Am I allowed to drive by myself on a First Provisional...

Seth Brundle

Ficus wrote:

i remember when i was on my second privisional. i had been driving for over a year and was waiting for my test to come up. i was stopped at a checkpoint late at night very close to my house. i was driving by myself as i usually did as nobody in my family could drive. the garda asked to see my liciense and had a good hum and haw over it and then asked me to pull to the side of the road. i was asked to turn off the engine and step out of the car. he asked to see all the identification i had on me and i showed him all the cards i had in my wallet. he again asked why i didnt have any full liciense holder in the car with me i and i told him again that i was the only person who could drive in my family. he then went off to his squad car to check there were no other driving licienses regestered to my address, (i didnt think they had that info readily available to them?). at the end of it all, he said that my story had checked out but that i was breaking the law. after another hum and haw, he said he would let me off with a caution. this whole event took about 25 minutes by the roadside and it scared me sh1tless.
so be ready to explain yourself if you do get stopped.

Given that you are learning to drive and you have probably read the rules of the road, you would be aware that an accompanied licenced driver is not needed when you are on your 2nd provisional!

Bluetonic

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=319347

Seth Brundle

Ficus wrote:

thats what i thought but he said no and that because it had a code of 999 on the back, that meant i had to have a fully liciensed driver with me.

What code?
I still have my old 2nd provisional here and looking at it, there is room for endorsements, room for additional info and then blood/organ donor details. Where was your 999 put and by whom?
The garda was talking crap!

Boggle

Up North even if you have passed a test there are restrictions for the first year like a top speed of 45mph. It's because drivers need to gain experiance whereas down here a learner can do 60mph day one.

Unfortunately, we couldn't do the same here as if every "First Year Driver" was only allowed 45mph then the single lane roads that we enjoy would be chocked with tailbacks which would more than likely increase driver fatalities due to people overtaking out of desperation...

It might be better to enforce an R or a P plate that forces you off the road after a certain hour (10pm?) for your first year or 2 in order to reduce the amount killed in the early hours. (Perhaps even increasing the driving age to 18 as our roads are possibly too dangerous for immature drivers..?!)

I might even go so far as to redsrict the amount of passengers to 1 person to stop kids flyin around with their mates in the back and actin the prick. I'm not bein a killjoy - rather I don't see th car as a toy for kids to play with.

Bluetonic

kbannon wrote:

The garda was talking crap!

No you are.

http://www.transport.ie/roads/licensing/provisional/index.asp?lang=ENG&loc=1837#codes

Certain additional information or restrictions relating to the holding of a driving licence or provisional driving licence may be noted on a licence in coded format.

The codes that may be noted on driving licences are as follows:-

01


Must wear corrective lenses

02


Must wear hearing aid

03


Limb prosthesis/orthesis.

10


Modified transmission

15


Modified clutch

20


Modified accelerator system

25


Modified braking system

30


Modified combined braking and accelerator system

35


Modified control layouts

40


Modified steering

42


Modified rear-view mirrors

43


Modified driving seat

45


Motorcycle with sidecar only

70


Exchange of recognised driving licence

71


Duplicate licence

73


Restricted to category B vehicles of motor tricycle/quadricycle type

78


Restricted to vehicles with automatic transmission

100


Restricted to vehicles adapted to suit disability of licensee

101


Renewal subject to submission of valid medical report

102


Diplomatic licence

991


1st provisional licence in category

992


2nd provisional licence in category

993


3rd or subsequent provisional licence in category

999


Must be accompanied by qualified driver

declanoneill

It is there, I remember seeing the 999 on the first provisonal, on the second provisional it'd saying (afaik) 991

declanoneill

Damn your nimble fingers bluetonic!

Spitfire666

Ya need L-plates and a fully licenced driver with you on 1st provisional,
Ya don't need a fully licenced driver with you on 2nd provisional but do need L-plates,
And subsequint licences are as the 1st.

Capt'n Midnight

Can we sticky questions about provisionals ?

TBH when you applied for your first provisional you signed a legal document stating you have read and understood the rules of the road etc.

If you have to ask then IMHO you are just showing contempt for the right to life of other road users. If you don't know the basics you should not drive.

Eg: Are you aware that motorists are third class road users and as such have to yield to pedistarians and cyclists where no other rule of presidence applies ???

In Norn Iorn you aren't allowed to drive over 45mph until one year after you have a full license.

Actually loved the bit about

dragonfly wrote:

....if I consider myself an adequate driver

in almost every country the decision is not yours - it's up to the licensing authourity. And IMHO almost every learner overestimates their ability. CBA diging up the survey that shows that only 13% or something of Irish drivers consider themselves below average, when by definition it should be a lot nearer 50%

As for the waiting list - moan at the politicians

vector

It seems to me that if you want to drive unaccompied then the thing to do is get your first provisional as soon as you hit 17, even if you don't have access to a car, just burn off the 2 years, and then when you are 19 get a second provisional and drive around

Our man in Havana

vector wrote:

It seems to me that if you want to drive unaccompied then the thing to do is get your first provisional as soon as you hit 17, even if you don't have access to a car, just burn off the 2 years, and then when you are 19 get a second provisional and drive around

Which is well a practised skill in the rural areas. Even I was guilty of this all those years ago.

Spitfire666

vector wrote:

It seems to me that if you want to drive unaccompied then the thing to do is get your first provisional as soon as you hit 17, even if you don't have access to a car, just burn off the 2 years, and then when you are 19 get a second provisional and drive around

Or you could just drive around anyway because if thats the only offence your committing and your not acting the prat when you get stopped you WILL get away with it 90% of the time with normal garda.Its only the Traffic boys that you should worry when they stop you.

Hotblack Desiato

The judges tend to ignore provisional licence rules anyway.
One of the major problems for bikers at the moment is that little kn*ckers on mopeds are carrying passengers even though provisional licences prohibit this. When they crash, we all pay.
Problem is that the judges view this as a minor offence, typically €100 fine even though they are driving unlicensed by breaking the terms of their provisional. A pillion passenger claim from one of these guys could go to a million euro or more and the law-abiding riders pay the price :mad:

Capt'n Midnight

ninja900 wrote:

One of the major problems for bikers at the moment is that little kn*ckers on mopeds are carrying passengers even though provisional licences prohibit this.

That's not fair. Only 90% of pillion passengers who make a claim are illegally carried.

Seth Brundle

Bluetonic wrote:

No you are.

http://www.transport.ie/roads/licensing/provisional/index.asp?lang=ENG&loc=1837#codes

So I am!

Why then was this placed on Ficus's 2nd provisional and was he aware of the reasons?

Car Mad

dont mind having a fully liscenced driver with you no body does + most people on a first provional may be out of college and need it for work wat u going to do 24 year old: ma i have to go to work and cant drive by myself will u come with me.this country is a joke i mean it,

Capt'n Midnight

Car Mad wrote:

dont mind having a fully liscenced driver with you no body does + most people on a first provional may be out of college and need it for work wat u going to do 24 year old: ma i have to go to work and cant drive by myself will u come with me.this country is a joke i mean it,

If you are old enough to drive, then you are old enough to vote. So hassle your local TD about it. The ONLY problem here is that it takes far too long to do the test. If it took 3 weeks like most other countries then no one could try to excuse their not having a full license. It's a political issue, not a technical one.

Also if you are old enough to drive, you may also be old enough to learn about punctuation.