New Rules for Learner Drivers

Stark

corktina wrote: »

and presumalby a lot of them were uninsured if they were driving illegally....

Not true, the insurance company is still obliged to pay out. The insurance company can in turn sue the driver for the costs, but that's not the same as driving uninsured.

Placebo

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The average waiting time (of those waiting the longest in each centre) is 22 weeks. Many people would have a much shorter wait. Not applying because of a delay is hardly going to speed it up!

(43 weeks in Raheny - Raheny isn't the centre of the universe. The percentage of those 300,000 who may apply to Raheny is probably less that 2%. What's the next excuse?)

I dont have an excuse i just dont appreciate the law being "enforced" suddenly and please dont spread the "has always been there" ive passed several gardai check points and not once have they complained about it, one guy seem to have mentioned it and frankly ive only been driving 6 months and when i heard the 50 fail rate and 6 MONTH waits, i decided to concentrate on other things that needed more attention, i.e my final year studies. I drive as good as the next driver, probably better, ive seen far worse people on the road but i respect the fact there is a law but those waiting time need to decrease rapidly.
Whats disturbing is the fact that some single mother familys will be effected severly, they could be failing, doesnt necessirly mean they cant drive, alot of people get fairly nervous when being tested, maybe they can walk 2/3 miles for the bus and get groceries. How about people that just get their provisional ? how many lessons will they have to go through ? should they take them week before the actual "22" week wait ? or should they keep taking them and shower their money around the place?

heyjude

Placebo wrote: »

300,000 PROVISIONAL LICENSE HOLDERS FOUND OUT IT TOOK 43 WEEKS FOR THE TEST TO GO THROUGH
http://www.drivingtest.ie/frameset.html

So what, so they decided that rather than wait 43 weeks (or whatever the current waiting time is) that they'd be better off not applying at all. If so, then the new rules are just what we need

I wonder if these 300,000 people apply the same logic when their doctor tells them they need a test in a hospital, "oh the waiting list for the hospital test is 6 months.....ah sure I won't bother with the test!" :rolleyes:

Stark

heyjude wrote: »

I wonder if these 300,000 people apply the same logic when their doctor tells them they need a test in a hospital, "oh the waiting list for the hospital test is 6 months.....ah sure I won't bother with the test!" :rolleyes:

Fortunately in that case, the problem would be self-righting.

Wishbone Ash

Placebo wrote: »

I drive as good as the next driver, probably better

But that cavalier attitude is part of the problem. I have a full clean, unrestricted driving licence in all 14 categories, have been driving for over 20 years, never been involved in an accident (that was my fault - rear ended twice), have never made an insurance claim but I wouldn't call myself a good driver. I'm probably average. I make mistakes every day and realise that any day I could kill someone or be killed.

Placebo

heyjude wrote: »

So what, so they decided that rather than wait 43 weeks (or whatever the current waiting time is) that they'd be better off not applying at all. If so, then the new rules are just what we need

I wonder if these 300,000 people apply the same logic when their doctor tells them they need a test in a hospital, "oh the waiting list for the hospital test is 6 months.....ah sure I won't bother with the test!" :rolleyes:

IVE ONLY HAD MY LICENSE six month, let me breathe, im not gonna apply for my FULL DRIVING test when i just got my provisional. Aswell reason people did not apply is because they did not enforce it with good measure, give people 6 weeks, reduce waiting list to 5-6 weeks, then yeah sure.
also please use less drastic analogies.

heyjude

Placebo wrote: »

ive only been driving 6 months and when i heard the 50 fail rate and 6 MONTH waits

Even under the existing rules, someone that has only been driving 6 months wouldn't have been allowed to drive unaccompanied, so only the stricter enforcement and penalties would apply in your case. The changes are really only an issue for provisional licence holders on their second licence, who until now, were permitted to drive unaccompanied and in future won't be allowed to do so.

Whether the gardai enforced the existing law or not, there is no new law for holders of their first provisional licence, they couldn't drive unaccompanied before and they won't be allowed to in future either.

Placebo

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

But that cavalier attitude is part of the problem. I have a full clean, unrestricted driving licence in all 14 categories, have been driving for over 20 years, never been involved in an accident (that was my fault - rear ended twice), have never made an insurance claim but I wouldn't call myself a good driver. I'm probably average. I make mistakes every day and realise that any day I could kill someone or be killed.

