Elderly drivers to be offered help to pass driving test

wil

Surprised nobody has mentioned this yet.
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2008/0415/1208208529399.html

2500 over 65 still on provisional. I doubt many of these are new drivers.
I wonder what is the record length to be on a provisional, I am guessing some of these have renewed since their twenties.
I am also surprised that so many didnt just get the lucky bags when they were out.
It is just more proof that you never really needed a licence to drive in Ireland and that the system allowed it.

Not to be facetious, I do realise it must be pretty daunting to be in the position of having driven for years on an L-plate, to now be forced to pass a test or stop driving. I appreciate for many living alone in the countryside a car is an indispensable lifeline

Nightwish

I know someone who has been on a provisional since 1981. Those elderly motorists mentioned, would any of them be actual learners seeing as if they were driving when they were in their younger adult years they would have been handed full licences as opposed to provisionals. I know a few elderly women who have had to learn to drive in their twilight years after being widowed.

Permabear

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wil

donegalfella wrote: »

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I realise reassurances can mean little to someone in this situation but they claim no degree of computer literacy is required to do the test.
It also provides some form of aural service, perhaps reading the question for people with reading difficulties etc.
Get her around to Tescos or Dunnes for some trial runs on the self service checkouts (which can on occasion be not as simple as they should) then tell her it's is easier than that.

Good point Nightwish about widows who previously relied on their husbands for all their driving. Much as free travel for pensioners there should be some sort of extra assistance for old age learners who cannot avail of public transport or living in the countryside and rely on a car.

I know there have been car pooling initiatives aimed at commuting workers, I have not heard of any such initiatives aimed at elderly people who just need to get to shops, post office etc. One possible solution?

Permabear

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Wishbone Ash

wil wrote: »

2500 over 65 still on provisional. I doubt many of these are new drivers

A year or so ago it was reported that there are 185 persons over 85 years of age on a 1st Provisional Licence.

wil wrote:

I wonder what is the record length to be on a provisional, I am guessing some of these have renewed since their twenties.

I doubt it. Prior to 1964, one could go to the Post Office and buy a licence, (stipulating the categories required).

wil wrote:

I am also surprised that so many didnt just get the lucky bags when they were out.

The 'lucky bag' licences were given out in October 1979 but only to those who were on a 2nd provisional licence and who had applied for a test by a given date of the previous March.

wil

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

A year or so ago it was reported that there are 185 persons over 85 years of age on a 1st Provisional Licence.

I doubt it. Prior to 1964, one could go to the Post Office and buy a licence, (stipulating the categories required).

The 'lucky bag' licences were given out in October 1979 but only to those who were on a 2nd provisional licence and who had applied for a test by a given date of the previous March.

Being completely pedantic about it:D but a person born in 1940 who started driving at 25 (cars were scarce back then) would have to apply for provisional. If as mentioned above it was a woman who married, chances are husband drove and they might never have passed a test. The application of rules regarding ever actually doing a test were pretty lax.
If Gerry Ryans story is anything to go on, the application of rules regarding the "luckybag" licences were a bit lax too. Well why wouldnt they, the system was lax to begin with.

My aunt tells a great story of learning to drive in a coal truck with no brakes - her training consisted of being told where the gears, clutch and accelerator were (brakes irrelevent) then told deliver a load.
En route without brakes she lost control and had to jump off leaving the truck to stop in a ditch.
Needless to say she went on to become a very nervous driver and eventually stopped completely.

Wishbone Ash

wil wrote: »

a person born in 1940 who started driving at 25 (cars were scarce back then) would have to apply for provisional. If as mentioned above it was a woman who married, chances are husband drove and they might never have passed a test. The application of rules regarding ever actually doing a test were pretty lax

But wouldn't they be required to show proof of having done a driving test before being issued with a third or subsequent provisional licence?

wil wrote:

If Gerry Ryans story is anything to go on

What story?

wil wrote:

her training consisted of being told where the gears, clutch and accelerator were (brakes irrelevent) then told deliver a load

I don't see the relevance. Training provided by a private individual or company has no relevance to official training.

wil

wil wrote: »

Being completely pedantic about it:D but a person born in 1940 who started driving at 25 (cars were scarce back then) would have to apply for provisional.

You do realise that generation started working at age 12/13. Or at least they did around my parts.
Anyone I know that age who had to sit a driving test, did so because they let the first full liscense lapse. Maybe because they were a housewife or maybe because they emigrated for a while.
And the subsequent driving test was much easier than todays.

wil

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

But wouldn't they be required to show proof of having done a driving test before being issued with a third or subsequent provisional licence?

AFAIK all that was required was evidence of applying for a test. They could cancel as soon as they renewed their provisional. I know of one individual still without full licence quite recently who had done this for 10 years.

What story?

G Ryan reckons he was the last recipient of the so-called "amnesty" licences a year after they were supposed to have finished. Claimed he cited some legal requirement to display a notice about withdrawal of this licence and was given one on this basis. Anything to shut him up I guess.
As I said, rules are one thing but the system has been lax for so long, I dont think rules were always strictly applied.

I dont see the relevance. Training provided by a private individual or +

Amusing anecdotal illustration of the lack of instruction given or required to people of Gay Byrnes age, and many still have similar attitudes that they have passed on to their children and grandchildren.
I remember kids barely in their teens driving tractors on the roads without any licence. What was required and what actually happened werent necessarily the same thing.

On the other hand, my grandfather RIP, a garda, had little more serious to deal with in his day than people without lights on their bikes.
The times they have a changed and changed back.

Moonbaby wrote:

you do realise.....

I appreciate that.
I think many current licence holders would have difficulty passing a test if required to do so now.

cazzy

A lot of women have to learn to drive after their husbands died so its not the case that these are people on provs for years. My friends mother was widowed in her late fifties. She had to learn to drive in order to get to work - before this her husband dropped her off. Mad thing was she had a full licence as she got it during the amnesty and renewed it when up but she had never driven a car before ! She got professional driving lessons and learnt like anyone else. I say fair play to her - its not easy to learn at that age when you've never driven before and she learnt in her husbands car which was a very big car for learning in ! That was 5 years ago - she s a grand driver now and is so independent.