[hobochris]

Originally Posted by me_shell_86

yes and every car accident in Ireland is caused by provisional drivers

R.O.R never implied that.

The fact of the matter is, you are expected to abide by the law and when driving do so in a safe manner while observing the rules of the road.

The test is in place to make sure you can drive to a certain standard, abide by the rules of the road and drive safely.

Weather some fully licensed drivers seem worse on the roads or not is irreverent to the fact that they have at one stage proved they can drive in a competent and safe manor unlike provisional drivers who have not yet proved this through the test.

If fully licensed drivers want to flaunt the rules of road then they risk losing their privilege of driving, as do learners who do likewise, but the difference is the learner is risking a privilege they have not yet earned by proving themselves competent and safe through the test.

[Wishbone Ash]

Originally Posted by me_shell_86

some driving testers are grand but some of them fail you on the slightest little thing

That's a myth usually peddled by those who have been unsuccessful. You need to have had several "slighest little things" in different categories and combinations before failing a test.

No one fails a driving test on "the slightest little thing".

[mondeo]

Lots of people driving alone with their L plates up and they dont appear to be stopped. Their is not a witch hunt going on like people initially thought their would be when the law was first brought in. You could take your L plates off and get away with it for the moment if your careful and not cutting corners and taking wide left turns which makes it obvious you took your L plates off.

The driving testers have to have a certain number of pass's and fails each month so you could become a fail statistic even if you are a perfect driver...

[ardmacha]

Their is not a witch hunt going on

So law enforcement against delinquents is a "witch hunt".

The driving testers have to have a certain number of pass's and fails each month so you could become a fail statistic even if you are a perfect driver...

Bollix.

I think the government lost the plot on this one. Having finally ended the ridiculous situation where you could fail a driving test and just drive off, they had a long period for people to get used to the idea. They should have brought in regulations prohibiting the display of L plates by by other than learner drivers and should have stopped everyone with L plates and one person in the car, or on motorways etc. They should have sought from insurance companies a list of vehicles insured for learner drivers, to assist detection of those not displaying L plates. People could have had a warning, but this would recorded and any further offence would have be enforced.

This would have seen motoring laws being respected, for once, rather than a situation where the least experienced drivers are the least law abiding.

[mondeo]

Originally Posted by ardmacha

So law enforcement against delinquents is a "witch hunt".



Bollix.

I think the government lost the plot on this one. Having finally ended the ridiculous situation where you could fail a driving test and just drive off, they had a long period for people to get used to the idea. They should have brought in regulations prohibiting the display of L plates by by other than learner drivers and should have stopped everyone with L plates and one person in the car, or on motorways etc. They should have sought from insurance companies a list of vehicles insured for learner drivers, to assist detection of those not displaying L plates. People could have had a warning, but this would recorded and any further offence would have be enforced.

This would have seen motoring laws being respected, for once, rather than a situation where the least experienced drivers are the least law abiding.

It's not "Bollix" Ask a tester and they will tell you they have to have a percentage of pass's and fails...

"witch hunt being a figure of speech"

[VolvoMan]

Originally Posted by R.O.R

Well, if they are that good - WHY DON'T THEY PASS THE FU**ING TEST???

The driving test is the luck of the draw for some. There are test centres that have a dreadful pass rate and some people are unlucky enough to get them when they apply for the test. Other people can be rubbish drivers and it can be the other way around.

[Ally Dick]

Lets face the facts a) Irish cops are extremely lazy and brassed off with the government for being included in the pension levy
b) This is reflected in the huge amount of law breaking going on

[kbannon]

moved to LTD!

[Wishbone Ash]

Originally Posted by VolvoMan

There are test centres that have a dreadful pass rate and some people are unlucky enough to get them when they apply for the test

Eh, the candidate selects the test centre!

What test centres have a "dreadful" pass rate?

No matter how high an average is, someone has to be at the bottom of an overall list.

If you were to list the top speeds of all Ferraris made over the past 20 years, one model has to be the slowest. Does that mean that it is a slow car?

[Wishbone Ash]

Originally Posted by mondeo

The driving testers have to have a certain number of pass's and fails each month so you could become a fail statistic even if you are a perfect driver...

It's times like these that we need a massive 'roll eyes' icon!

