Accompanied driving rules & penalties for noncompliance

Permabear

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The Freeman

donegalfella wrote: »

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thank you for the that.

shame there is no leniancy with regards to the first 6 months that you have the provisional, as i can not go for your full test straight away and have to wait for 6 whole months to drive legally even though i am safer than most on the road.

Permabear

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The Freeman

donegalfella wrote: »

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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

brian076

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.

The Freeman

brian076 wrote: »

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.

my father was a driving instructer, i lwearnt to drive when i was a teenager with over 50 hours of lessons. i am now 25 years of age and took lessons again before i got a ar to 'brush up' and make sure i am safe on the road.

i am just pissed off i don't have options but to bug my mates that have a laicence.

i can't bring my mates to my family 20 miles away if i want to go for a visit for an hour, and i am sure i my girlfriend that lives an hour away would not appreciate my mate coming along to stay the night as he 'needs to be in the passenger side'(or maybe she would:P)

The Freeman

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

theocn

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.

The Freeman

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)

Permabear

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The Freeman

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.;)

Permabear

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The Freeman

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?

Permabear

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The Freeman

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.

Permabear

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The Freeman

donegalfella wrote: »

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i hear ya.

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

Lux.

Hey, just have a question that hopefully someone knows the answer to! I'm currently learning to drive on my provisional licence and always drive with either my mam or dad in the car with me. I am insured with my mam's car.

This weekend I want to go driving with a friend who has her full licence but my mother thinks I'm not allowed cos I'm only insured to drive with her or dad in the car? Is this true? Both parents are going away this weekend and I'd like to be able to get some practice in!

Thanks.

EDIT: They're taking my dad's car, so it would still be my mam's car I'd be driving, not my friend's.

Alanstrainor

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!

Lux.

Alanstrainor wrote: »

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!

Good to know! Yep she's had hers for 3 years now. I wouldn't think there's a special condition in the insurance about that, but I was just confused cos I didn't know the ins and outs of what I'm actually allowed do. I'd say my mother would be grand with me driving it with my friend if I tell her it's not illegal or whatever! Thanks.

GTE

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.

Permabear

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GTE

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?

Permabear

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GTE

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.

Richie15

The reason people take down their L-plates is so not to draw attention to themselves, but personally I think it's a stupid thing to do. Working from the letter of the law, you're doubling the fine if you do happen to get caught.

But even if you do get a reasonable Garda, who'll pretend to believe your "my mam's usually with me but she's in hospital" story (it was true the first time I used it, I swear!) to avoid the paperwork, if you try and make him look like an eejit by thinking "I've no L-plate, this gob****e's not gonna know I'm a learner" of course he's gonna smack you in the face with a €2000 fine! It's basic human instinct to be a bastard to someone who's a bastard to you.

Permabear

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Sunjammer

I wonder just how many of that 6000 were actually stopped for some other reason for example a few months ago in Cork 140 boy & girl racers were pulled having caused havoc for several hours on the outskirts of the city one Saturday night, the following Saturday night over 100 boy and girl racers were also stopped in a town 10 miles from the city this is a fairly regular occurrence so I'm sure between all the 26 counties it wouldn't take long to clock up 6000 of em

G_H

i was stopped at a checkpoint the other night i had my l plates up the gard just asked me did i own the car wich i didnt because its my sisters its an 06 focus and do i have proof of insurance and when he was satisfied he let me go and just said drive safe i just found out of a lad that i know he was caught today in a banger with no tax nct or insurance and he reconds he will get banned(rightfully so) so personly i think they deal with ever case differntly and that if you dont have an attitude and do things right they show a bit of lenency because at the end of the day there not ticks and they know who there looking for

Seth Brundle

common sense policing?


(thats one long sentence G H - do you speak without breaks )