"L" tabards,Learner permit holders

navangang

Just wondering how many learners actually were the L tabard?
I used to wear one for like 2 weeks when i started off,within that 2 weeks i had plenty of car drivers beeping there horn at me like crazy when i went 80kmh in a 80kmh zone and literally trying to throw me of my bike by being like inches away from my rear wheel.
But since i havnt been wearing it,ive had no real trouble like when i wore one.
But i was stopped by a guard awhile ago for not wearing one and he told me next time he sees me i better be wearing one.
By the way,ive never seen any bikers wear a vis jacket with an L plate on it.

Oryx

At the start, noone wore them. Its slowly becoming more commonplace, and qualified riders are wearing hi viz more than I recall in the past, too.

But still, every week in the month when bike tests are being held, it seems everyone who is doing one needs to buy the L vest.

Green_Martian

This seems to be culture in this country, if you have L plates up be it on a bike or in a car other drivers seem to think it is an invite to vent frustration.

Don't be put off by wearing it, after all it is the law, just drive more defensive i.e. take a position up in the centre of the lane and do not be bullied, if you feel unsafe if someone is right on your back wheel pull over in a safe spot and let them go by, no point in riding if you feel under pressure as you will not be relaxed and may be more likely to make a mistake, you should be able to go out and enjoy yourself but remember there is always one idiot out there:p

Me personally i used to wear just a high vis not with the L, only time i wore that was for the test, but then after time i didn't bother wearing one

navangang

I still wear the hi vis jacket like,but i was completely shocked with the attitude of drivers towards learner bikers:eek:,i honestly thought it would be the other way around.

oleras

Wear it but stick a backpack on, covered by the law and the idiots behind you are none the wiser.

Stainless_Steel

Had the same experience. Was dangerous wearing one so stopped wearing it. Got sh1t of Garda for it but passed test week later so was no longer required thank god.

Notch000

im just learing now & no way am i going wearing a L plates, its the same for car drivers, everyone else will just piss all over ya with L plates up, that why there becoming increasingly rare sigh on the roads now. I've only ever seen one guy with a L bib on a bike & he seem very shaky on the road so he probably really needed them,
I do however were a hi vis vest all the time, i think every one should....

Chaos Marine

I can agree to this. Just about ever lout in Cork seems to think seeing a biker wearing a high-vis jacket is an excuse to get real close and start reving as if they're going to charge forward at you or others pulling into the lane while motioning you to pull back and let them in. To the ****s with that. Every time they've done that to me, I will purposefully filter ahead of just them and if I can spare the time, I will keep them behind me. Bonus points for being able to do it while maintaining the speed limit.

eurofoxy

well to be quite honest i wore my tabard for the IBT and my pre test lessons and my test... even then i had guys almost coming for me, its unnerving enough starting out without every idiot riding up your arse and being total dicks about it...but the day after my ibt i didn't wear it and all of a sudden there is no rage coming from these sheep...and thats what they are sheep...they are bred to believe that a L sign means you are holding them up and are dangerous on the road, just like all the media would have you believe...but in reality its them driving like cocks thats the dangerous thing...and maybe them putting pressure on people who may not be able to handle such pressure and make a silly mistake as a result...

but when i am touring i do wear a hi-viz jacket(not tabard) as its more comfortable than my leathers and has the same armour...

reece

I wore it for a week or 2 then gave up (didn't want to feel like a target anymore and felt like a knobhead when getting petrol). If you're worried about getting a ticket for not wearing one, just wear it on the front and if asked say - "oh, must have blown off". When I did my test I bought one, scrunched it up a bit, rubbed dirt on it to make it look like Id been wearing it for a while.

josh59

I don't wear one - I should be law - I wear a hi-viz. Will have to get one for the test when I get around to doing it (after I put a few more miles up over the summer).

When my wife was learning to drive a car a while back she encountered several road rage incidents while she had L plates on her car. I told her to rip them off - once she did she was no longer hassled on the road.

Doylers

I wear a high vis (most days) but not one with L plates on it.

Please Kill Me

My missus used to wear one when she started riding, but it was almost like a target on her back for arseholes to give her grief so I told her to stop wearing it. What is it with these twats who think it's ok to bully and intimidate learner drivers?? :mad:

Like others have said I wear a hi-viz every day but I have my full licence from well before the law came in. Those tabards make you look like you're out on a lesson imo.

Hotblack Desiato

This is easily the stupidest law ever enacted in Ireland :rolleyes: a disaster that everyone except the clowns in the RSA could see coming.

Henry Ford III

Honestly I've never seen a biker wearing an L tabard.

gone_fishing

if i seen some one driving up the ass of a learner biker and reving their engine at him i would be pulling up right inbetween him or her and the learner and slowing down to a crawl. for god sake a learner tabard is there so you know to give that person a bit more space and be wary they may make a mistake at any moment, driving up their hole is not going to help any one and the same goes for learners in cars, give them some space we all had to learn at some point

Hotblack Desiato

Problem is the unique Irish driving culture - it used to be quite common for people to drive cars on L-plates for many years, either dodging the test or failing it. So in the public mind, L stopped meaning Learner and started meaning Lunatic, someone incapable of passing the test...

Bikers got to hide their shame by not having to display an L, but it never ceased to amaze me how many riders I got talking to of 10, 15 or more years experience (and not born-agains who'd taken time off) who weren't on full licences.