Young new drivers face year-long passenger ban

Cookie_Monster

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NEWLY qualified young drivers face a possible year-long ban on carrying passengers to stop them being distracted and crashing.

The radical proposal is being considered by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) following months of consultation involving all the road safety agencies, the Irish Independent has learned.

Research shows young drivers aged 17 to 24 who are accompanied by two friends are 86pc more likely to have a fatal crash than if they were on their own in the car.

The distraction of engaging with friends makes inexperienced drivers lose significant concentration and they are prone to crash.

"Their concentration goes with the gags, the chat and the radio," RSA chairman Gay Byrne told the Irish Independent.

"And one of the boys is bound to say 'Hey, Mick, this is a high-performance car. Let's see what she can do'.

"Two miles down the road they slam into a tree or a wall and they are all dead," he said. :rolleyes:

"The proposal is that for between six and 12 months after they pass the test, the young driver could not carry any passengers.

"The problem with young fellas is that you cannot get to them unless there is enforcement, and they get the message," he added.

Mr Byrne yesterday said the measure would first have to be approved by the RSA board as part of the ongoing overhaul of the driver licensing regime.

He said the restriction could be in place for between six months and a year.

Yesterday the Irish Independent revealed almost 14,000 learner drivers have been summonsed for driving without L-plates or for being unaccompanied by a qualified driver.

The road safety supremo and broadcaster said it was very disappointing so many people had blatantly disregarded the law.

Mr Byrne added: "But it just shows that if you persist (in breaking the law ) you will be caught."

Ahead of the notoriously treacherous May bank holiday weekend, he pleaded with all drivers to drive carefully and reduce their speed, as this was the single biggest cause of deaths on Irish roads.

Just came across this on the Indo site. Gaybo spouting off again.

I think this is a bit of an odd rule they're looking at and largely pointless and considering how many rules go unenforced why bring in stuff like this to make peoples lives harder when proper training and enforcement of the current rules would be more effective.

It'll be radios and mp3 banned next at the rates he's going.

Personally I always drive more carefully and reserved if there is anyone else in the car than I do on my own, "the lads" included. but thats just me

Mr. Presentable

It's not odd at all. In many countries unqualified drivers are forbidden from having such passengers.

I agree on the enforcement (or lack thereof) part though. They need to be nailing unaccompanied learners to the wall. Otherwise we are just back to how it was ten years ago.

matrim

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

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Just came across this on the Indo site. Gaybo spouting off again.

I think this is a bit of an odd rule they're looking at and largely pointless and considering how many rules go unenforced why bring in stuff like this to make peoples lives harder when proper training and enforcement of the current rules would be more effective.

It'll be radios and mp3 banned next at the rates he's going.

Personally I always drive more carefully and reserved if there is anyone else in the car than I do on my own, "the lads" included. but thats just me

It's a bit of a strange one given that to learn you must have an instructor (or at least a passenger with a license) so you should be used to driving with someone in the car beside you.

You also have to look at how to enforce it. Will they have a sign to say they are newly qualified or will Guards have to randomly stop any car with a young looking driver and passengers?

jim_bob

so once you pass you exam ... the fully qualified driver that has been sitting next to you while you where a learner for the last while is now a distraction

Where do they get this crap from

Berty

Banning friends. Nice one government.

What are the chances that girls will be allowed passengers but not blokes?

antodeco

It makes more sense to have a ban on certain engine sizes. If its an issue of "lets see what this high performance car can do" then limiting engine size will help.

ART6

jim_bob wrote: »

so once you pass you exam ... the fully qualified driver that has been sitting next to you while you where a learner for the last while is now a distraction

Where do they get this crap from

It falls into the same category as engaging the gear before engaging the brain. Speak first, think after.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

vectra

So does this mean I must accompany my son to the test center as he cannot drive....He passes his test and I have to walk home....:D
Good man Gay.. "should have stuck to the Late late show" :pac:

KamiKazi

Now yiz have a glimmer of how much crap motorcyclists have to put up with from the RSA.