No, that remark is directed at the people who are claiming that an L driver is any less of a "proper" driver than Full license owner.
And were the waiting lists this long 20 years ago ?

corktina

well, when I started driving lessons 30 something years ago, I appled for my test during my very first lesson and it came througn maybe 10 weeks or less later......professional tutition you see, not just jumping in and learning the way folk do nowadays....I failed, but I passed on the retest a few weeks later......so...why do second license holders feel they should be allowed to drive unaccompanied? 43 week wait should be aample to learn properley and pass during first license...

Arathorn

I can see thousands of Learner drivers ripping off ther L plates soon which will make the roads more dangerous. Can't blame them either with the rubbish public transport in this country..

Stark

Those L-plates weren't much good anyway. Half of L-drivers seemed to be driving without them, and half of fully licensed drivers seemed to be driving around with their siblings'/offsprings'/partners' plates up.

JohnMc1

heyjude wrote: »

But taking provisional drivers off the road late at night certainly would, as a disturbing proportion of fatal car accidents involving very young drivers seem to happen very late at night, when they collide with trees, walls, ditches etc.

I don't know if its proposed but provisional licence holders shouldn't be allowed to drive between the hours of 10pm - 6am and in some countries, drivers that have recently passed their test aren't allowed to drive during these hours for a year or two after their test.

Curfews I could live with. I don't drive late at night. Maybe a check point to check for drunk drivers may help cut down on driving accidents.

The thing I'm concerned about is. I'm the only one in my family that drives. How am I supposed to get to work if I can't drive? This policy might not be such a big deal for people who live in say Dublin or Cork, but I live in Kilkenny. I have to drive and I doubt Bertie Ahern and the Minister of Transport are going to pay my rent and other bills if I can't get to work [Lord knows Bertie's pocketed enough money in the last 10+ years to do so]

Easy Rider

I'm an L driver myself and only heard about this on the way home, now I have been working in the same place for the last 7 years, at one time I used to get public transport as I was not far from the city, but due to rising house prices when I decided to buy a place of my own I had to move out further from the City. So it takes me 25 - 40 minutes to get to work in my car.....public transport is 1hr 20 minutes, that is if the bus turns up at all, completely un-reliable ......

I got my prov license some time ago....I did not use it at first, I got some lessons etc but could not afford insurance at the time, so I got a car half way through my 2nd prov license, applied for my test with 2 months to go before I got my thrid.....now I am still waiting, must be 8 months for a test....

I have no problem with this law if the government got the whole waiting list under control...under these conditions fine

4 Week waiting list, max.....
Improve public transport alternatives, or give free public transport for those waiting until the waiting list comes down....

Gay Byrne is a an idiot, he probably never did a test in his life, probably got one of those 'Free Licenses' they gave back in the dark ages.....

There are going to be many people with cars and have paid for insurance that are on prov licenses that are now going to start getting the bus (if so the public transport would not cope anyway)???.....don't think so....all you will see is people taking the L plates down....

A Dub in Glasgo

Rationality has finally found its way to the government. Allowing people who have not proved they are competent to drive to actually drive a potential lethal weapon was madness.

Stark

Easy Rider wrote:

Gay Byrne is a an idiot, he probably never did a test in his life, probably got one of those 'Free Licenses' they gave back in the dark ages.....

You're right on all 3 counts there

Easy Rider

Yeah 'Rationality' me arse......

Way more pressing things, like the fact that the tests are useless.....so you can get a license but have never been on a motorway in your life but now you're good to go...!

Arathorn

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Rationality has finally found its way to the government. Allowing people who have not proved they are competent to drive to actually drive a potential lethal weapon was madness.

Easy take the high moral ground when you have a full licence, which I assume you do

Wishbone Ash

Placebo wrote: »

And were the waiting lists this long 20 years ago ?

They were longer than they are now IIRC.

In 1979 the waiting time was 2.5 years. :eek:

A Dub in Glasgo

Arathorn wrote: »

Easy take the high moral ground when you have a full licence, which I assume you do

Yes I do. I passed the 2nd time and I was not allowed to drive un-accompanied when I had a learner licence. I had to get professional driving instruction to pass though.

