Learning to drive England vs Ireland

Woolly_Jumper

Hey, I have started looking into getting my full licence and was looking for some advice. I am not sure whether it is better to do it in Ireland or in England (I live in England). I have my provisional in Ireland, so would need to start from scratch in England. I have looked into some of the intensive courses (where you pass your test in 5 days), but not sure if they are as good as they make out! These courses are all in England. Does anything like that exist in Ireland? Any suggestions? Thanks very much!

biko

If you live in UK then I'd go ahead and take one of those intensive courses there.
How long have you had your provisional/

Woolly_Jumper

I've had it about five years but haven't been driving at all really in the past three!

LilyShame

in the uk people really observe the law regarding fully licenced accompanying driver, no-one drives alone until they have passed their test. Hence there is a certain standard of driving on the roads, from those you will be sharing the road with.

in ireland there is a new law whereby L drivers must have an accompanying fully licenced driver at all times, but not many observe it and drive around on Ls to get road hours in before the test. The gardai do a crackdown every now and again but i have never heard of anyone getting a fine. The issue is that the L driver is not covered by insurance should an accident happen when driving on their own.
The intensive courses in UK i believe to be very good. You are right in that there isnt an equivalent here although the driving practice place in Maynooth co Kildare has attempted it.
It depends on where in the UK you are learning. My partner learned in the east midlands countryside where its quieter. He would also maintains that the road manners in UK are better than in Ireland!! He feels sorry for anyone learning in dublin city areas.

some food for thought before you decide!

miss no stars

I looked into those courses myself... The only hesitation I would have is that 5 days experience on the road is very short on experience. Like, obviously the mechanics of it can be covered in that time and you obviously can pass your test straight after but I'd just worry about plain lack of experience in traffic. I've seen it written (and been told by instructors) that the 2 years after passing your test is when you're most likely to have a crash. As a learner you're accompanied with someone who has years of experience reading the road and will point something out before it becomes a problem, without an accompanying driver you're on your own for reading the road. The more time you spend as a learner with the "safety-net" of an accompanying driver, the more time you have to get good at reading the road. Obviously there's a balance to be struck with not spending too long as a learner, but it's maybe some food for thought? They might work out very well if you do a month or two's driving before them.

Thargor

Could you do one of those intensive courses on an Irish provisional if you went over to the UK for a week does anyone know? Can you apply for a UK provisional licence from Ireland if not?

ailbheg

Thargor wrote: »

Could you do one of those intensive courses on an Irish provisional if you went over to the UK for a week does anyone know? Can you apply for a UK provisional licence from Ireland if not?

Nope. The Irish learner permit is only valid in the Republic of Ireland (unless it's been changed in the last 2 years, which I doubt.)

Mycroft H

ailbheg wrote: »

Nope. The Irish learner permit is only valid in the Republic of Ireland (unless it's been changed in the last 2 years, which I doubt.)

It's not changed, still only valid in the ROI

I can't tell you why

You have two years driving under your belt. All be it three years ago. That still counts for something. Any driving instructor will do an intensive course. None can guarantee a pass.
It might be cheaper in Ireland as you won't have the cost of the UK provisional licence and the UK theory test.
But it might be easier to do lesson and test in the UK if you did, seeing as you live there.