Maybe I'll bump the restriction thread :cool:

Cookie_Monster

vectra wrote: »

So does this mean I must accompany my son to the test center as he cannot drive....He passes his test and I have to walk home....:D
Good man Gay.. "should have stuck to the Late late show" :pac:

maybe they'll modify this idea a bit so its only lads under 25* or good looking wimminz with large chests that are banned from accompanying you...

*cos we all know these people are inherently irresponsible according to the likes of gaybo

bongi69

So maybe the RSA will ban people from using mobile phones behind the wheel because they are a distraction? Or maybe putting make up on at the wheel can be outlawed? Oh wait................

This is more rediculous tripe spewing from Mr. Road (not living in the real world) Safety. So a newly qualified driver after learning to drive with an instructor/passenger with full licence sitting next to them instructing (i.e talking) would not be able to use his/her car for it's intended purpose: transporting people from a-b.
When I was newly qualified I dropped and collected my GF from her house in a less than safe area. Is Gay suggesting she walk home instead, and face the far greater risk of mugging, rape etc? I was in a car pool at work, cutting down 4 commutes each day between us, taking 2 cars off the road at rush hour. Would he prefer 2 extra "dangers" on the road? Or maybe my disabled father, while waiting for his car to be adapted should have just wheeled himself to the chemist.

There are too many situations where a newly qualified driver would have a very good reason for carrying passengers, and It would be a massive waste of Garda time and resources.

Yakult

Its like the RSA just dont bother trying anymore*



*Oh wait, they never did. silly me :rolleyes:

Teferi

Why is it always "boys will crash"...

Aren't women more likely to crash per mile driven than lads?

Anyway, stupid rule. I never had a problem with mates in the car. If they're distracting you just tell them to shut up...

colm_mcm

sounds a bit silly, you can have 3 passengers when you're learning as liong as 1 of them has a license, then you pass the test and have to go everywhere on your own.

stevenmu

"Their concentration goes with the gags, the chat and the radio," RSA chairman Gay Byrne told the Irish Independent.

"And one of the boys is bound to say 'Hey, Mick, this is a high-performance car. Let's see what she can do'.

"Two miles down the road they slam into a tree or a wall and they are all dead," he said.

That sounds like a very plausible scenario to me, clearly Gay Byrne is very familiar with riding around in cars with young boys :pac:

vincenzolorenzo

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

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Personally I always drive more carefully and reserved if there is anyone else in the car than I do on my own, "the lads" included. but thats just me

Me too, I'd tend to be a bit quicker on my own, but with passengers on board take it down a notch or two. Depends on the passenger of course!

wayne0308

I seen this earlier, seems a very strange rule. So it will just affect 17-24 y.o. drivers if its brought in?

I'm a learner driver, I'm 26 so this rule probably wont affect me if the above is true but lets say I'm 18 or 19 and I just got my full license last week. Now assuming I've never broke the law in my life, this would mean that I've never drove unaccompanied and I've never drove on a motorway. I'd still want to have someone with me the first time I head on to a motorway to be honest, it's a very different driving environment that the one you trained for for your test. I suppose its not that big an issue as most people have to do it sometime or later, on their own or with someone.

I can see and understand why they might bring in a rule like this, but there are other glaring safety issues out there that the Gardai can more easily enforce. But I'd imagine a rule like this would be a nightmare to enforce. Unless you were stopped for something else the Garda wouldn't know how old your license is.

Kepti

I'm all for it, as long as they start removing all of the older people who are either too visually or mentally impaired to operate a vehicle.

Max Power1

Kepti wrote: »

I'm all for it, as long as they start removing all of the older people who are either too visually or mentally impaired to operate a vehicle.

+1

blatant ageism. Its ok if its against the white hetero male 18-24, but not "the poor pensioners"

evolutionqy7

Kepti wrote: »

I'm all for it, as long as they start removing all of the older people who are either too visually or mentally impaired to operate a vehicle.

