Bus driver banned for going too slow?

I failed my full license test for progress on the straight

I can't imagine how you could lose your licence for going too slow because there isn't any offence under the RTA which relates to going too slow. He might have been sacked from a job with a bus company because there is obviously a requirement to get passengers from A to B at a reasonably fast rate and then turn the bus around for the return trip so if you drove too slowly it would eventually be grounds for dismissal.

Going Forward wrote: »

but it seems the driver was penalised for driving a bus carefully.

Your falling for the RSA "Speed Kills" BS. Just because someone is driving slowly doesn't mean they are driving carefully.

My father drives slowly but he's a dangerous driver.

Going Forward wrote: »

Did anyone else hear Noel Brett with Matt Cooper today (16/3/12) mentioning a case where a bus driver lost his license after being pulled up for going too slowly? Seems quite harsh IMO.

He referred to it in response to a texter complaining of being currently stuck behind a caravan somewhere. No mention of the fact that the driver shouldnt have been texting.

I believe Noel Brett may have been referring to the famous case in 2009 of the Mayo farmer who was summoned for failing to pay an on-the-spot fine and was also summoned for not driving with reasonable consideration for other road users as he refused to pull in on his his way home from the mart.
The 12 month ban only applied to his driving a tractor.

He was a part-time bus driver who received a safety award from Bus Éireann, so that's where the bus driver reference come from imo.



http://www.mayonews.ie/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6475&Itemid=38

Joko wrote: »

You will fail your driving test for not keeping up with traffic.

No you wont, its not a race.

Hilly Bill wrote: »

No you wont, its not a race.

Yes you will, I was failed on my driving test for driving too slowly. I was driving down the main street in Carrick on Shannon, the road is one way and there is only one lane for driving, speed limit was 30 mph. I was driving at 22/23 mph, it's damn near impossible to drive on that street at 30 on a normal day , between the narrow space available for driving, traffic and pedestrians crossing all the time. Anyway I was failed for driving too slow, so yes it is possible.

MYOB wrote: »

Yes you will. If you've actually DONE a driving test you should be aware of the category of mark-downs for "failure to make progress".

Driving too slowly and dawdling at non-controlled junctions waiting for huge gaps are what you get marked down for on this.

If everyone else is doing 60km/h in a 50km/h zone and you decide to keep up with traffic, of course your going to loose marks on your test. Its a fine line.

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Yes you will, I was failed on my driving test for driving too slowly. I was driving down the main street in Carrick on Shannon, the road is one way and there is only one lane for driving, speed limit was 30 mph. I was driving at 22/23 mph, it's damn near impossible to drive on that street at 30 on a normal day , between the narrow space available for driving, traffic and pedestrians crossing all the time. Anyway I was failed for driving too slow, so yes it is possible.

The speed limit is the max that you can drive at not the required driving speed .
If you got failed for driving at that speed in that condition then you were hard done by as you drive to the conditions of the road not to the max speed limit. Driving too slow on that road would be going around 5/10 mph with the road being clear of other vehicles and pedestrians .

foggy_lad wrote: »

You are failed for a lack of competence leading to you being too nervous to drive at a similar speed to other road users who are driving within the speed limits and obeying the rules of the road and all applicable traffic laws!

we have all encountered the drivers on the motorway on-ramps who actually slow down on the slip road looking for a gap so they can join the motorway, or people who's driving causes issues to others because they slow down when they should logically be speeding up or drive very slowly when there is no reason for it!

You are suppose to drive at you own pace ( within reason ) and not the other cars. Just because a car may be tailgating you it doesnt mean you should go faster or you should catch up with the car in front.
As for cars slowing down on the on- ramps, should they just continue on and just hope someone will make room for them or is it best to adjust your speed to filter in safely? In your opinion Foggy it seems they shouldnt adjust their speed at all but just go for it and hope for the best.

Agreed
Its all down to driving to the conditions of the road be it in a built up area or the motorway or a main road . I saw a driving instructor the other day making the learner drive in a bus lane just because the learner was going slowish, which wont help the learner come the test.
There is driving slow for a reason and then there is driving slow for no other reason than a lack of confidence which i agree should be a fail on the test but i still think that rainbowtrout was hard done by in his scenario unless there was more to it than the speed.

foggy_lad wrote: »

If you are pulling onto a motorway or carriageway where traffic is travelling at 50-60mph you are failing to progress if you don't try to match the speed of the traffic before getting to the end of the feeder lane. To try to filter into a lane of faster moving traffic when you have not reached the same speed even though you have been afforded adequate time and space to reach a safe speed is just dangerous and a lack of consideration for other road users as you will force many of them to brake violently to avoid collision with your vehicle.

If a driver doesn't have the competence to negotiate such junctions or drive at a reasonable speed like other road users are capable of then maybe they should question their need to be driving at all.

