provisional licence

insane drummer

hey, just wonderin, bout 2 get my 1st provisional licence and was wonderin how strongly do the gaurds inforce the driving with a fully qualified driver law? ill be in a micra and will have the L plates up, any help please!!!!!

mloc123

put short.. they don't. If you have tax, nct and insurance displayed when they stop you they probably won't even ask for your licence.

Redshift

insane drummer wrote:

hey, just wonderin, bout 2 get my 1st provisional licence and was wonderin how strongly do the gaurds inforce the driving with a fully qualified driver law? ill be in a micra and will have the L plates up, any help please!!!!!

It's barely enforced at all from what I can see, but given the numbers dying on the roads of late I wouln't count on this being the case too much longer the govt are comming under enourmous pressure to sort this out now both from here and also from europe who recently told them to sort this mess out as the current situation is illegal.
My advice to you is get professional lessons and get your full licence ASAP

Hellm0

I got my license in one day, little or no previous driving experiance(well none where there were other cars around really) and within a week was driving on the motorway. Never once got pulled over on the motor way. I did have my run in's with them gardai folk, mostly when I was speeding, but they never seemed to care about the whole L driver without L plates thing.

MrPudding

Hellm0 wrote:

I got my license in one day, little or no previous driving experiance(well none where there were other cars around really) and within a week was driving on the motorway.

Yeah, you are my hero.

MrP

Hellm0

I'm honored Needed it for work, there were a few close calls in the beginning but I, and my car, are in one peice.

michaelanthony

How did you get your license in one day?

Hellm0

You only need your eye exam thingy, the garda stamped papers,passport photo's and your theory test.
Get it all ready and on the day of your theory test(assuming you pass) go into the motor tax office and get your license. They give you a receipt which you can use until the full one arrives.

EWheelChair

You can't actually, it states on the receipt that it can't be used as proof of licence.

But i did the same so, right on!

insane drummer

Redshift wrote:

It's barely enforced at all from what I can see, but given the numbers dying on the roads of late I wouln't count on this being the case too much longer the govt are comming under enourmous pressure to sort this out now both from here and also from europe who recently told them to sort this mess out as the current situation is illegal.
My advice to you is get professional lessons and get your full licence ASAP

yea thats what plan on doing! thanks people, that helped alot! chears!:D

ambro25

Hellm0 wrote:

I got my license in one day, little or no previous driving experiance (etc.)

Hellm0 wrote:

You only need your eye exam thingy, the garda stamped papers,passport photo's and your theory test.
Get it all ready and on the day of your theory test(assuming you pass) go into the motor tax office and get your license. They give you a receipt which you can use until the full one arrives.

Ah... your provisional license, in one day. That's clearer. Made it sound like you got your full license or something :rolleyes:

(Just goes to vindicate further the whole "got it out of a surprise party bag" thing )

MrPudding

Hellm0 wrote:

Needed it for work, there were a few close calls in the beginning but I, and my car, are in one peice.

Oh. You needed it for work. That's OK then.

It is people like you that contribute to over 400 people dying on the roads every year.

MrP

Wishbone Ash

Hellm0 wrote:

they never seemed to care about the whole L driver without L plates thing.

It's not so much that they don't care but, as District Judges rarely prosecute such offenders, it is considered a waste of their time.

A couple of weeks ago a person was up in Swords DC for driving without NCT, without L plates and unaccompanied by appropriate licence holder. He was fined for the NCT offence but the judge threw out the L plate and accompanied driver charges saying that they didn't seem to be considered offences anymore. Not exactly sending out the proper message!

colm_mcm

Does anyone consider the reason the L driver should be accompanied?

I can't believe people just presume they are naturally able to drive!

knifey_spoonie

The accompanied driver law is all well and good if you can get your test within 6 weeks but i think with the current suitation woth driving tests it would be just solely unreasonalbe if the law was strickly inforced

colm_mcm

do you reckon 6 weeks driving is enough to get a full license?

mmenarry

This sort of stuff really gets my goat. Folks on provisionals claiming it's OK to drive without L-plates, qualified driver, and so on, as the waiting list is so long.

Fine if you're 18. If you're 19 or older, you've had plenty of time to get on the waiting list and do the test. It's not like these delays happened overnight.

And don't start with the "can't get reasonable insurance at 18/19/20, so didn't go for the test" rubbish. Get lessons, do the test in the instructors car.

Those of us with "pinkies" passed the test, ye didn't. Get over it.

M.

paddy

colm_mcm wrote:

do you reckon 6 weeks driving is enough to get a full license?

Obviously not, but surely waiting for a year or more for a test is a bit ridiculous, and if you fail, waiting the same again.

