Doing EDT in one go?

CalRobert

I moved to Dublin some time ago from California, and figure it's about time I got an Irish license. I passed the theory test, will get a learner's permit shortly, and the NDLS office have confirmed that as someone who's had a license for several years I don't need to wait 6 months to take the driving test after finishing EDT.

This raises the question - do the 12 EDT tests need to be separate, or can I just do a couple of 6 hour road trips with an ADI (assuming they're OK with it - perhaps a drive out to Connemara and back) in one weekend and be done with it? I do appreciate the need for learning the nuances of driving here, but 12 separate one hour sessions seems like a lot more hassle with heading back and forth and trying to schedule things, as opposed to just getting it done with all at once. Ironically when I was still able to use my US license I drove well over 12 hours (several road trips to the southwest), but of course I'm sure there's more to learn.

Ardeehey

From what I remember the idea of the EDT is to be supplemental to your regular lessons and experience so usually they are one every 1-2 weeks....saying that when I did them my instructor was decent once he saw I was competitant and he skipped through various aspects of it and eventually just approved a large lump of them together. Only took about a month of meeting with him...that may be the exception though.

ProudDUB

When I moved back here from the US, I was in a similar position. My ADI told me that for the average learner, he normally insists on at least several days between lessons. This is to ensure that they are getting the necessary practice driving sessions in between official lessons with him. He said that if he didn't do this, his own supervisors would query the safety of giving back to back lessons.

When I asked him about doing my lessons all in one go, he said he'd tell me after he'd seen me drive. After one lesson, he told me that my driving was pretty good & that he would let me do the lessons back to back if I really wanted to. (He made a photocopy of my GA license, just to have in case anyone ever asked him about me doing back to back lessons.)

However, he did advise me NOT to do the lessons back to back. He said that even though I was a good driver, I did have some bad habits, or just an American way of doing things, that was contrary to how they are done here. So I still had to learn the officially approved way of doing things here, before I would pass my test. To learn them was one thing. To learn them to the extent that I did them without thinking in my day to day driving, was another.

I had driven here on my American license too and had no problems. I thought that I was good to go to pass the test, but he said that I probably wasn't. So I took his advice & I did a lesson with him once a week, for 12 weeks. I passed my test on the first attempt. I really don't think I would have, if I just did 12 back to back lessons with him and then sat my test. If I wanted to push the issue, he would have let me, but in hindsight I am very glad that I didn't. It's not just about passing the test. Doing each lesson separately and then reviewing what I was doing right and wrong each time, has made me a much, much better driver over all. Without meaning to sound too preachy, I think that the worst drivers are the ones who think that they know it all and they have nothing left to learn.

Motor-Ed

CalRobert wrote: »

I moved to Dublin some time ago from California, and figure it's about time I got an Irish license. I passed the theory test, will get a learner's permit shortly, and the NDLS office have confirmed that as someone who's had a license for several years I don't need to wait 6 months to take the driving test after finishing EDT.

This raises the question - do the 12 EDT tests need to be separate, or can I just do a couple of 6 hour road trips with an ADI (assuming they're OK with it - perhaps a drive out to Connemara and back) in one weekend and be done with it? I do appreciate the need for learning the nuances of driving here, but 12 separate one hour sessions seems like a lot more hassle with heading back and forth and trying to schedule things, as opposed to just getting it done with all at once. Ironically when I was still able to use my US license I drove well over 12 hours (several road trips to the southwest), but of course I'm sure there's more to learn.

An instructor can deliver the lessons to someone like yourself in a shorter period of time, but I would suggest 2x6 hours would be ineffective. Maybe 6x2 hours twice a week over 3 weeks would ensure you get the benefit of the information. If you put in a test application before you started when the 3 weeks were up you could ring RSA and take the next available slot.

I can't tell you why

2X 6 hours lessons is not something any ADI would recommend.
What I do with people in your situation is 6 X 2 hour lessons in a short space of time and getting on to the driving test routes. This way you have a manageable lesson length, EDT covered & pretest lessons all in one.

I can't tell you why

Ardeehey wrote: »

From what I remember the idea of the EDT is to be supplemental to your regular lessons and experience so usually they are one every 1-2 weeks....saying that when I did them my instructor was decent once he saw I was competitant and he skipped through various aspects of it and eventually just approved a large lump of them together. Only took about a month of meeting with him...that may be the exception though.

If your adi signed off on 12 EDT lessons without doing 12 hours that would be illegal. Aside from being lazy. Some ADIs do this even when the learner still needs more help to pass the test. It is not done for the learner's benefit. You would be hard pushed to find a driver that could not do with a few pretest style lessons to finish the 12 EDT hours.

ProudDUB

Motor-Ed wrote: »

An instructor can deliver the lessons to someone like yourself in a shorter period of time, but I would suggest 2x6 hours would be ineffective. Maybe 6x2 hours twice a week over 3 weeks would ensure you get the benefit of the information. If you put in a test application before you started when the 3 weeks were up you could ring RSA and take the next available slot.

If the OP wants to get a date without having to wait the normal 6 months, they also need to send their US license off to the RSA in Shannon. This is to prove that that he has the foreign license that makes them exempt from waiting 6 months. They don't just take your word for it. You get it back in a couple of weeks.