How do people go about it?

Aseth

I'm planning to get a driving license in near future. However with new regulations about accompanying driver I find it nearly impossible.

I'm living with my fiance and none of us have a driving license. We share a house with couple of people who do have it but are not always available. And apparently I can't expect from them to drive with me whenever I'll be in need.

Surely there must be more people in the same situation so what do you do when you don't know anyone who would drive with you?
Are people passing an exam and then drive only during driving lessons or when they found someone sympathetic enough to accompany them?

Alanstrainor

yeah, i think that's a situation almost all learner drivers face, The only way around it is to get lessons and if you can find a fully licensed driver to accompany you every now and again, i'm not too sure it'd be possible to pass on lessons alone, it'd be an expensive way of doing things anyway, so much of it is a learning curve when you practice outside of lessons.

chris85

Its not a great situation, it makes it really hard for people who dont live with parents to get experience. Still dont let it put you off, Maybe if you have mates with full licence offer to drive them to some places now and again to get experience, things like that may help.

Hopefully it wont put you off the pleasures of driving :rolleyes: (except the traffic and irish roads )

The Real B-man

In reality most Learner Drivers including myself drive unaccompanied i have to go to work! ive been stopped loads of times at checkpoints and just waved on ive my test booked so hopefully il be legal soon.

Wishbone Ash

Aseth wrote: »

with new regulations about accompanying driver I find it nearly impossible

The regulations aren't new. A category B Provisional Licence holders on their 1st, 3rd and subsequent licence were always required to be accompanied.

The only difference is that the accompanied licence holder is required to have held the licence for more than 2 years.

I think it would be easier to pass it purely based on a month or of intensive lessons, if you had a decent instructor.
The test isn't exactly comprehensive, you know exactly what they are looking for and it is easy to cover all the bases on the various routes that are possible in your center.

Aseth

Thank yo guys for all the answers and suggestions!

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The regulations aren't new. A category B Provisional Licence holders on their 1st, 3rd and subsequent licence were always required to be accompanied.

The only difference is that the accompanied licence holder is required to have held the licence for more than 2 years.

Well, for me everything about Irish regulations is new as I'm not Irish
Unfortunately getting driving license in my country is more difficult but once you have your papers(we only have 1 kind of driving license) you can drive just by yourself.
And having another person around sounds a little bit too complicated. I think I'll end up smiling nicely to Gardai and hoping they won't notice the obvious lack of experienced driver on passengers sit

HungryJoey

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The only difference is that the accompanied licence holder is required to have held the licence for more than 2 years.

I thought that you only had to have a full licence 2 years to accompany a driver, if the driver you are accompanying has a "Learner Permit" and not the old "provisional licence".

So that if you have the old Provisional Licence, a full licence within the 2 years is acceptable to accompany with.

Wishbone Ash

HungryJoey wrote: »

I thought that you only had to have a full licence 2 years to accompany a driver, if the driver you are accompanying has a "Learner Permit" and not the old "provisional licence".

I was directing my comment at the OP who hasn't yet applied for a Learner Permit.

HungryJoey wrote:

So that if you have the old Provisional Licence, a full licence within the 2 years is acceptable to accompany with.

Yup.

steveland?

chris85 wrote: »

Its not a great situation, it makes it really hard for people who dont live with parents to get experience. Still dont let it put you off, Maybe if you have mates with full licence offer to drive them to some places now and again to get experience, things like that may help.

Hopefully it wont put you off the pleasures of driving :rolleyes: (except the traffic and irish roads )

I could be wrong here, BUT (and hopefully someone can clarify)...

If you're offering to drive someone somewhere in exchange for their presence in the car make sure you're not being regarded as the "designated driver" if you happen to be driving people down the pub or to someone's house for drinks. While you yourself may remain sober it counts as being unaccompanied if the person who holds the licence over 2 years is over the limit and the gardai are entitled to breathalise them (I could be wrong though... as far as I know they're still counted as being "in control of the vehicle")

Possibly not a problem for you but if you follow chris85's advice here and do exchange a run somewhere for accompaniment try and make sure it's not an "I'll drive down the pub with you" type of situation

javaboy

steveland? wrote: »

I could be wrong here, BUT (and hopefully someone can clarify)...

If you're offering to drive someone somewhere in exchange for their presence in the car make sure you're not being regarded as the "designated driver" if you happen to be driving people down the pub or to someone's house for drinks. While you yourself may remain sober it counts as being unaccompanied if the person who holds the licence over 2 years is over the limit and the gardai are entitled to breathalise them (I could be wrong though... as far as I know they're still counted as being "in control of the vehicle")

Possibly not a problem for you but if you follow chris85's advice here and do exchange a run somewhere for accompaniment try and make sure it's not an "I'll drive down the pub with you" type of situation

You have a point but I'm not so sure about the passenger being breathalysed. I think it's a bit of an urban legend that the passenger can be prosecuted. I think if the passenger was drunk, then the driver is at fault for not being appropriately accompanied. I could be wrong though. I was once.