Accompanied driving rules & penalties for noncompliance

The Freeman wrote: »

cheers

its just a shame that i do not have freedom to have the option to drive where i want in the country without having to but a driver to drive over to my house and then drag them along to where i want to go.

in my humble optinion a bit silly there is no other option

How can you possibly say it's a silly rule. If you have to wait another 6 months to do your test, you must have only recently got your 1st Learner Permit, unless you've been driving without any licence up to now, you are a very inexperienced driver.
There is no other country in the EU where you'd be allowed drive on your own. Even if you were to sit your test now, the chances are that you'd find it difficult to pass if you've only just started driving.

and you are right it is not a stupid law but you should be allowed to go for your full test straight away

theocn wrote: »

Why didn't you do the test when you started driving as a teenager? I'm sure there was probably a good reason, but it would have made things a lot easier for you now.

didn't need a car then. ah my rant is over its my own fault for not havin my provisional 6 months ago really to be honest. it would just be so much handier to have more freedom as just finished up work and have more time on my hands to do things like surfing, mma classes and the like(ned a car for them)

donegalfella wrote: »

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your right donegalfella, and too many people die on our roads because of bad/inexperienced drivers. its just awkward that i am put in to a basket of high risk drivers.


i don't agree with the anolagy of the doctor though.;)

donegalfella wrote: »

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not talking about age at all with regards to high risk, referring to the learners permit. is there anything to state that you have to be driving on the road for 6 months before you go for the full licence ? or just that you have to have a learners permit in your possession and not even step behind the wheel?

donegalfella wrote: »

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so there is no 'law' to state that you need to have experience of 6 months on the road driving before you go for your full licence.

thats what i am talking about, there is no differance in me going for my full licence now after driving legally for 3 days on provisional than a guy that takes his full test after having his provisional for 6 months and not stepping behind a wheel until he goes for a test and possibly passes.

see what i am driving at?

its a pointless law unless it is enforced. completely.

donegalfella wrote: »

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i hear ya.

thanks for your advice and info earlier. its greatly appreciated.;)

If you are insured on the car, then i can see no problem with driving it with someone who has held his/her license for at least 2 years. Unless there's a condition in the policy that states otherwise.
Although, if you don't has consent to drive the car that could cause other issues!

I was at work last Saturday and I noticed something about the whole learners permit issue.

I work in a petrol station so naturally I see a hell of a lot of cars but at least 2 cars came into the station driven by people who I knew as fact that they did not have a full license and were still on their provisional (learners permit) but had taken the L plates off their cars and no one in the front seat.
I also saw a fair few people with L plates and no one in the drivers seat.

The people who took the L plates off would be known locally and I can only assume the local Garda would know roughly which car has L plates and which hasn't. Its not a huge town.

Would the Garda be more concerned tracking down the ones with the L plates taken off or the ones without the driver in the front seat?

I have read here that they dont really mind if you are driving well and only if you are driving in an unsafe mannor will they pull you over.
it just strikes me as odd that people would bother taking the L plates off. Its well known that if you drive safe you wont be bothered by the authorities. I dont understand their reasoning behind taking the plates off. If they drive badly they will be pulled over either way and I can assume they will get a bigger fine if they are a learner with no plate.

I most likely will be one of the ones with the L plate and no passenger but only because I need to get to work. Its only a KM down the road but if its raining Ill need to drive rather then walk. Id never take the plate off, it seems nonsensical to me.
I dont get peoples logic sometimes.

donegalfella wrote: »

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Thats a given and is just the letter of the law.

Many people on Boards.ie have no idea what they are talking about, so you'd be advised to apply your common sense to what you read here

Dont worry, I know better not to trust the interwebz

No, this is not "well-known." Are you telling me that all the 6,000 learner drivers detailed in last week's paper were stopped for unsafe driving?

No.

The logic is obvious. For the safety of themselves and everybody else, learner drivers should not be out on the road on their own until they have passed their driving tests. Of all the peoples in the Western world, only the Irish seem to have a problem grasping this fundamental idea.

You seem to have totally misread or misunderstood my post.
My point is that if you have two people taking the same necessary journey and
1) This person decides to be a smart ass and take the plates off since he has no one to drive with.

2) This person keeps the plates on.

The local Garda have an idea of the combination of who and what car should have L plates.

If person 1 is pulled over he is going to be slaughtered compared to person 2 who kept the plates on, drove equally as well on a journey that was equally as important.

The general consensus in my locality and surrounding localities is no matter what the letter of the law is, if you have L plates and driving without a driver in the front seat with you, you are taking an important journey which is a need rather then a want and you are driving in a safe manner you wont be punished.

That is fair for the rural situation, its against the letter of the law but its seen as fair by the enforcers of the law in many localities.

I do get the fundamental idea and I'm sure that is the case for the vast majority of the driving public. The problem that many have is that outside of the urban areas its not practical for this law to be enforced due to infrastructural reasons. You cant say that every town in Ireland is serviced appropriately by public transport now can you?

donegalfella wrote: »

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The fact of the matter is that they do a pretty good job of that. In cities I could imagine that being an impossibility however. They dont know who has passed their test but when you police a reletively small area and a local has an L plate for 6 months you can get an idea, and they do! Conversations with some police confirm that to me.

That might be the "general consensus"—but a learner permit holder who is driving alone is breaking the law regardless of where they are going, or why, or how they are driving. I don't think there's anything to suggest that the 6,000 learner drivers who have been prosecuted over the past year were just "out for a spin" (as opposed to taking an important journey), or were stopped because they were perceived to be driving unsafely.

Again that is a given and I accept that, its the people who dont give any warning of their possible incompetence by taking away the L plate is my problem.

I'm not saying that—I live in a rural part of Co. Donegal myself, and I know how difficult it can be to get around without a car. However, not having access to public transport is no excuse for putting other people's safety at risk. The law applies everywhere in the country, and should be enforced equally everywhere. If you want to drive by yourself, invest the effort and pass the test first.

Yes, it should be enforced equally everywhere, I agree but its straying from my point.

At least the person with the L plate is letting people know that he or she isnt a full license driver.

Id have more a problem with them and people who go out for a spin regardless of their displaying of the L plate rather then the people who need to go somewhere.