Dangerous Driving

[Ferengo]

Ok, So yesterday we were heading down to see the wifes folks for new year. We were on a stretch of road where it was 3 lanes. Lots of cars in the left lane and one car overtaking these in the middle.

So naturally I moved into the right lane to overtake. I checked my mirror and saw this red hatchback steamming up the road at some speed. Anyway he started to flash me. There was nothing I could do as I was already overtaking the middle car so I couldn't slow down and pull in. He got very close so I started to speed up then thought "No I won't be intimidated by him". So I put on the breaks a bit.

I got past the middle car and pulled in. The guy in the red car pulled up along side us and started mouthing off and making obscene gestures. Then he tried to ram into us by pulling his car sharply into us. I slamed on the breakes otherwise we would have been put into the side of a caravan.

We took his reg number and called the police and I now have to make a statement. Do you think I should go through with taking it to court? The only thing is he has a Perth reg on his car and I'm worried if it does go to court that my address will be read out and he may come after us as I live in Dundee. Is that possible?

Cheers.

[stoney]

your address wont be read out in cort !!!!!! so you dont have to worry about that and if the guy tryed to run you off the road then yes i would go throu with is as he is a danger to other roads users and him self

[ianking]

You definately have to take this further. Like Rob said the chap in the red car wont know anything other that your name.

[MrMischief]

Be very careful with your statement though, if you mention that you applied the brakes when he was behind you, with no reason to apply them then he may have a case against you!!

Best thing to do if someone comes steaming up behind you is to carry on as you were doing so before, unless they make contact :ragin:

From what you say it sounds like a case of dangerous or careless driving, but if you have no other witnesses then it's your word against his, and there's no physical damage to either vehicle to use as evidence.

Good luck if you decide to proceed. :thumbs up:

[AndyP & Lenore]

Grant, the very sad thing here is that unless there are other witnesses, it is unlikely to go any further than the coppers "having a word" with the guy. As they won't go to court with just your say so and no other evidence. However, if I was as pi$$ed as you obviously are, I would still "make a complaint" against the guy, then let the coppers scare the living sh!t out of him in an interview. It may just make him think twice about his intimidating attitude in the future.

A.

[Ferengo]

Grant, the very sad thing here is that unless there are other witnesses, it is unlikely to go any further than the coppers "having a word" with the guy. As they won't go to court with just your say so and no other evidence. However, if I was as pi$$ed as you obviously are, I would still "make a complaint" against the guy, then let the coppers scare the living sh!t out of him in an interview. It may just make him think twice about his intimidating attitude in the future.

A.

Exactly what I'm hopping for. I don't want to go to court but if he gets a scare then with any luck he will think twice before doing it again. If it had just been him gesturing I wouldn't have bothered, but since it was more then I want him to get a scare like we did from him.

[Gismo]

Like AndyP said :computer:
But, just think of what kind of society we live in now that we even think that maybe we shouldn't proceed in case the other guy finds out where we live, sad times, but, good luck and i hope the guy gets a severe warning

[C.Noble]

I had a similar thing happen to me going down the M6 one night, I moved into the right hand lane, doing about 80, and this merc came steaming up the road, I would guess he was going at least 20 more than me, I watched his headlights get closer and closer for a few minutes, then when he got almost on my bumper, he started to flash his headlights, I just thought "t0$$er, I am technically speeding, and you want ME to speed up or get out the way... sod you!" so I dropped to about 75 and took my time passing the cars and milked the signalling and pulling back over to the left procedure... it was as the Mercs auto box dropped a couple of gears and rocketed by, I realised it was a traffic control car :thud:!

The officer in the passenger seat did not look impressed!

I was under the impression, if a police car is exceeding the speed limit, the blue lights should be flashing??? I can only assume they were not working!!

[Maxxed Ross]

it's a sad fact that we have to deal with these days, there's just so many people out there who don't seem to give a **** about anyone else as long as they get there a few mins early

I've had it happen to me before, the best thing to do is let them get on with it and get out of the way when you can. Doing things like braking usually only makes it worse - and unless you plan on keeping ahead of them it's never a good idea as usually they will do the same - or in this case worse - right back at you.

Take it as a lesson learned and try and forget about it. Dragging it into court is only likely to cause more problem if this dude is as mentally unstable as he sounds

[Craig]

agree with AndyP and Gismo on this one... a stern warning is about all he will get... ;)

as for the polis exceeding the speed limit... they are not supposed to be driving in excess of the limit unless they are going to a grade 1 call, which they would normally have their blues and 2's on... :smilewinkgrin: most of them now have GPS installed, so the control room can tell where they are at any time and also what speed they are doing, so if they were horsing about, they will get dealt with eventually :thumbs up:

[euan]

Quite often if the police are catching someone they don't always want to make it known that they are coming. Certainly round our way they often drive without sirens on. Quite often about the time of shift changes, but that's a different story.

As for this clown, def go and give a statement and hope they go and have a word. More people that do it the better in my view - for all you know someone 2 miles up the road got the same treatment off him and have also done this, so he may get a very serious talking to.

[Ferengo]

I agree. He will probably only get a word from the police but with any luck it'll give him a scare and he'll think twice next time. It is only my word against his with my wife as the only witness.