[DrivingMad]

Statistics...../ numbers...... hmmmm
I have my own statistics. In the last two years, two members of my family have been involved in accidents with two learner drivers. One was so serious that my relative nearly died.
I do have to wonder if the law had been enforced, would these two accidents have occurred?
(Yes I know the new law was only passed last year on 2nd permit holders, these two accidents were by first year permit holders, which to my knowledge, has always prohibited them from driving unaccompanied. I'm sure I will be corrected if not.)

These are my statistics and dont personally feel that there is any excuse for this law not to be enforced.
Having said that, pleeeaaase instead of thinking of ways to outsmart this law, why not just go for it and pass your test?

[ardmacha]

The driving testers have to have a certain number of pass's and fails each month so you could become a fail statistic even if you are a perfect driver..

There are test centres that have a dreadful pass rate and some people are unlucky enough to get them when they apply for the test

Let's see if I have this right. So testers are required to have a specific number of passes and failures, but this number differs from centre to centre. This must be confusing if a tester goes to work in another centre! You would think they would just "force" the testers to have the same pass rate everywhere.

[ztoical]

Originally Posted by me_shell_86

but 2nd provisional drivers should have enough experience to be able to drive without someone beside you who cant do anything anyway.....

your assuming that someone on a 2nd provisional has been driving for at least two years on a 1st before getting a 2nd but in alot of cases people applied for a 1st provisional and never used it. They either got it just to use as id or they planned to learn to drive but something came up. I got my 1st provisional but then moved to New York so when I came home and wanted to learn to drive I ended up on a 2nd provisional having never sat behind the wheel of a car.

[messygirl]

Originally Posted by Ally Dick

Lets face the facts a) Irish cops are extremely lazy and brassed off with the government for being included in the pension levy
b) This is reflected in the huge amount of law breaking going on

excuse me but my brother is a garda and he spends too much time on rape cases and child abuse cases to be worrying about learner drivers. His friend in garda college had a gun pulled on hi, when chasing on foot a robber and my brother had drugged up men attack him with slash hooks so PLEASE don't make assumptions that all gardai are lazy, my dad is also a cop and when I was young he would be working every christmas day, every new year night, asleep during the day because he was on shift duty, got chased and nearly killed by a guy on lsd and broke his two hands while on duty, so if you have met every single garda in the country and observed what they have done and still deem them lazy then I will take my post back, but blaming law breaking on cops caring less because of the pension levy is ridiculous, next you will be having a go at the teachers, maybe they are involved in some conspiracy too to wreck the country with their laziness. I personally would prefer to se the gardai working on the biggest killers like speed and drugs and drink

Regarding the 10 lessons my bad I heard they were going to bring in a rule saying you had so much experience and lessons before you could take the test, open to corrections.

When i did my test I had a perfect sheet except for gears (as in an estate i should have been driving on 4th apparently but stayed on 3rd) can you tell me how gears makes me an unsafe driver?had like 5 ticks, which personally i think is ridiculous because i always drive between 2-2500 revs which is what my car can handle, and i had taken about 8 driving lessons before that

Driving mad I am very sorry to hear about your relatives,it must be heard wondering what if all the time, my cousin died because he wasnt wearing his seatbelt about 15 years ago and it was traumatic for his parents, if the government had made it their job to ensure everyone was wearing setabelts he could be married with kids by now, this must be a tough topic for you.

[not14talk]

Originally Posted by Paulw

They very much should enforce it. It's the law.

A prime example was on Traffic Blues - a woman, learner driver, L plates up, driving alone (no full license with her) with 5 kids in the back (not wearing belts), and she tried to reverse away from a Garda checkpoint, but yet when the Gardai got to her, they just spoke to her, nothing more than that - a warning.

Now, she was a danger to herself, the kids, and cars around (as she tried to escape the checkpoint). Surely that should be dealt with????

She got two penalty point for the kids not wearing there seat belts and at the time of the recording of the program there was no penalty points for driving unaccompanied which there is now.

I am a learner and as much as I find it a pain in the ass to find someone to come with me I do think its a good law even though its not enforced. Like people using 'there is no public transport where I live' excuse to them driving unaccompanied is just stupid waiting times are now down from 48 to 10 weeks and you should take the time to do your test.