The driving test in this country is terrible as all you do is drive in a particular/safe manner for up to an hour, impress the tester & WOOHOO, you can now drive anywhere, motorways, dual carriageways and dangerous roads you wouldn't have driven on before with your new found confidence. (I passed a test, damn I must be good).

I am a L driver for just over a year now, I have had no accidents/potential accidents as I take it easy on the roads. I see idiots everyday in cars with no L plates (i.e. fully licensed driver's) doing things they know they shouldn't, overtaking on bends, wrong lanes on roundabouts, overtaking when it's obviously not safe on bendy back roads, tailgating, the list is endless.
The funny thing is with the arrogant overtaking(I usually stay within 80-90% of the speed limit depending on the type of roads/conditions/weather). I usually meet them at the next junction waiting to turn left/right.
What was the point in overtaking in the first place? It didn't make a blind bit of difference to the journey time.

Bottom line, Irish (and foreign) drivers in Ireland need to calm down a bit(speed limits are recommended limits, not targets to hit or exceed), so what if your 10 seconds/minutes late, at least your not being cut out of a mangled car.

Rant over
Paddy

mmenarry

paddy wrote:

The driving test in this country is terrible as all you do is drive in a particular/safe manner for up to an hour, impress the tester & WOOHOO, you can now drive anywhere, motorways, dual carriageways and dangerous roads you wouldn't have driven on before with your new found confidence. (I passed a test, damn I must be good).

Passing the test proves that you are capable of driving to an accepted standard.

Not passing the test proves that you are not capable of driving to an acceptable standard.

I agree with you that muppetry on the roads carries on unchecked and unpunished. However, that is no excuse for not having driving tests (and not applying for them as soon as you get your provisional)

M.

paddy

mmenarry wrote:

Passing the test proves that you are capable of driving to an accepted standard.

Not passing the test proves that you are not capable of driving to an acceptable standard.

I agree with you that muppetry on the roads carries on unchecked and unpunished. However, that is no excuse for not having driving tests (and not applying for them as soon as you get your provisional)

M.

But all the test proves is that you can drive in a capable manner for an hour, it seems that once you pass, forget the road rules you're supposed to know and drive in a manner that suits the person/vehicle not the road conditions.

I am on a provisional licence and applied for a test last september, as of now all I have received is thanks for your money, no word of when a driving test is going to happen. Dissapointingly waiting 11 months, I know this can be speeded up, but why should your employer have to speed this up?

A driver in Ireland should be able to apply for a test, have it carried out within 2 weeks & deemed capable or incapable of driving in a safe manner, this test should be continuous for both provisional/fully licensed drivers with a minimal fee e.g. €10 per test.
If this type of test was carried out I would think their would be less cars on the road/less deaths/less traffic jams due to driver disqualification.

Paddy

Hellm0

MrPudding wrote:

Oh. You needed it for work. That's OK then.

It is people like you that contribute to over 400 people dying on the roads every year.

MrP

I think perhaps you need to get your head checked, I've not killed anyone, not come close to killing anyone except myself and all the time I WAS driving(which I dont seeing as I no longer need a car for work) I was a good driver. Dont make accusations and spout tired 6 o clock news figures at me, do it to someone who desurves it.

mloc123

mmenarry wrote:

Passing the test proves that you are capable of driving to an accepted standard.

Not passing the test proves that you are not capable of driving to an acceptable standard.

I agree with you that muppetry on the roads carries on unchecked and unpunished. However, that is no excuse for not having driving tests (and not applying for them as soon as you get your provisional)

M.

Bull****, say the limit of blue marks is 10 (I can't rembember)... Is some one who passed with 10 marks really more capable of driving than somebody who failed with 11? The system is too hit and miss, we need a proper testing system like every other eu country.

Wishbone Ash

Hellm0 wrote:

all the time I WAS driving(which I dont seeing as I no longer need a car for work) I was a good driver.

That is a dangerous assumption to make Hellm0. I have a full, clean, and unrestricted licence in all 14 categories and have been driving for many years but I wouldn't consider myself to be a good driver. I'd say I'm an average driver even though I've never been involved in an accident (that was my fault - rearended twice). It takes years of learning experience to become a good driver.

Hellm0

Well I do have to agree, but one thing I will not say is that I was a dangerous driver, certainly not to the degree that I was contributing nor in any way responsible for the road deaths in this country. I just get irritated when people assume that young males are always a bad drivers.

mmenarry

mloc123 wrote:

Bull****, say the limit of blue marks is 10 (I can't rembember)... Is some one who passed with 10 marks really more capable of driving than somebody who failed with 11? The system is too hit and miss, we need a proper testing system like every other eu country.

That's just being pedantic. That's the standard we have.

