Road incident query

T

Tommybal

Registered User
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2
I was involved in an incident on the road on Saturday last. I have no previous issues and no penatly points etc. A driver pulled right out in front of me from a secondary road whilst I was travelling along at 75-80km on a primary road and I had to overtake to avoid a collision. Trouble is I went over a single white line. This person flashed etc. and then pulled over, I assume to write down my reg. I continued. I am concerned now that they may make a complaint and there will be an issue down the line. My problem is that if the Gardaí follow up on this and issue a summons or something is it not extremely one sided in that it was the other persons fault in the first place that the whole issue occurred? There was even a hard shoulder they could have pulled into!! Should I go to the local Garda station and put across my side of the argument? If I am summonsed (as I know strictly speaking I broke the law) can I just come to an arrangement to avoid taking a day off work to appear in court or is it worth doing this?
 
Is it not more likely that the other driver pulled in to regain their composure after narrowly avoiding a crash?And that you are massively overthinking the incident?
 
I'd say the key point is
Tommybal said:
... I had to overtake to avoid a collision...
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I am not quite sure of the order of events here. Is it the person that pulled into your path the one that you think took your number or was it someone travelling the opposite direction to you? I am guessing the former but just to confirm.

The person may have pulled over for other reasons, perhaps recovery from a fright.
 
Sorry just realised I titled the thread wrong. No folks, its just that this person flashed me etc. before pulling over. Had the presence of mind to do that? Maybe I am overreacting a bit. Its just that it got me thinking last couple of days about traffic watch, private complaints to same and the possbility of unfairness in the system. Thats why I thought I'd throw it out there..
 
I always believed you were are allowed cross a continuous white line in order to avoid an accident, but looking at the legislation, there are no exceptions. I'd be confident that common sense would apply here though, all Rules of the Road guidance (while not the same thing as the law) states you can cross in the case of an emergency.

As others have said, the other driver may have gotten a fright. Fight or flight response means some people will act aggressively in those circumstances, chances are they soon realised what happened and pulled in to take stock, or realising they were in the wrong, pulled in to remove themselves from a situation that may have escalated. Unlikely they had time to record your plate number.
 
Maybe they flashed you to thank you for avoiding a collision/apologise for their own dangerous driving, and pulled in as others have stated to get over the fright.
 
I'm a bit lost here. If the driver who pulled out in front of you turned left and you were able to overtake him, you must have been going fairly fast? Was it the person who pulled out flashed? What do you mean by the other driver 'pulled over'? Do you mean he pulled in and stopped?

Remember at all times, you ought to be driving at a speed where you can safely stop. What if it was a child on a bike?
 
Ravima said:
I'm a bit lost here. If the driver who pulled out in front of you turned left and you were able to overtake him, you must have been going fairly fast?
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The OP stated in their first post that they were travelling at 75-80kph.

Ravima said:
Remember at all times, you ought to be driving at a speed where you can safely stop. What if it was a child on a bike?
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This is a ridiculous statement. If that was the case everyone would have to drive at 5kph everywhere. You are supposed to drive under the speed limit at a speed the conditions allow.

The OP was travelling on a primary road within the speed limit when a driver from a secondary road didn't yield right of way. The OP took evasive action by crossing the white line in order to avoid an accident. The driver from the secondary road pulled in and flashed the OP.

If I was the OP I wouldn't worry. The driver from the secondary road is clearly at fault as they either 1. didn't look to see if traffic was coming or 2. completely misjudged the speed of the approaching car.
 
Tommy. Calm down, its OK.

Very few people would be stupid enough to walk into a Garda station and say " I pulled out from a side road onto a main road. The car driving along the main road, crossed a white line when avoiding me. I want you to punish the person who crossed the white line".
If I did that, the Gardaí are likely to 1) laugh 2) Ask me why I pulled out onto a main road when there was a car approaching me or 3) tell me what proof I have

If the story you have told is true, there is no chance that the gardai will consider coming after you, even if the other person was able to get your details.
 
Páid said:
The OP stated in their first post that they were travelling at 75-80kph.


This is a ridiculous statement. If that was the case everyone would have to drive at 5kph everywhere. You are supposed to drive under the speed limit at a speed the conditions allow.

have a look ar Rules of the Road and the Road Traffic Acts
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Rules of the Road state the following
A vehicle must not be driven at a speed exceeding that which will enable its driver to bring it to a halt within a distance the driver can see to be clear

In this instance, I don't think a guard would have an issue with the OP pulling out over a white line. However the OP said he "had to overtake". I'm struggling to understand why the OP needed to do that. normal instinct to me in an issue like this would have been to pull over the white line, break and slow down (and curse the guy who'd pulled out). Only reason I could see to overtake would be if there was another vehicle behind me.
 
thedaddyman said:
I'm struggling to understand why the OP needed to do that. normal instinct to me in an issue like this would have been to pull over the white line, break and slow down (and curse the guy who'd pulled out). Only reason I could see to overtake would be if there was another vehicle behind me.
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The other car pulled from the side road into the traffic lane the OP was travelling in, they stated their choice as they interpreted was overtake or collide with that car. You're assuming this other car was a sufficient distance away that the OP could have slowed down and not collided with them, which is not what the OP said.
 
Leo said:
The other car pulled from the side road into the traffic lane the OP was travelling in, they stated their choice as they interpreted was overtake or collide with that car. You're assuming this other car was a sufficient distance away that the OP could have slowed down and not collided with them, which is not what the OP said.
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understand that, but why overtake?, if they have had to pull out into the other lane why not brake and slow down and go back into your correct lane? To the driver of the car that pulled out, it's likely that their perception of the issue is that someone came flying up behind them and overtook them as they were starting to accelerate after pulling out on the road. I'm not saying that perception is correct, but we only have one view here
 
thedaddyman said:
understand that, but why overtake?, if they have had to pull out into the other lane why not brake and slow down and go back into your correct lane?
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As I've read it, the only alternative to overtaking the car that pulled out in front of them was to crash into it as there was insufficient room to slow down. I can't imagine they didn't pull back into the correct lane once they had overtaken that car...
 
Páid said:
If you are going to use the Rules of the Road to back up your claim you should be quoting from them instead of asking me to "have a look".
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I don't want to labour the point and this is my final comment in this thread, but ALL drivers should be aware of the Rules of the Road. If a driver is not familiar with them, then he/she should NOT be driving.
 
Ravima said:
I don't want to labour the point and this is my final comment in this thread, but ALL drivers should be aware of the Rules of the Road. If a driver is not familiar with them, then he/she should NOT be driving.
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You are misinterpreting the Rules of the Road. If a car is travelling at 75-80kph on a primary road, it is the driver of the car on the secondary road that must yield right of way. If they do something unexpected (like not yielding right of way) the OP is entitled to take evasive action. This includes crossing the white line in order to avoid an impact which could result in injury or death. In fact, it is always preferable to avoid injury or death even if it means breaking the Rules of the Road.

In your original post you stated that the OP was driving "fairly fast" and that s/he was not "driving at a speed where they could safely stop". Given that the OP stated their speed was 75-80kph on a primary road (80kph limit), they were not speeding.

It is a given that all drivers know and adhere to the Rules of the Road. You don't seem to want to apply them to the driver on the secondary road who failed to yield or stop at the Yield/Stop sign.
 
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