I am pretty sure a pilot would take the high moral ground against me flying an airplane without a licence... and he would be totally right.

Victor

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

At the moment I'm perfectly entitled to drive when accompanied by my wife, but as of Tuesday that'll change as she doesn't have her licence two years. I think I'm perfectly entitled to complain about the short notice.

Let your wife drive.

If this is for when you are practicing for your test, they want you to use a proper instructor.

Blindpew

I have over 30 years experience of driving on Irish roads, on motorcycles, pushbikes and for the last ten years a car. I have never had an accident, I never got a speeding fine, nor have I ever driven whilst drunk. I have never even parked on a double yellow line. Yet I have failed the driving test on several occassions. The last time I failed because the tester said I was driving too close to parked cars, even though I gave enough space for doors to open. I could clearly see that there was no one in the cars. The driving test is just another scam to keep testers in jobs and the government in money. Over the years I have witnessed the most appalling driving from drivers without L plates.
Does this new law mean that a 100,000 workers will have to stay at home now untill the driving test backlog is cleared? This country has always been corrupt but now it's getting just plain stupid.

Arathorn

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Yes I do. I passed the 2nd time and I was not allowed to drive un-accompanied when I had a learner licence. I had to get professional driving instruction to pass though.

I am pretty sure a pilot would take the high moral ground against me flying an airplane without a licence... and he would be totally right.

Are you saying you never drove by yourself on a provisional? I'd be more worried driving with you on the road than with someone who builds up their experience and confidence.

In anycase I think there should be a tiered approach, with different levels of qualifications like in Holland, it needs to be practical. No point having these laws, I mean does anyone here actually believe they are going to be abided by?

I have my full licence in case anyone thinks i'm biased

AndrewMc

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

I am pretty sure a pilot would take the high moral ground against me flying an airplane without a licence... and he would be totally right.

A student pilot can fly solo if the CFI gives the go-ahead. At least that's how it was a few years ago — don't think it has changed.

A Dub in Glasgo

Arathorn wrote: »

Are you saying you never drove by yourself on a provisional?

Correct

I'd be more worried driving with you on the road than with someone who builds up their experience and confidence.

Strange way of looking at it. I built up my experience and confidence of driving alone after I passed my test. What other country allows their learner drivers to build up their driving experience themselves whilst driving alone on a learner permit?

spareman

jeffk wrote: »

stevoman wrote: »

In my three plus years Ive never crashed(tip wood)last November i had an African in a 199 something car smash into me coming out of a car park and basically she couldn't wait to leave to collect her kid.She was to busy looking down and just flew straight out.
Ive had cops on phones cut across me at roundabouts,people in general jump me on roundabouts when I'm in the right.
People nearly smash into me as i reverse out of a car space in the center as they lash into the car park!
Need i go on and mention taxis/white vans/jeeps/bug cars/reps?

So I guess you weren't expecting the car to come out of the car park?
you were not expecting the cops to do something mad?
Start thinking about defensive driving, not just ensuring you dont crash, but when other road user's do stupid thing's you avoid them.

Roundabouts are the most common misunderstood rules for Irish drivers, youve got to expect people to cut you off at roundabouts in this country.

People nearly smash into you as you reverse out of a parking space?

Seriously are you taking the mick or what?
You really sum up why everyone thinks they are great drivers!!

Arathorn

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Correct

Bull, never ever heard of anyone doing this

A Dub in Glasgo

Arathorn wrote: »

Bull, never ever heard of anyone doing this

Well you have now

green rover

Easy Rider wrote: »

Yeah 'Rationality' me arse......

Way more pressing things, like the fact that the tests are useless.....so you can get a license but have never been on a motorway in your life but now you're good to go...!

too true.

a tiered approach like other countries would be more beneficial. start off in school with a drivers education course and so on. but the chances of that happening in this country are slim to none

Calina

Arathorn wrote: »

Bull, never ever heard of anyone doing this

Another one here.

