"New Driver Attitudes/Habits Survey"

Kell

Folks,

Not sure if this is the right place for this but-

as some of you probably heard on the news today, a "new study" has shown that Irish driving habits are extremely poor and in spite of safety campaigns, is getting worse.

Spouting my own point of view, I believe the bad habits come down to 2 things-

1) Poor schooling- I think the system we have over here sucks and there should be a minimum term applied in all driving conditions before someone can sit let alone pass a test. I also think no provisionals should be allowed drive without a fully licensed passenger in the car á la our closest neighbours the UK. No one in the UK on a provisional gets into a car without a fully licensed driver and hey, road deaths are half per capita that than of Eire.

2) Total lack of enforcement of road laws- I laughed some months ago when the Garda Commissioner stated that there was enough cops out there to successfully police the road. People need to be slapped across the wrist for even minor offenses in order to understand that they are doing wrong. I also think, with the exception of knowingly speeding, most people are genuinely unawares as to what are good or bad driving behaviours and without the laws being enforced, how are they supposed to find out?

I would be interested in anyone elses comments regarding the report and what you think are the causes of such poxy road habits in this country.

K-

seamus

Just on the point of the report - what I saw of it, had them drawing conclusions from what was unlinked data.

For example, the general tone they give is that Irish drivers are getting worse. But then they went on to say that 75% of drivers had admitted to using a mobile while driving at some point, and 50% (or so) had admitted to texting at some point. But...hang on. How does that indicate a progressive worseness? Take me for example. I would be in both of those categories. Yet I haven't done either in at least four years. How does that indicate "getting worse"?

I'll comment more when I have time.

alias no.9

The survey, as reported on the news last night, did seem to lack any scientific foundation.

My own observation on the matter is that more and more people are breaking red lights, it's not the amber gambler anymore, it seems to be the 5 second rule, if the lights are red for less than 5 seconds, keep going. This is probably one of the easiest things to crack down on but there seems to be no effort to do so.

the_syco

Kell wrote:

I also think no provisionals should be allowed drive without a fully licensed passenger in the car á la our closest neighbours the UK.

...

Total lack of enforcement of road laws

I think that, by law, L-Drivers are meant to have a fully licensed passenger in the car, but everyone ignores that law.

Litcagral

L drivers are only required to have a fully qualified driver for the first, third and subsequent years. This applies to category B only, all other categories are exempt from this rule.

el tel

alias no.9 wrote:

The survey, as reported on the news last night, did seem to lack any scientific foundation.

My own observation on the matter is that more and more people are breaking red lights, it's not the amber gambler anymore, it seems to be the 5 second rule, if the lights are red for less than 5 seconds, keep going. This is probably one of the easiest things to crack down on but there seems to be no effort to do so.

Regards the red lights, I agree with what you say. I come from the North but live in Dublin and I am now only getting used to people running red lights which seems so frequent. It's not even a case of sneaking/trickling through, it's blatant fly-pasts. I see this all the time and wonder why the pedestrians who are almost run over don't even look annoyed - as if the practice was acceptable. In the UK if you were caught doing this you would be in trouble - penalty points for sure.

The same goes for using mobile phones when driving. It's not even a specific offence here.

elexes

the uk tho has a very good testing system and you are not going to have to wait more then 7 weeks for your test to come up .

i dont actually think using the uk as a example to compair ireland is a good example . the uk roads generally are better well thats just my own personal opinion which i picked up when driving to manchester . i dont know what the roads in scotland are like but im sure they are better then roads in sligo/cavan

seamus

Litcagral wrote:

L drivers are only required to have a fully qualified driver for the first, third and subsequent years. This applies to category B only, all other categories are exempt from this rule.

Not quite. Categories A1, A, M and W never require a qualified driver with them. Category B, as you state, must be accompanied for their first, third and subsequent licences.
All other categories must be accompanied at all times.

Hotblack Desiato

One major problem here (which was supposed to be dealt with years ago :rolleyes: ) is the fact that any gobsh**e can set up a driving school and then go around teaching their bad habits to their unsuspecting pupils...