In my opinion they should match the speed of the traffic they are joining before they reach the end of the feeder lane or slip road and if a driver finds they are unable to do this on a regular basis they should consider surrendering their license.

What if they are driving something that has a lower speed limit than the traffic? Like a bus limited to 65 in a 120

foggy_lad wrote: »

Not having been in Carrick on shannon on the day one will never know the circumstances behind the situation rainbowtrout described but it may have happened because the tester felt opportunities existed to pass parked vehicles more quickly than happened or possible that traffic lights showing green signals were passed too slowly? It could also have been a driving tester who viewed things differently to many others who may have passed rainbowtrout on the day, There appears to be a lot of inconsistency in testing centres wen it comes to people passing, some testers fail far more than others while some testing centres fail far less than others.

I know myself that Naas used to have some of the hardest test routes in the country because all the road markings through the town were old and almost worn away but if you were not in the correct lane you would lose points or fail, this could have been a contributing reason for rainbowtrout's test failure in Carrick on Shannon.

Carrick doesn't have any traffic lights, one pedestrian crossing went in a couple of years ago, but that was long after my test.

It was a long time ago now so it's not like it matters, but there is very little room for manouevre on that street if you look at the link I posted above, but what happened before the test may have coloured the driving instructors view of me.

I was living in Limerick but was in the process of moving to Roscommon. Didn't know where I was going to be living because I hadn't got accommodation sorted yet for a new job, but I knew that the closest test centre to the town I was going to be living in was Carrick, so I put down my Limk address for correspondance.

Anyway when I went into the test centre, the tester questioned me on it as in 'Why did you put down Carrick if you live in Limerick?' Fair question I suppose, but not really any of her business. I explained my situation.

Anyway when I got back to the centre after my test and questioned the 'failure to make progress' on my sheet, she said 'You were doing 22-23 mph in a 30 zone ..... you wouldn't do that in Limerick now would you'....:mad:

I'm still living in the Carrick area and I don't think I've ever been able to get above 30 mph on that road due to the layout except late at night, when there are no pedestrians, no traffic, no cars parked.

Anyway did my test again about 6 months later in Carrick - got a different tester and had no faults. Nothing radically changed about my driving.

Losty Dublin wrote: »

Look closer at the pass rates around the east and midlands. They are overall far lower in Leinster than in the west, south and north of the country. It may say more about poor driver habits amongst younger people, local road conditions that may lead to a higher failure rate, a lack of ADIR instructors in these areas or some other factors. The test is a standardised test with set skill sets to be marked upon; there must be other factors at play here to make such a difference.

Well it is and it isn't. A person can be failed on a mistake they make on a roundabout or set of traffic lights in a large town, but if they don't exist in a rural testing area they can't be failed (or tested on them). So they are not being tested in exactly the same way.

Again a driver could fail on incorrect usage of lanes in a large town but perhaps not in a small one.

I still find it amusing that it is possible to pass a driving test (in Carrick) without every possibly having encountered a set of traffic lights.

Also places like Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Sligo etc provide similar driving conditions to those found in Dublin, so there shouldn't be a huge difference in pass rates.

opinion guy wrote: »

Is this s hyopthetical or are buses limited to 65 ???

Buses with standing passengers (ie: city buses) are limited to 65. Buses with seated passengers are limited to 80 on single carriageway roads and 100 on dual carriageways.

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Well it is and it isn't. A person can be failed on a mistake they make on a roundabout or set of traffic lights in a large town, but if they don't exist in a rural testing area they can't be failed (or tested on them). So they are not being tested in exactly the same way.

Again a driver could fail on incorrect usage of lanes in a large town but perhaps not in a small one.

I still find it amusing that it is possible to pass a driving test (in Carrick) without every possibly having encountered a set of traffic lights.

Also places like Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Sligo etc provide similar driving conditions to those found in Dublin, so there shouldn't be a huge difference in pass rates.

Fair point though in essence there is no such thing as a rural or urban test per se.

Stark wrote: »

Buses with standing passengers (ie: city buses) are limited to 65. Buses with seated passengers are limited to 80 on single carriageway roads and 100 on dual carriageways.

There's very few cases of city buses on 120's - one 66X a morning and possibly some along the M11 come to mind, 88N maybe also.

Hilly Bill wrote: »

What if i was driving a hearse?

:rolleyes:

I'm guessing from your posts that you're one of those people who enjoys crawling around holding people up so there's no point in arguing with you.

opinion guy wrote: »

If you are driving significantly lower than the legal limit you are putting others at risk. Its just that simple. You create more turbulence in the traffic flow. Its dangerous for everyone - including you.

There isnt a lower limit but common sense should prevail. Now the limit on the quays prevents you going any slower as that would be stopping.

What is significantly lower than the legal limit?