OP - I'm sorry for your troubles but in France and in Germany there is a required minimum number of driving lessons you must take before you can take a practical driving test. Three does not cut it. 15 years ago the cost of getting a driving licence in Germany was something like 1000E. Stop doing the poor mouth about how hard done by you are. If you'd done 12 lessons before your first test, you know, you mighten't have needed to try another three times.

As a general note, what's interesting here is the cavalier attitude towards the rules of the road, the sort of I'm special so why should I take any notice of the rules applying to accompanying learner drivers? Unfortunately, this is the same attitude that causes people to run red lights, to speed, to ignore roundabound priority. The rules are there. If you have respect for yourself and other drivers, you will adhere to them. If you can't be bothered to respect them, then I guess that tells me a lot about your attitude to the rules and other drivers.

Learner drivers are exactly that - learner drivers. The breath of arrogance from some admitted provisional holders here is absolutely horrifying. Unfortunately, many L=platers are not better drivers than full licence holders. It's not that they don't know the rules, it's that they don't know how to apply them properly, balance them with reality on the road, such as anticipation of potential issues, watching what other drivers are at.

ardmacha

Bull, never ever heard of anyone doing this

Are you trolling this forum? What is strange about a person complying with the rules of their licence, people all over the world do it. You can say that it is easy take the high moral ground when you have a full licence, but some of us did our lessons and passed the test. Why don't you do likewise?

L drivers should never have been allowed on the road unsupervised and this measure today is the single best measure this government has taken. It is disappointing that the new provisions don't seem to have much else new, a more thorough revision was needed.

rameire

oh fcuk the law, who cares that these new rules are to cut down road deaths, and increase driver ability and education,
lets all go around thinking were all the best drivers in the world, and there should be no rules to follow.
i hope that no people have to meet a garda at their doorstep with bad news, because some idiot thinks they are above the law and it doesnt count for them..
the new rules are to make life better for all road users.

E92

stevoman wrote: »

but the road death statistics dont support that

Every time the Government open new Dual Carriageways(the ones that should really be called Motorways nbut aren't)/Motorways they always boast about how the road is 7.5 timews safer than the old single carriageway. The is reason enough to build more Motorways. You never hear of people dying on Motorways/Dual Carriagweways. Its always on a rural country road.

So for those who are moaning about the sudden change in attitude by the Government, if you were dumb enough to vote Fianna Fáil, then though sh1t as far as I'm concerned.

There will be no election for another 5 years.

Why do you think they're only doing it now. They have been talking about getting rid of the provisional licence system for yonks. Now that the election is out of the way and the Irish people were dumb enough to vote Fianna Fail in 3 times in a row, are you surprised that this is the knid of thing they are at?

They would never have introduced these things before an election, it would have cost them votes, and come 5 years time everyone will be used to it/have passed the test so even for those for whom it was a nuicance for it will be a very distant memory so it won't matter.

Feel and Fail are thinking about one thing and one thing only and that is themselves and that they are in power whatever the cost.

jrar

corktina wrote: »

i think its a bit harsh bringing it in so quickly, but it has been flagged up for a long time.....

Corktina, I presume the speed of introduction is to avoid any last-minute rush of applications for the current provisional licence - there has to be a cut-off point in transitioning to any "new" licencing regime. This way, any applications made this evening/tomorrow won't be rec'd until after the BH and will thus be granted a new permit only.

Way overdue but I suspect enforcement will be somewhere between patchy and non-existent. Have been through 3 checkpoints in the last 5/6 years, and every time focus was on seeing if I had a piece of coloured paper on my windscreen to indicate I was road-tax compliant. What a pity they don't get rid of that British anachronism - put the tax on fuel so the user pays proportionately to their mileage/vehicle size, and free up hundreds of civil servants across the country who could be utilised for garda clerical work etc. thus freeing up uniformed Gardai to enforce laws.....such as preventing provisional drivers from thinking that the law doesn't apply to them etc.

Stark

Well they also get to check your insurance disc. But yeah, not once have I been asked to show my license at a checkpoint. Even if the Gardaí asked to see a person's license, then said "Green license, that's bad mmm'kay", it might dispel people's myths that they've a god given right to drive on it.

green rover

E92 wrote: »

Every time the Government open new Dual Carriageways(the ones that should really be called Motorways nbut aren't)/Motorways they always boast about how the road is 7.5 timews safer than the old single carriageway. The is reason enough to build more Motorways. You never hear of people dying on Motorways/Dual Carriagweways. Its always on a rural country road.

