Driving Experience

Hagar · 06-09-2004 9:13am #1

How long have you been driving?
What licence are you driving on?
Would you consider yourself experienced?

fletch · 06-09-2004 9:19am

I have been driving since I was 17.
Got my full licence when I was 18.
I would not consider myself very experienced, how could I after only 3 years driving. However I do, do a fair bit of country/long distance driving which teaches you a hell of an amount about driving.

ravenhead · 06-09-2004 9:59am

I'm only driving since I was 24 - so that's about 2 and a half years, going for my test tomorrow morning ....sh@tting it ...I don't know if you're ever really ready for it!! :eek:

Victor · 06-09-2004 11:20pm

Licence status is not the same as experience or skill.

Anto and Deco out joyriding every weekend can give them lots of experience, but little skill and no doubt they don't have licences.

Imposter · 07-09-2004 8:42am

I'm only driving just over 2 years. Have the full licence for all that time (bar the 6 weeks when I was learning). Did my test in Austria and never held an Irish provisional. Experience wise i'd say i've quite a bit. I've driven over 40,000km in those 2 years. Drive on motorway, country roads and city streets in order to get to work. Also used to ice, snow, and extreme fog.

Hagar · 07-09-2004 9:14am

Victor wrote:

Licence status is not the same as experience or skill.

No, but using someone on their 1st provisional licence is likely to be be less skilled/experienced than someone on a full licence for 5 years. Interestingly at time of posting only one person "ticked " 2nd provisional, no 1sts, no 3rds.

Connecting this to my other poll its interesting to note the number of self confessed provisional drivers who use motorways regularly despite it officially being beyond their skill level. The government policy of replacing, rather than augmenting, main roads with motorways will no doubt make this a growing problem in the future.

I acknowledge that I have had quite a small response and only limited conclusions can be drawn from limited data.

shoegirl · 07-09-2004 11:22am

6 years driving, 4 on a provisional, then sold car and didn't drive at all for a year. Got another provisional just to sit the test and got it easily. That was well over a year ago. I'd consider myself moderately experienced, 40,000 miles of driving in major roads, back roads, city and county. Have driven a lot in Dublin and London and all over the UK on motorways. Also have been in horrific conditions, zero visibility fog, ice, snow etc. I am not a risk taker and have never had an accident.

grumpytrousers · 07-09-2004 11:46am

I'm 30. Driving since i was...er...12. Not as bad as it sounds. The dear departed papa made a point of both kids in chez grumpytrousers comfortable behind the wheel from an early age. Private road near the hosue where one could drive and not be 'done' by the gardai...

Obv at the age of 12 and a car comes towards you (at a heart stopping 15mph) you brick yerself, but you learn the simple rule 'ease off accelerator, change down, watch the other f***er'.

You can learn an awful lot (though it's not the same as getting 'experience') by watching good drivers of course. By that I mean the kind of people who rarely use their brakes; if you are 'good', you should be, for the most part, be able to anticipate the conditions and not need to constantly accelarate and brake etc.

Only time I knowingly broke the law was when I was 15 and he'd just retired. i.e that day. He had a few jars and was a trifle 'tired and emotional'. Had to pile him into the front seat of the car and drive the 100 or so miles back to the house. Jesus it was fun...

Victor · 07-09-2004 2:26pm

grumpytrousers wrote:

Only time I knowingly broke the law was when I was 15 and he'd just retired. i.e that day. He had a few jars and was a trifle 'tired and emotional'. Had to pile him into the front seat of the car and drive the 100 or so miles back to the house. Jesus it was fun...

I'm not sure how understanding the cops / judge would be :eek:

grumpytrousers · 07-09-2004 2:40pm

Victor wrote:

I'm not sure how understanding the cops / judge would be :eek:

They'd have ****ing had me for breakfast, mate!!!

I'm well aware of *all* the ramifications, as indeed I was then. Rock/hardplace. Not big, not clever. slightly funny to look back on 'cos we made it unscathed.

I suppose the real fear one has is the insurance thing, but I suppose had we had a crash, the only people to be hurt inthe pocket would have been us...any other parties would have been accomodated by the MIBI slush fund.

I'd never get insurance again, mind....

ChipZilla · 07-09-2004 3:26pm

Hagar wrote:

How long have you been driving?
What licence are you driving on?
Would you consider yourself experienced?

Five years.
Full UK.
Experienced? No. I clock up serious mileage on all kinds of roads, but the stunts other people pull never cease to amaze me. There's no way you can have the experience to pre-empt some of the a55holes on the roads. :eek:

jlang · 07-09-2004 4:09pm

grumpytrousers wrote:

You can learn an awful lot (though it's not the same as getting 'experience') by watching good drivers of course. By that I mean the kind of people who rarely use their brakes; if you are 'good', you should be, for the most part, be able to anticipate the conditions and not need to constantly accelarate and brake etc.

Conversely, when you see the red lights on the car in front every single time they see a curve or a car on the other side of the road, hang back a little bit. You're behind someone who's most likely inexperienced or unsure of themself on the road. Leaving a little more space will allow you to preserve your momentum better and reduce the ripple effect. Oh, and overtake them as soon as you get a *safe* chance to save yourself from the frustration that would eventually lead to you doing an unsafe manouver.

Yoda · 08-09-2004 12:11am

Grumble. I'm pretty screwed as regards driving. I held a valid US drivers licence from 1978… I stopped driving when I came to Ireland in 1989 and a few years ago I lost my Oregon driver's licence because I forgot to renew. (US driver's licences normally expire on your birthday and if you forget to renew you have only one year to renew or it's gone. Mine's gone.) So… if I hadn't let my licence lapse I'd be allowed to drive in Ireland, to rent a car, do whatever. But since I need to get a licence I suppose I'll be considered a first provisional Learner and will have to go through the horror and humiliation of failing my exam (as everyone seems to do). But moving West, I'm going to have to start driving again. It's discouraging though.

ChipZilla · 08-09-2004 9:10am

Nah Yoda, you can only drive temporarily in Ireland with a US driver's licence - 12 months I think. After that you have to do the test regardless...

Yoda · 08-09-2004 9:18am

The point is that my having been a licenced driver means nothing, which is irritating at best. Even though I was a licenced driver, I will not only be able to get a first provisional licence and won't be allowed to drive by myself for quite some time. I don't think that's right, especially as a tourist is allowed to do so.

I'm whinging, perhaps. I'm 41 years old and I got my licence when I was 17, and now I have to do that all over again. Plus I can look forward to failing the test at least once, because, apparently, everyone does.

Sleipnir · 08-09-2004 9:20am

grumpytrousers wrote:

I'm 30. Driving since i was...er...12.

Yeah I've been driving since I was 13 and it is as bad as it sounds (nearly) :eek:

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