+ 2 to that

Xios

I have to say the reasoning behind this rule is quite retarded. In all fairness, the RSA should bring in engine size restrictions for cars, exactly the same as motorbikes. Which i think will strongly reduce the rate of speed related accidents.
If we want to reduce the rate of deaths on irish roads, maybe spending all the funds that would be wasted enforcing this retarded rule on better roads, better restrictions on the quality of car safety (the engineering side) and a much better road safety awarness system.

I honestly believe a stricter licensing system needs to be in place. with a much more rigorous test, involving emergency braking and evasive manouvers. Teaching the nation to have a little more cop on would be much more effective.

stimpson

Kepti wrote: »

I'm all for it, as long as they start removing all of the older people who are either too visually or mentally impaired to operate a vehicle.

Gaybo can be first.

evolutionqy7

Xios wrote: »

I have to say the reasoning behind this rule is quite retarded. In all fairness, the RSA should bring in engine size restrictions for cars, exactly the same as motorbikes. Which i think will strongly reduce the rate of speed related accidents.
If we want to reduce the rate of deaths on irish roads, maybe spending all the funds that would be wasted enforcing this retarded rule on better roads, better restrictions on the quality of car safety (the engineering side) and a much better road safety awarness system.

I honestly believe a stricter licensing system needs to be in place. with a much more rigorous test, involving emergency braking and evasive manouvers. Teaching the nation to have a little more cop on would be much more effective.

in fairness good road conditions and decent sign layout about road layout and etc would help to stop half of them or more...so maybe we should be concerned more about how good is the road were driving on and address this issue...****ty roads is where most accidents happen!

ART6

Since the new young driver is safer if he is on his own in the car, does that mean he could actually legally carry passengers sitting on the roof? I look forward to boy racers tearing up the countryside with two others hanging on to the radio aerial.

* Well it's no dafter than Gaybo's suggestion*

dirtydiesel

When I learned to drive many moons ago, I always felt more confident with a passenger with me until my confidence built up. Then I got to the stage where passengers refused to get in with me cos I thought my mark 2 escort was a rally car, then it met a tree and that calmed me down.

evolutionqy7

lol well every single driver had some sort of accident weather big or small and that puts a bit of cop on to us all i think

Cuddlesworth

*Step 1-Demand all new drivers be accompanied.

*Step 2-Check Road deaths figures. If down proceed to Step 3 claiming more measures need to be introduced to save lives, if up proceed to Step 3 claiming more measures need to be introduced to save lives.

*Step 3-Demand all new licensed drivers not be accompanied.

*Step 4-Check Road deaths figures. If down proceed to Step 5 claiming more measures need to be introduced to save lives, if up proceed to Step 5 claiming more measures need to be introduced to save lives.

*Step 5-Ban all new drivers.


I can see where this is going. And why is it in all these interviews no journalist has actually asked Gay Byrne what relevant qualifications does he actually have to be head of our Road safety executive? Advanced driver training? Statistician? Engineer? Popular broadcaster? Ohh wait...

AugustusMinimus

We are talking about a man who is spokesman for the RSA yet he'd been driving around for years without having taken the driving test.

The man clearly isn't qualified to be in this position and has made an ass of himself now on numerous occassions. This proposal is hardly that unexpected from him.

ha-ya-said-what

Righhhhhttt so their learning & on a permit maybe 6months to 4 years (cos they cannot pass a test for the life of em) & could be a complete & utter ditz & danger yet a complusory accompanying driver has to be with them at all times before they pass the test & get declared a competent driver.

Yet after they pass it & the RSA says "fair play ya passed, great little safe, confident driver you are" ... they won't allow passengers.

Hmmm I wonder in which case is a passengers life gonna be more in danger...... ohhh that's a tough one.

ShadowHearth

after i thought they invented all crazyest **** ever possible, they just managed to go up even higher...


When i started i asked anyone to be a passanger in the car, as it gave me confidence, even mine instructor said 6 years ago: "get someone in passanger seat when you start of driving, 4 eyes are better then 2".

Seriuosly, shouldnt there be a Passanger with full licaense when you have provisional license? Arent they hitting themself in balls?!