Driving on the Motorway

lad12

Hi Guys,

I passed my test today and delighted to have it out of the way.

I was told by the tester today that i can drive unaccompanied from now on and take my plates down.

However he told me that i cannot drive on motorways. I'm wondering why I'm still not permitted to drive on the Motorways.

Is this until i get the proper license?

wil

Yes apparently you are not allowed to drive on motorways until you have your actual licence in your hands. The cert/receipt is not sufficient.

Unfortunately the law regarding learners on motorways has largely been ignored (by both learners and gardai) so I would find it difficult to believe a garda would prosecute a newly qualified driver on the motorway after ignoring the thousands of learners who used them every day. Better to get the licence though first.

Well done on passing.

Alanstrainor

You are not allowed to drive on a motorway until you receive your full license. This is just a technicality, until you get your "full license".

meptastic

Personally I think it's a bit mad the way it's done here - that you can't practise motorway driving with an instructor, then, without any practice, once you get your full licence you can do it. I started driving in Germany, but had to come home before I could complete my licence there.

Over there, you do a certain number of hours of driving theory before you are allowed to get actual driving lessons: the theory hours also continue after this, until you take your theory test. After you've had a certain number of general driving lessons, which include in darkness , and if possible other adverse driving conditions (depending on time of year - you can't expect frost or snow in summer!), then also a number of hours of supervised motorway driving are required.

Motorway driving is also a part of the test over there. Now on a decently designed road, motorway driving is among the easiest, but unfortunately we don't seem to be able to design or build any kind of road well here in Ireland, so to forbid supervised practice on motorways, and then suddenly allow their use the minute one gets a full licence strikes me as just one of the lunatic practices that are normal on our roads.

Wishbone Ash

meptastic wrote: »

you can't practise motorway driving with an instructor, then, without any practice, once you get your full licence you can do it

There are many other similar aspects of learning to drive but it would be difficult to encompass all scenarios.

As it is illegal to stop on a motorway, I don't think it would be a good idea to have learners there unless some sort of graduated system was in place.

Those doing the category D lessons and test, do so with just the instructor/examiner as passengers but they are then qualified to drive a bus with up to 140 passengers even though they have only even driven an empty bus.

Similarly, unladen trucks are generally used in tests but once qualified, the licence holder is entitled and expected to operate with a fully laden truck.

wil

meptastic wrote: »

Motorway driving is also a part of the test over there. Now on a decently designed road, motorway driving is among the easiest, but unfortunately we don't seem to be able to design or build any kind of road well here in Ireland, so to forbid supervised practice on motorways, and then suddenly allow their use the minute one gets a full licence strikes me as just one of the lunatic practices that are normal on our roads.

I think you fail to understand the reason for the test.
It is essentially to determine that you are safe to drive unacompanied while you continue to learn. As WA already said, it would be very difficult to cover all eventualities in the test, god knows it's hard enough to get people to pass with what is currently covered.

Yes I agree that some motorway instruction should be done, when I passed, my instructor recommended doing a few motorway lessons and I am glad I did. It is relatively easy but there are a few basics that many people just dont seem to know. But if you have good basics, it is not difficult to pick up.

It is only relatively recently we've had motorways here (although I am not sure most even qualify as real motorways) and as you know things change verrrry slowwly as there is all kinds of resistance among the general public as well as government and enforcement authorities to any change in the status quo.
I am quite happy to see baby steps forward compared to feet of clay for the last few decades.

TBH now that various departments are starting to do something about improving our road safety, it is Joe Public that is providing the greatest resistance to change.