider that I need to. I do this to obtain a clear sight of everything. If this involves crossing a continuous white line, I make no apologies for doing so, regardless of the law. I am always worried about the possibility of a child running out from behind a school bus.

I maintain that what I did yesterday was perfectly safe. The pictures above show how straight the road was. And while I was legally wrong, I do not think for one second that it was unsafe.

I also think that the law does not have to be applied strictly all the time. And therefore;

Vanilla – I think that crossing a continuous white line in order to pass out a horse and cart under is acceptable under certain circumstances. I think it is quite possible that you were dealt with too harshly. I think bringing you to court was unnecessary.
Brendan – I can also understand why you broke the lights when you did. From what you say I am not sure that you would still do it now, but I think the guard was a little bit harsh with you as well. I think bringing you to court was unnecessary.
Terrontress – If I were a guard, I would think the same about you. It is an illegal act, but if it was clear to me that it was safe, I would probably give you a warning, but take no further action.

I think the vast majority of avoidable road accidents are down to (1) having a bad attitude towards safety, (2) speeding, and (3) intoxication or tiredness. I don’t think that I displayed any of those attributes yesterday.

I would be annoyed at myself for driving in an unsafe manner. I have a number of friends who have died in road accidents. I know all about the consequences of dangerous driving.

I went to the guards today, and I apologised. I learned my lesson and (with the exception of parked school buses) I won’t cross a continuous white line again. The charge against me was dropped. I won’t get a fine or a penalty point. I am not gloating about this. I am going to change my driving habits, even though I struggle with the difference between what is legal and what is safe.

To finish, I was driving behind heavy machinery to work today, and there was a continuous white line. The machinery was driving at about 15 mph, and I made up my mind not to overtake. Three vehicles came up behind me. As we approached a bend, the furthest one back passed all of us out. Then the next vehicle did the same, and finally the vehicle immediately behind me did the same. I stayed where I was, and travelled behind the heavy machinery until it turned off into some side road. Lesson learned!
 
To OP, You decided to ignore the fact a kop car was behind you and chose to drive over a continuous white line, are ya mad or wha :p
 
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