So for those who are moaning about the sudden change in attitude by the Government, if you were dumb enough to vote Fianna Fáil, then though sh1t as far as I'm concerned.

There will be no election for another 5 years.

Why do you think they're only doing it now. They have been talking about getting rid of the provisional licence system for yonks. Now that the election is out of the way and the Irish people were dumb enough to vote Fianna Fail in 3 times in a row, are you surprised that this is the knid of thing they are at?

They would never have introduced these things before an election, it would have cost them votes, and come 5 years time everyone will be used to it/have passed the test so even for those for whom it was a nuicance for it will be a very distant memory so it won't matter.

Feel and Fail are thinking about one thing and one thing only and that is themselves and that they are in power whatever the cost.

couldn't be to deflect criticism of the pay rise the government got today, oh no that would be very cynical of me :rolleyes:

civdef

So, what about the new 6 month minimum wait between getting a learner permit and doing your test? For all categories.

Say you have a C licence to drive HGVs and you want to drive a minibus (D1), tough, wait 6 months under the new rules.

Anyone else think this is crazy?

E92

Easy Rider wrote: »

Gay Byrne is a an idiot, he probably never did a test in his life, probably got one of those 'Free Licenses' they gave back in the dark ages.....

He is also on record about how he loved going on his harly davidson motorcycle and thinks drugs should be legalised.

A very safe idea going on a motorbike:rolleyes:.

If I hear about speeding once more I think I'll explode to the moon!

If speeding is so bad, why don't we just have a speed limit of 20 km/h? The worst that will happen at 20 km/h is that somebody will recieve minor injuries if you hit them.

Stark

Love the following remarks by him:

"Because young men suffer from a disease which can only be described as '17 to 26' - that is the disease in itself."

Yeah, you have to love sweeping prejudicial remarks. Only young, white and male will do for when you just have to vent and your press secretary won't let you publish "Those black women can't drive for ****e".

Easy Rider

Stark I know.....I can't stand the rubbish he comes out with....'if we can save one life it is worth it etc' .......come on, lets ban beer, spirits, wine etc if this is the case.....it kills more people than road traffic accidents....it is like he is on a personal mission....a modern day saint....oooohhhh Saint Gay.....

All the people on here going on that it is the best thing ever....bet if you had a prov license you would not be saying the same thing, you are all so high and mighty now....news flash, people want to do the test but we can't get one for over 8 months....if the 300,000 people, which you like quoting, that have yet to apply for a test do tomorrow, it will be 8 years waiting....300,000 people start using public transport tomorrow...chaos, people won't get into work and will cost the economy millions....this is why it won't be enforced....it is lazy politics, headline grabbing, keep Gaybo quiet for a while....etc....get the waiting time down first then enforce, not the other way around....

cregser

zaph wrote: »

Bringing this in so quickly with no warning is a bit unfair IMO. The rules are already there that bar a driver on their first provisional from driving alone, and they should be enforced. But to be fair to those on their second provisional who have been legally allowed to drive on their own (which has always been wrong IMO, but that's another issue), there should be a 6 month grace period to allow them time to get a test organised and hopefully pass. If you fail to pass your test within that period you lose the privilege of driving alone.

My 2nd provisional came into effect on Monday. Three days later I find out it's benefits will be nullified after one week! I have 8 working hours tomorrow to get a full license or arrange to have licensed passenger. Anybody want a job as a professional passenger? It's the new property boom. There's 400,000 people out there who can't go anywhere without you!

E92 wrote: »

You never hear of people dying on Motorways/Dual Carriagweways. Its always on a rural country road.

To be fair, I do hear about a few on N7 near Kill and the N6 in Galway. But that's only because they would affect traffic.
I like your conspiracy theory though. I get the feeling the government would call another license amnesty if it could get away with it in the EU.

jrar wrote: »

Corktina, I presume the speed of introduction is to avoid any last-minute rush of applications for the current provisional licence - there has to be a cut-off point in transitioning to any "new" licencing regime. This way, any applications made this evening/tomorrow won't be rec'd until after the BH and will thus be granted a new permit only.

