New mandatory theory test for learner drivers

Kali

Directly from ireland.com :

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People seeking a provisional licence after April 25th will first have to pass a driver theory test, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment Mr Bobby Molloy announced today.

The mandatory theory tests are being introduced to encourage safer driving standards and behaviour, the Minister said.

From tomorrow mandatory theory tests are being introduced to encourage safer driving standards and behaviour

The new test requirement - effective from tomorrow - is to supplement the traditional driving test and will cover the rules of the road, risk perception, hazard awareness, and good driving behaviour.

The Driver Theory Testing Service will commence on June 11th after which date anyone applying for a provisional licence will first have to pass the test.

In the meantime, provisional licences can be obtained for a 90 day period and the balance of the normal two years will be granted on passing the theory test.

Each test will comprise of 40 questions where 35 correct answers will be needed to pass. The theory test will be based on a bank of 743 questions which will be published by the Driver Theory Testing Service in book and CD formats.

Costing £25.20 (applicable for each sitting), it will be a separate charge to the £30 fee for the practical driver test. A theory test certificate will be required with applications for the practical tests, on receipt of which a date for the practical will be set.

A spokeswoman for the Department of the Environment said the theory tests, along with the extra facilities allocated to the driver test service, will help reduce the waiting lists for practical drivers’ tests.

The theory tests are to be conducted on a computerised system. The tests will be offered in Irish and English, and candidates with special needs will be catered for.

There will be 41 test centres throughout the State where an initial 70 jobs will be created.

The new service will be operated as a public private partnership, on the same basis as the National Car Test. The contract for the theory testing was won by Prometic Thomason Learning - part of the Thomason Learning division of the US-based Thomason Corporation - who operates testing in Britain and Northern Ireland.
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glad I passed my test a while back then.. I don't like this extra fee business though, seems very dodgy to me, and then you have to go and fork out extra for the CDs and stuff.

I mean its all commonsense stuff for gods sake, I can't imagine anyone going out on the road without knowing one sign from another, or general road etiquette and rules.
Actually now I see the point of it

LegacyUser

Bleh, why don't they just scrap the whole 'provisional license' thing, and only let people with full drivers licenses on our roads?

You can pass all the theory tests you like, but you could still be a careless, speeding, putting-on-lip-stick-while-on-the-motorway, kinda driver with the reactions of a mime on silly amounts of valium.

How many lives is a theory test going to save?

Question 1 (10 points): Should you travel above the set speed limit while drunk and in wet & foggy conditions? [Yes/No]

Anyone that wants to pass will of course answer 'no', but will it really make them think twice about doing it, five years later when staggering out of the pub, p!ssed as a fart?

I don't think this wonderful new theory test will do a whole lot TBH, at best it'll act as a filter against some of our more clueless drivers.
C'mon tackle the real problems ffs.

ButcherOfNog

its a start, in fact its a good start, before this any half blind 2 brain celled gob****e could wander in and pick up a license.

LegacyUser

the rules of the road are important.
however if the answers must be from the cd-rom's they give out then they are just creating an nice little earner for themselves.
Personaly i think it a great idea, i don't have a problem ( on my first provisional)
but raising the price by 100% is a bit steep !!!!
it's bad enough with the road tax, insurance and stuff like that it makes me want to go out and get a motorbike !!!!

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No !!!!! I will crush you with my Bare hands

Cloud

Haha! I can laugh now because unless I forget to renew my license in 2005 I won't have to do that theory test! WooHoo!

LegacyUser

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by ButcherOfNog:
its a start, in fact its a good start, before this any half blind 2 brain celled gob****e could wander in and pick up a license.</font>

hey!

Mills

It's probably a good idea but it came at a bit of a bad time for me, 5 days short of my 17th birthday, could they not have waited another week? I'd imagine the test will be pretty easy, common sense stuff, but still, it's another £25

LegacyUser

This is long overdue. I agree that the pricing is a bit steep, but our good friends in the government have said that this should reduce the cost of first time insurance. And of course I believe that.

It is still a bit weird though that you can drive to your driving test, fail and then drive home afterwards.

LegacyUser

ummm.....no you can't. The guards are meant to be cracking down on learner drivers driving alone/unsupervised. It probably won't happen but it'd be easy enough to pull every car with a L plate and one person in it.

Personally I'm delighted with the new theroy test but don't think it goes far enough (the extra cost is a bit harsh though). There are some truly awful drivers out there, and if you look at my 'another dream car thread' on after hours, most people don't even know what all the road signs mean. And it amazes me when someone goes around a roundaboput correctly

I think everybody should have to go for a theory test every year for the first few years, then every 5 years from then on. I'd hate to waste my time with it but people just do not know the rules of the road.

I think a car-control test would be good for learners too. When you first get into a car you're all over the shop.

Neil3030

I dunno. my sister got a car. she hass an L pl8. driving in town one night (by herself) the guards drove up beside her, indicated to her to turn her lights on, gave her thumbs up and drove off. the dont seem to be cracking down. also my mother drives my sisters car sometimes. she has a full license but when she is in my sisters car she drives up and down the m50 loads of times, passing or being passed by many's the squad car, she doesnt get pulled over, even though the l plates are n de windeh.

as i say. i dunno.

LegacyUser

as I said : "meant to be cracking down"

The guards tend to be a bit inconsistant.

Trojan

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Blitzkrieger:

The guards tend to be a bit inconsistant.</font>

rotfl! no sh!t

Anyways, I'm still an L-plate after failing my test back 2 years ago. I've been driving for 4 & 1/2 years now and there's no way in hell you'll get me to drive from Castlebar, Mayo, to Swords, Co. Dublin, without taking a motorway. Forget it, I'm not going via Cork no matter what you think.

Despite being a very confident driver (try the Galway roundabouts during rush hour), I am sh!tless of doing my test again due to the first failure. Reasons btw? - 1/ the guy thought I didn't look around enough, 2/ I wasn't || to the kerb on reverse - err, who here has reversed round a kerb keeping within 6" parallel in normal driving conditions lately then?

Fúck that whole thing, I'll keep my provisional til I've the time and the money to take the stupid lessons again.

Why does everything in this country to do with driving cost us so much? Forget double taxation, it's treble, quad, quintuple...

Anyways thats my rant. Comments on your perception of my driving ability to whatsnaive@127.0.0.1 , cheers.

Al.

Mills

Around here, guards never, every bother with that "Must be accompanied by a qualified driver" rule at all, the only time they'll enforce it is if you're driving recklessly. Nobody i know has ever had bother with it before at any rate.