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Irish man cops fine for careless driving around off-duty police

Careful who you honk and swear at around Cork

Don’t honk, shout and swear at cyclists, and drive carelessly around them: they might be off-duty policemen. That’s the message an Irish driver will be taking home — along with a €300 fine — after he was found guilty of careless driving by Cork District Court yesterday.

According to  Liam Heylin of the Irish Examiner, the court heard that sergeant Ger O’Callaghan and garda Michael Collins were out for a ride when James O’Shea drove up behind them. Sgt O’Callaghan told the court that O’Shea had sounded his horn at the two cyclists, shouted that "fucking cyclists were taking over the road", threatened to run them over next time and gave them the finger as he drove away.

“I had my right hand extended to turn right,” Sgt O’Callaghan said. “Just before the junction I heard the car. He shouted out the window to us: ‘Ye fucking cyclists all over the road.’ I heard Garda Collins saying: ‘Can you not see we are turning right?’ ”

O’Shea denied Sgt O’Callaghan’s account. He told the court: “I disagree with everything he said. The only thing the guard said that is true is the location.”

The incident happened after 6pm on July 3, 2013 at Doughcloyne Hill, which extends out from Togher Rd in Cork City

The 33-year-old claimed he knew the road well and that he drove behind the two cyclists, who were chattig and riding two abreast, for a while before sounding his horn to let them know her was there. He said one of them leaned aggressively toward his window and he was afraid the rider was going to punch him.

“The last thing I would do is hit anyone with my car, I was driving at five miles per hour. I couldn’t have been any more careful,” he said.

Sgt O’Callaghan said the car touched his leg slightly as it over took them. Garda Collins corroborated his account.

Judge Olann Kelleher found O’Shea guilty of careless driving. He was fined €300.

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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10 comments

Avatar
Leviathan | 9 years ago
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The immortal Michael Collins, not only was he leading the Irish Revolution and flying to the Moon, now working as a Police officer, what a guy.

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Joselito replied to Leviathan | 9 years ago
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I'm related to the one who got the boring job in HR.

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don simon fbpe | 9 years ago
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Shouldn't this be posted on http://www.pistonheads.com/, or is preaching to the converted the new black?

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A V Lowe | 9 years ago
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Warrant cards work just as well as loaded guns.

But best is to let the errant person run-out their rope, and get the uniformed guys on duty to get them with a well monitored trail of misbehaviour, rather than just a short incident.

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WolfieSmith | 9 years ago
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I often ride with an off duty copper. I'm awaiting the day he comes into play. It'll be Iike that moment in films when someone barrels over effin' and blindin' and you tweak your jacket open to reveal a holstered revolver.

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bikebot replied to WolfieSmith | 9 years ago
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MercuryOne wrote:

I often ride with an off duty copper. I'm awaiting the day he comes into play. It'll be Iike that moment in films when someone barrels over effin' and blindin' and you tweak your jacket open to reveal a holstered revolver.

Does he have to give everyone a lecture about hi-viz before every ride  4

Avatar
jacknorell replied to WolfieSmith | 9 years ago
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MercuryOne wrote:

I often ride with an off duty copper. I'm awaiting the day he comes into play. It'll be Iike that moment in films when someone barrels over effin' and blindin' and you tweak your jacket open to reveal a holstered revolver.

I've found that a meaty D-lock works as a suitable deterrent as well.

Those hiplok things could also do wonders...!

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mad_scot_rider | 9 years ago
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Another case where thee & me wouldn't have believed - only when it's a copper

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bikebot | 9 years ago
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If we could have a few more on bikes whilst on duty as well, that would be great.

That said, a few weeks ago I did enjoy the rather bizarre sight of a car slowly advancing as if to drive over a very visible and uniformed Police office. That was at the busy junction of Tooting Broadway and unfortunately I had to ride on after hearing the opening remarks of an officer who for some reason didn't appreciate someone trying to push him out of the way with their car!

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K Stand Ken replied to bikebot | 9 years ago
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bikebot wrote:

If we could have a few more on bikes whilst on duty as well, that would be great.

But with the best will in the world, even if it was perfectly obvious they were on-duty officers, how long would they be likely to last?  14

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