Way overdue but I suspect enforcement will be somewhere between patchy and non-existent. Have been through 3 checkpoints in the last 5/6 years, and every time focus was on seeing if I had a piece of coloured paper on my windscreen to indicate I was road-tax compliant. What a pity they don't get rid of that British anachronism - put the tax on fuel so the user pays proportionately to their mileage/vehicle size, and free up hundreds of civil servants across the country who could be utilised for garda clerical work etc. thus freeing up uniformed Gardai to enforce laws.....such as preventing provisional drivers from thinking that the law doesn't apply to them etc.

Yeah but what about 2nd provisional drivers like me who have been given 1 working day to find a way to comply with new laws? I agree that the laws are a much needed step in the right direction, but it's too lazy. It ignores the 400,000 elephants in the room. What do you do with them? New laws should apply to new applicants and some kind of measure should tackle the blatant fact which Gardai have already pointed out - the unaccompanied drivers.

Some brainstorming-
- summon learner drivers to lessons and tests rather than wait for them to apply - giving priority to those on a provisional for long periods, those with penalty points, and those requiring cars for their jobs. This summons date would also act as a temporary stay of execution for these individuals on the new laws.
- create a curriculum for learning to drive i.e. something more than the road sign theory test and check-box sheet for testers. (I'm still waiting for my copy of the new rules of the road. I thought there was one for everybody in the audience?)
- formalise L-plates more. Maybe replace/supplement with colour-coded registration plates (or boarders of plates) indicating learner vehicle owner or qualified owner w/learner driver and maybe the grade of most novice driver of car. This would help create a better database of learner drivers which might lead to better solutions (maybe insurance companies could help). It would also need to penalise qualified owners of multiple vehicles registered as learner vehicles.

I'm tired now but I think I've made my point. Rip it apart it you will...

Ham'nd'egger

Stark wrote: »

Well they also get to check your insurance disc. But yeah, not once have I been asked to show my license at a checkpoint. Even if the Gardaí asked to see a person's license, then said "Green license, that's bad mmm'kay", it might dispel people's myths that they've a god given right to drive on it.

I have been asked on occasion to produce my licence before, so it does happen if not all the time.
I can vouch for my insurance being checked twice that raised questions from the Garda's at the time.
I have been breathalised before.
I have had tax checked, asked have I got my belt on, asked where I am coming from, asked was I drinking, carrying drink in the car, I was even randomly stopped for possible drink driving twice in a night.

Now I drive a taxi so maybe I am under increased scrutiny for all of the above but I fully expect to be asked anything by a Garda upon a checkpoint, and rightly so.

On the main topic, it is a bold and shrewd move by the Government to tackle both road accidents and general driver standards, and one for the better IMO. I agree with Calina and other posters; the rank attitude of many of the posters here shows full well just why driving skills here are poor; because most people seem to be immune from even thinking that they may not be as good as they think. Maybe if some of the 400,000 drivers who await tests and are waiting took a decent amount of driving lessons from proper driving schools, they would not fail 2 and 3 and 4 times and be back into the 400,000 as is the case today. We all agree with zero tolerance for crime. Yet when it comes to our driving, we all want exceptions as we are all "exceptions". I am unsure if the RSA have stats on the licences held by those killed behind the wheel, but I doubt if most of the 17-26 year olds that will die after hours will have full licences.

One of the early posters talked of being in his opinion a "good driver", yet he was involved in a crash by his own admission and had fluked the driving test 4 times, each time his test fail rating getting progresively worse. He is a prime example of what is wrong with Irish drivers; pure self induced ignorance of his shortcomings. And he is there, by the hundred of thousand.

cregser

Ham'nd'egger, you're not half wrong. But you're not half right either!

There's too much simplification and extreme views on this. It's a complicated problem that can't be solved with some simple measures. Is the driver your talking about an indication of how cluelessly bad he/she is or how hopelessly bad the system is? It's both surely?

Ham'nd'egger

cregser wrote: »

Ham'nd'egger, you're not half wrong. But you're not half right either!

There's too much simplification and extreme views on this. It's a complicated problem that can't be solved with some simple measures. Is the driver your talking about an indication of how cluelessly bad he/she is or how hopelessly bad the system is? It's both surely?