My pink license says I can achieve that. Those on a provisional can't say the same.

M.

paddy

mmenarry wrote:

That's just being pedantic. That's the standard we have.

My pink license says I can achieve that. Those on a provisional can't say the same.

M.

And that's the exact attitude in Ireland, "I passed a test(barely in some cases)", I can now capably drive a car, WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
I would say if you stress tested fully licenced drivers in different situations a lot would fail.
The standard is crap, hence we have a lot of idiots in charge of cars. Your attitude proves this, "I have a pink licence, I must be a good driver."

Paddy

dermot_sheehan

paddy wrote:

And that's the exact attitude in Ireland, "I passed a test(barely in some cases)", I can now capably drive a car, WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
I would say if you stress tested fully licenced drivers in different situations a lot would fail.
The standard is crap, hence we have a lot of idiots in charge of cars. Your attitude proves this, "I have a pink licence, I must be a good driver."

Paddy

Regardless of the perceived inadequcies in the practical driving test, it is a standard that fully licenced drivers have attained on one occassion, provisionaly licensed drivers have never attained that standard.

My attitude is I have been examined by the state and been found at the correct standard at the occassion and therefore have passed my driving examination. If you don't accept this concept then you can not accept other standard tests performed at one moment in someone's life such as the Leaving Certificate. A person after the leaving cert may not be able to add, having crammed their maths for the day, but more likely then not they have the sufficient skills having been tested and found acceptable on one occassion.


This country is a joke in that we allow people having taken a computer exam to go out on the roads alone. I simply think the government should abolish the provisional licence, and replace it with a system where a person with a theory test certificate can practice in a dual control car with a registered driving instructor. This is similar to other countries like Germany.

Wishbone Ash

gabhain7 wrote:

it is a standard that fully licenced drivers have attained on one occassion, provisionaly licensed drivers have never attained that

...with the exception of those who attained their licence before the introduction of the test in the 1960s and those on a second or subsequent provisional who got theirs in the amnesty in 1980.

MrPudding

Hellm0 wrote:

I think perhaps you need to get your head checked, I've not killed anyone, not come close to killing anyone except myself and all the time I WAS driving(which I dont seeing as I no longer need a car for work) I was a good driver. Dont make accusations and spout tired 6 o clock news figures at me, do it to someone who desurves it.

I'm sorry, where did I say you killed someone? I can't quite seem to find it in the thread.

Did you not say:

Hellm0 wrote:

....there were a few close calls in the beginning but I, and my car, are in one peice.

So you were luck then.

It is idiotic for someone to just head out on the roads with little or no experience or training. Seriously I feel perhaps you might be the one that should have their head checked.

MrP

MrPudding

paddy wrote:

But all the test proves is that you can drive in a capable manner for an hour, it seems that once you pass, forget the road rules you're supposed to know and drive in a manner that suits the person/vehicle not the road conditions.

Well of course. A test is a point in time indication of your stills and / or knowledge at that point in time. Passing a test means that at that point in time you were able to, at the very least, give the impression that you are a capable and safe driver.

Failing the test shows that you were not even capable of giving the impression that you knew what you were doing for a short period of time. Yet, we allow people that have failed their test to continue to drive on there own with no obligation to seek training to correct their deficencies.

A lot of people say the Irish test is very poor and isn't a good test of skill. What does that say about the 54% of people that take the test and fail that are still on the roads? It is criminal.

<mini rant not aimed @ Paddy>
If you fail the test you should not be allowed on the roads on your own. Need the car for work? Yeah? Well you should have fcuking learned how to drive then shouldn't you. Christ, it's not like the test snuck up on you is it? You had a fcuking year to learn.</mini rant not aimed @ Paddy>

I appreciate that it would be pretty close to impossible to remove unaccompanied drivers fromt he road. It has been going on too long and would cause a lot of hardship for a lot of people. But what I would say is this: If you go for the test and fail you should lose the right to drive on your own.

Oh, I also want to know why there are 400k provo license holders but only 125k waiting for tests. I would also say that prove licenses should not be renewed unless the driver either sat a test during the period of the one which has expired or is waiting to sit one.

MrP

mmenarry

paddy wrote:

Your attitude proves this, "I have a pink licence, I must be a good driver."

Paddy

Nope, that's not what I said. I said passing the test proves that you are capable of attianing a given standard of driving on one occasion. I didn't say passing the test makes people better drivers (as proven by the muppetry on the roads)

I said that the test proves that they can (when they want to) drive at an accpetable standard.

Provisional drivers haven't proven that (otherwise they would be fully licensed). I sympathise with your frustration at the wait these days, but if you're over 19 you've had plenty of time.

M.