Irish driving test too expensive?

LirW

Okay, this is probably a hugely controversial topic, but it's interesting, because my partner is currently doing his license and I didn't do mine in Ireland.

http://www.thejournal.ie/readme/opinion-why-is-the-irish-driving-test-so-hard-and-so-expensive-3756202-Dec2017/

In essence the author gives out about high learning costs and that this is an obstacle to get young people on the road. It's also mentioned that the system needs to be overhauled because it doesn't state the overall performance of the learner.

I have to say that I can't agree with what the author has to say.
I like to compare the driving education my partner has with the one I had.
The Irish system seems to be based on a lot of luck during the test itself. I'm also baffled about the bad traffic awareness and vehicle knowledge that's taught.

I also don't think that the driving education is unnecessarily expensive. Irresponsible driving or the lack of awareness/skill can make you a dangerous participant in traffic and it can injure and even kill people.
The whole thing itself is not rounding up the knowledge that you should have as participant in traffic.

There is not much I can say about the test-system itself, it's a test system and somehow your skill needs to be assessed.

I paid around 2000 Euro for my license a few years ago, I didn't have any extra fees, I passed at the first time. I had to undergo a full medical examination by a third-party doctor, an eye-test because I wear glasses, I had to do a first-aid certificate (I don't understand why this isn't done here, it is so important) and I was vetted before I received my license.
I had the same amount of lessons but I was trained to drive on a motorway, to drive at night and a few other things that isn't remotely covered in the lessons of my partner.
In the first year after the test you'll have to do 2 mandatory drives with an instructor to re-assess your skill again and work on eventual bad habits you picked up and one day of road safety training, where you learn to drive in extreme weather conditions.

Whatever makes the roads safer is more than welcome. Also the real obstacle for young drivers isn't the license but insurance and the lack thereof for older, affordable cars.

Would love to hear opinions

MissShihTzu

I read the srticle - but had to laugh when I read about the 'wickedly tough' test. Jesus - he doesn't want to try to take a test in the UK then!! It's just changed (think you have to drive and follow instructions on a sat nav now, amongst other things). Nor would you want to learn to drive in the Netherlands or Germany. Now THAT is tough and also very expensive. Much more than here or the UK. Start talking about 3k - BEFORE you take the test!!

Here? You just drive on a prescribed route following instructions from the tester for about 20 mins. That's it. Oh - and I've seen people on 'L' plates drive in unaccompanied, fail and drive out again. Unaccompanied. Nobody seems to say anything about it.

TBH - I always say if you crib about the cost to drive, then you probably can't afford to.

LirW

Learning to drive elsewhere is pretty expensive, I did it in Austria and after the test and the first year with all the mandatory re-assessments I was well north of the 2k but the drivers you get out of it... you can't compare that really. Not saying that there aren't any bad drivers there, there certainly are but they are so much more rounded.
I can't understand the lack of first aid training for example. This is so essential. Or a detailed medical assessment.

Driving schools wouldn't even let you do the test when they know you'd most likely fail and scare people away with high re-test fees. There is a reward system in place, if your likelihood of passing has a certain percentage you can re-test for free if something goes wrong, otherwise they'll charge you hundreds of Euros.

It's not about getting as many drivers as possible on the road. New drivers need to be heavily assessed, as annoying as it is because it's so important to ensure long-term safety in traffic. But hey, let's whinge about the E85 test fee :rolleyes:

J_R

Hi,

I read the article and for me a very telling statement he made was

The skills you learn to pass the test have little relevance for day-to-day driving

.

I would guess that he prepared for the test by doing "Pretests"

These pretests remind me of a circus ringmaster who trains little doggies to run around and around the circus ring performing tricks, jumping on/off a pony, jump through hoops etc. Good for nothing except entertaining children.

Pretest specialist takes his pupil round and around the tests routes, tells him/her they must perform certain tricks (skills ?) to pass the test. Good for nothing except fooling the examiner into believing that they are a safe driver.

Unfortunately if they are lucky enough to succeed in fooling the examiner, they get a certificate of competency. But they are not safe, good drivers. Like Barry Dunning (the writer of the Journal.ie article) they believe the skills/tricks they learned in the pretests are not used or needed in the real world.

If a learner gets proper lessons, they will see the driving test for what it is, a very simple straightforward procedure to check to see if they are safe and competent, good and safe enough to be allowed to drive on the public roads.

Every learner should honestly believe that they should always drive as if they were doing a test. (Proper lessons, they will)

Statements like the one I quoted above must be very disheartening to the RSA and their endeavours in promoting road safety.

EPAndlee

I think the Irish test is too easy. You should be thought about driving at night, motorways and some simple maintenance of a car

Del2005

I read to the bit J_R quoted and stopped reading as the author is obviously an idiot. Our test is too easy, driving in 50 and 60 zones for 30 minutes, and the amount of people failing show how bad our driving training is.

I know some people are bad at the test, I'm one, but we need to improve the training and it's needs to start in school with off road training, or even simulators. There needs to be night, motorway and skid pan training. If the training improves then the insurance costs will come down as there will be less collisions, so increase the start off costs to reduce the lifetime cost.

But the biggest thing that needs to change is the attitude that I've passed the test now I'm done. Driving is a continuous learning process but too many people stop learning after the test and start unlearning.

Finnish license back in '89 cost me over €1000 which happened to be about the same as my monthly salary at the time. However that did include 30+ hours of theory lectures and about 40 hours of driving lessons spanning about 4 months where there were two students plus a instructor in the car (so that each hour you got to drive for 30 minutes and then observe for another 30). Each of the driving lessons were typically 2-3 hours in length.

The price included also theory and practical driving test fees and the use of driving school car for the test.

And yes, you were not allowed to drive without the instructor until after you had taken the bus to collect the license from the local police station after passing both tests.

cruizer101

I read the article and it comes across as author having a bit of a chip on his shoulder, coming up with silly excuses like you are more likely to pass if you turn up in instructor car.
As with all things where someone is judging you there is some subjectiveness to it and some borderline pass/fail might get a different result if different tester/test centre, there is not much can be done about that, but for the majority they are going to be either clear passes or fails.

It is an expensive thing to do no doubt but you are going to be in control of a lump of metal that can travel a great speed so there is a lot of responsibility and with that comes expense.

By international standards ours is probably a pretty easy test, the vast majority of people I know who took it passed first time because they prepared properly. I'm sure there are plenty of people sitting it who aren't ready for it.

In terms of the output compared to the cash inputted I think the Irish system is very poor value for money.