You are correct, there is a lot of black/white opinions here when the answers may or should be grey.

With regards to the OP, if you go through the early posts of the thread, you can form your own opinion of him. Given what he/she said, I'd feel he is a poor driver. Thing with the system now is that he won't legally be able to go out on the road before too long, so there will be less "unqualified" drivers on the road.

CerebralCortex

Blindpew wrote: »

I have over 30 years experience of driving on Irish roads, on motorcycles, pushbikes and for the last ten years a car. I have never had an accident, I never got a speeding fine, nor have I ever driven whilst drunk. I have never even parked on a double yellow line. Yet I have failed the driving test on several occassions. The last time I failed because the tester said I was driving too close to parked cars, even though I gave enough space for doors to open. I could clearly see that there was no one in the cars. The driving test is just another scam to keep testers in jobs and the government in money. Over the years I have witnessed the most appalling driving from drivers without L plates.
Does this new law mean that a 100,000 workers will have to stay at home now untill the driving test backlog is cleared? This country has always been corrupt but now it's getting just plain stupid.

This seems to be a pattern. I failed my driving test for an equally ridiculous reason but I accept it because I was only on the road 3 weeks people on the roads here are f*ckin mental and nothing short of it and it isn't L plate exclusive I can assure you. My sister is got her full license first time around and she is a speeder and kinda dangerous.

Lastly what exactly are the new changes what do they mean for 1st 2nd 3rd provisional license holders?

I forgot to mention I took at least 30 lessons before my test around Galway city.

Wishbone Ash

Arathorn wrote: »

Bull, never ever heard of anyone doing this

I've never driven unaccompanied on a provisional licence when I was required to be accompanied.

Wishbone Ash

civdef wrote: »

So, what about the new 6 month minimum wait between getting a learner permit and doing your test? For all categories.

Say you have a C licence to drive HGVs and you want to drive a minibus (D1), tough, wait 6 months under the new rules.

Anyone else think this is crazy?

I'm open to correction but I think the 6 month rule is for those who have never passed a test. A C driver wishing to do a D1 would have already passed 2 tests.

Calina

cregser wrote: »

Ham'nd'egger, you're not half wrong. But you're not half right either!

There's too much simplification and extreme views on this. It's a complicated problem that can't be solved with some simple measures. Is the driver your talking about an indication of how cluelessly bad he/she is or how hopelessly bad the system is? It's both surely?

Actually, you're wrong. It's not a complicated matter that can't be solved. Realistically, the vast majority of learner drivers should have been accompanied anyway under prevailing legislation.

The system itself is fine, it's the application of it which is flawed. I'm sure if learner drivers were required to have a certified 25 hours of driving lessons before taking a practical driving test, a couple of things would happen:

1) people would start screaming about the cost
2) people would start complaining bitterly about how it's a scam for the driving schools
3) people would start screaming about how this would lead to more unlicensed drivers on the road
4) the test failure rate would plummet leading to far fewer people needing retests and taking the strain off the driving test system.

Ultimately, I don't actually have much sympathy for learner drivers in this respect because having spoken to some of them, I know that a bunch of them do get their authorised qualified driver and a bunch of them don't give a damn either which way. I seem to recall a few being reminded that they are not supposed to be on motorways, for example, and their responses did not lend any weight to the idea that they might have any respect for other road users or indeed traffic legislation. It should not be an a la carte approach to the rules.

To the poster who has his second license all of a week or so, tell me what were you doing until now? Driving without an accompanied driver anyway?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Heinrich

Arathorn wrote: »

Bull, never ever heard of anyone doing this

Strange...

Everybody whom I know in Switzerland does. It is illegal to drive unaccompanied (by a driver with a minimun of two years full license) there on a learner's license. They have more difficult conditions there with mountain driving and snow/ice in the winter. The standard there is better than here in Ireland.

Hank_Scorpio

I am absolutely disgusted at this new learner driver system coming into play. I'm 27 and live by myself, I only bought a car a month ago as it was needed living by myself.

I think it would be a great idea to flood the RSA email with complaints

info@rsa.ie

Best wishes
Hank