Am I mad?

Wishbone Ash

--amadeus-- wrote: »

I think 40% tax is a discgrace but I still have to pay it

We have one of the lowest levels of income tax in Europe! It's 65% in some countries.

cson

I have my test Wednesday two weeks. I've been driving since the middle of August. The only way I could feasibly get experience on the roads was to drive unaccompanied. My parents just simply aren't able to be with me all the time. Having said that, I was made get a course of 6 lessons before I ever went out on the road at all and then for the first month of me driving on the roads my Mam or Dad were always with me; they always accompanied me. When they were satisfied I could drive pretty good they let me off on my own. Again, I was only allowed to go into town at the start.

Now since then I've driven a lot around the country (I've also purposely stayed off motorways) and built up my experience to the point where I'm confident and more importantly; my Dad and other people who've travelled with me see me as a competent driver.

In answer to the OP, what I did when I started driving unaccompanied was to put a copy of the Rules of the Road and my letter from the RSA confirming my application for the test (I applied as soon as I got my provisional). I had my L plates up at all times. My theory was, I needed to practise to get better and unfortunately circumstances dictated I couldn't be accompanied. So if the Gardai were to stop me and take issue with it, I'd show them the letter the ROTR book and hope they didn't go to the letter of the law. I have been stopped 3 times but the issue of my licence has never come up.

--amadeus--

cson wrote: »

The only way I could feasibly get experience on the roads was to drive unaccompanied.

That's the mindset we have to change. When I started to learn to drive (in the UK) I had access to a car but under no circumstances would it have occured to me to drive without a qualified driver with me. Driving unaccompanied is not a feasible way to get experience anywhere else and so your only option would be to do what they do in every other European country - get lessons!

(As for the 40% tax jibe - that was kind of tounge in cheek but I'd pay scandanavian levels of tax for scandanavian levels of service.)

cson

Tbh, you can rattle on about changing the mindset (I do agree it needs changing) but the current system breeds the current mindset. The waiting lists for the test, then the test itself is a joke - if you drive legitimately throughout your provisional years the first time you will never have driven on a motorway. Its ridiculous. (So was the tax thing you mentioned - what has that got to do with learning to drive?)

--amadeus--

I couldn't agree more - without the farcical system you wouldn't have the idea that it's ok to go driving around without either lessons or a test (simploy because you are "confident"). Changing that mindset is the idea behind teh new legislation / plans to enforce current legislation and it will be painful for people who are used to thier freedoms but it will be benificial for all in the end. *If* it's enforced then you should see a drop in accidents.

The tax thing was an analogy - not being able to drive unaccompanied on a provisional is a pain so people ignore the law and the guards ignore the lawbreakers. I was comparing that to someone who finds paying tax a pain and so ignore that law. I was atempting to highlight how daft it is to ignore the law just because you "need to".

cson

To be honest amadeus, the system needs a lot more than the changes that are being made in June.

Red Alert

All I want to see is a system where I can ring up and book a test for about a week's time at one of the SGS or RSA centres of their choosing. That would deal with a lot of the people (like me) who are in the system for months.

Old_-_School

I don't think I could consider the OP mad for driving on a 1st provisional seeing that I did it myself. In fact most people I know drove to the test centre the day of their test.
The offences of driving unaccompanied on a provisional licence and the non-display of L-plates have not been in the top 3000 cases brought before the courts such is the lack of enforcement of these rules.
I think that lots of people will still take the risk after June 30th as travelling to work, college, etc. would be made very awkward for them otherwise. The only way it'll be adhered to is if there's a lot more random checkpoints and more importanly, if the insurance industry come out and declare that provisional license holders aren't covered by insurance. If this was the case, a provisional license holder who drove on their own would be committing the very serious crime of driving without insurance which often leads to a suspended driving license and fines of up to €2500.