Permit Holders & Motorways

Brendan552004

My daughter is a student with a part time job. She lives in D18 and works in the Carrickmines retail center. The Carrickmines exit from the M50 is currently closed because of Luas works. she has 3 options to drive to work:

1) up Leopardstown Road, through Westwood (very dangerous) then over the flyover to Carrickmines, Westwood closes if there is horse racing on.

2) up Leopardstown Road, past Bewleys to the next roundabout, down Ballyogan road (which has major Luas works) and then turn up to Carrickmines, this route includes the Leopardstown Roundabout.

3) down the road to Loughlinstown, over the Cherrywood flyover, on to the M50 for less than a mile, then take the Carrickmines exit.

The 3rd option is the safest route, first of all is she insured on the M50, is it illegal and if so are the Gardai implementing the law, I see more cars with L plates on the M50 than cars that have not. She drives unaccompanied, which seems to be another law that is not being implemented.

Saint_Mel

It is against the law for a holder of a Learner Permit to drive on the motorway
and also to drive unaccompanied.

I'm sure this would null and void her insurance, but dont take my word for it
as I'm not well versed in these situations. Something more specific might be stated in the policy.

Whether or not the Gardai implement the law is a different story altogether

bigpinkelephant

As far as I know, an insurance company might cover her for driving unaccompanied but they will not step up to motorway coverage- especially the M50. How long is she driving?

Stark

Brendan552004 wrote:

1) up Leopardstown Road, through Westwood (very dangerous) then over the flyover to Carrickmines, Westwood closes if there is horse racing on.

How is it dangerous? Surely she's the competency to handle the majority of normal driving situations if you're letting her drive on her own.

And yes, it is illegal for her to drive on the M50. It's also unsafe if she's not yet able to handle a car properly. The traffic on the motorway can be moving at 120km/hr, and she has to be able to safely merge with that traffic.

Noelie

What's so dangerous about westwood, surely it can't be anymore dangerous than a learner using the motorway, loosing her concentration as she merges onto the motorway for one moment is all it takes and the cars travellign on the M50 are goign a lot faster so a crash would probably be more destructive.

The longer route by ballyogan would only add maybe 10 minutes onto the journey, it's not like she is saving an hour by using the M50.

Also option 3 makes her drive past Luas works, the raod marking as all messed up and i have seen plenty of cars cutting lanes due to them.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Wishbone Ash

Brendan552004 wrote: »

I see more cars with L plates on the M50 than cars that have not

A bit of an exaggeration Brendan!!

Just because a vehicle displays an L plate, it does not necessarily indicate that the driver has a Provisional Licence/Learner Permit.

Brendan552004

Thanks a million for all your replies, I contacted the Insurance company and they confirmed what I thought, she is not insured on the M50.

I was advising her not to drive on the M50, her argument was that all her friends who have learner permits are using the M50.

There are two Indian gentlemen who work in the local garage, both on learner permits, they drive from Lucan everyday using the M50, they have been stopped in various road checks, the gardai have never taken any action, they wave them on.

To back up my argument, I have shown her your replies, she has promised that she will not drive on the M50 until she is licensed to do so.

Holsten

Haha you really think that promise is worth anything?

She'll do it, doubt anything will happen though.