Sharing a car with a learner driver

veryangryman

So i'm fully licensed. When i'm in the car as passenger of the learner, the L plate is on the car. No problem there. Do i need to take off the plate when i drive myself?

how.gareth

veryangryman wrote: »

So i'm fully licensed. When i'm in the car as passenger of the learner, the L plate is on the car. No problem there. Do i need to take off the plate when i drive myself?

Nope

Duffryman

Just be even more sure than usual to have your full licence with you when you're driving that car, if there's still an L plate attached. Will make things easier if you do happen to be stopped at a checkpoint.

aido79

how.gareth wrote: »

Nope

I'm not disagreeing as I don't know the answer but what is the point of L plates if this is the case?

MetzgerMeister

L Plates do need to be removed while a fully licensed driver is driving the car.

OldMrBrennan83

aido79 wrote: »

I'm not disagreeing as I don't know the answer but what is the point of L plates if this is the case?

You have to display them if you're a learner.

aido79

OldMrBrennan83 wrote: »

You have to display them if you're a learner.

I know that but it defeats the purpose of them if the person driving the car is not a learner.

how.gareth

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

L Plates do need to be removed while a fully licensed driver is driving the car.

So the sticky L plates have to be torn off every time a fully licensed driver is using the car? Can’t see how or why that’s the case

Auguste Comte

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

L Plates do need to be removed while a fully licensed driver is driving the car.

Why?

MetzgerMeister

From my experience, most of the ones you buy are stickers (which have to be stuck to the outside of the car) and if not they're the ones that are supposed to just cling to the glass on the inside but never do.

It would make life easier if they had these suction pads like Garfield:

Duffryman

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

L Plates do need to be removed while a fully licensed driver is driving the car.

Any link to where it actually says that, in either legislation or the Rules of the Road?

How does that work, for example, if you're a driving instructor who's got a roof sign with an L plate on it? Do you need to take that and all the other L plates off your car when you're driving to meet a student for a lesson, then put them back up for the lesson itself, and then take them off again when you're driving home?

Or if a dad is sharing his car with a learner driver son - how long is the adhesive on the L plates supposed to last if they're taken down and put up again regularly, depending on who's actually driving? Do you have to put up fresh sets regularly, to overcome this? Is this part of a plot to increase sales by people who print L plates?

Or what if that dad has a son who's learning to drive, and a daughter who's just passed the test - do they have to rotate between L plates, N plates, and no plates at all, depending on who's driving?

So many questions.....hope you can deliver answers.....!

Guy:Incognito

Apparently, what you're supposed to do is double down and go full Dutch by having N and L plates up together.

Thats the impression I get from spending my days driving around Dublin anyway.

MetzgerMeister

Duffryman wrote: »

Any link to where it actually says that, in either legislation or the Rules of the Road?

How does that work, for example, if you're a driving instructor who's got a roof sign with an L plate on it? Do you need to take that and all the other L plates off your car when you're driving to meet a student for a lesson, then put them back up for the lesson itself, and then take them off again when you're driving home?

Or if a dad is sharing his car with a learner driver son - how long is the adhesive on the L plates supposed to last if they're taken down and put up again regularly, depending on who's actually driving? Do you have to put up fresh sets regularly, to overcome this? Is this part of a plot to increase sales by people who print L plates?

Or what if that dad has a son who's learning to drive, and a daughter who's just passed the test - do they have to rotate between L plates, N plates, and no plates at all, depending on who's driving?

So many questions.....hope you can deliver answers.....!

Why do you feel the need for such a confrontational post?

Henry Ford III

Interesting and it provokes another thought:-

Why (ignoring the legislative requirement to do so) do learner drivers have to display L plates?

p.s. A lazy fully licensed driver drving solo should be pulled by the Gardai and maybe even warned/fined for wasting their time. Magnetic L plates are available and can be fitted or removed in seconds after all.

PhuckHugh22

There is no legal obligation or legislation that states the need to remove L plates when the car is not being driven by a learner driver.

Doctors room ghost

The best of all is the baby on board stickers that people claim are there to alert paramedics to look for said child in the case of an accident.absoloute nonsense that one and I know several paramedics.if the car got a heavy thump there’s no chance they would still be hanging on the window anyway.
Do people take them off when there’s no kid in the car.do they fcuk.same with the l plates.nobody will bother with putting them on and off.

Duffryman

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Why do you feel the need for such a confrontational post?

Hey, I was just asking some relevant follow-up questions after you initially posted with what seemed to be a very authoritative tone, to say that yes, L plates should be removed when it's not actually the learner driver at the wheel.

The main question was whether or not you could show anything in legislation or ROTR to support this statement, and what you apparently see as 'confrontation' was just examples of how and why this would not be practical.

Forgive me if I offended you.

redcup342

I won't even drive a car with Northern Plates never mind L plates. :pac:

TCM

No.

Dearg81

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

The best of all is the baby on board stickers that people claim are there to alert paramedics to look for said child in the case of an accident.absoloute nonsense that one and I know several paramedics.if the car got a heavy thump there’s no chance they would still be hanging on the window anyway.
Do people take them off when there’s no kid in the car.do they fcuk.same with the l plates.nobody will bother with putting them on and off.

I have something similar on my car and it's not for paramedics, I never even heard of that. Its for making people think twice about driving aggressively behind me. You will probably reply saying you couldn't care less given the tone of your post but for some people I think subconsciously it works.

TCM

aido79 wrote:

I'm not disagreeing as I don't know the answer but what is the point of L plates if this is the case?

aido79 wrote:

I know that but it defeats the purpose of them if the person driving the car is not a learner.

Any number of qualified people and a learner could be driving the car. It's a requirement that the plates are displayed for learner, but may be left in place when a qualified person is driving without a learner being in the car.
There would be some amount of 'chopping & changing' as it were if every time a qualified driver had to remove the plates when a learner wasn't in the car.

artanevilla

You can put whatever sticker you want on a car if you are fully licenced. Well maybe not "Police" or "Ambulance" or a picture Fred West, but the worst that would happen is you'd be pulled over for a licence check.

FDave

(b) all glass and all safety glass fitted to a vehicle shall be maintained in such a condition that it does not obscure the vision of the driver while the vehicle is being driven and shall be kept free of inessential objects or inessential stickers;

Probably falls under the "inessential stickers" definition. Fairly sure someone here about a month ago had a guard see issue with them driving with an L plate. Its generally accepted though.

aido79

TCM wrote: »

Any number of qualified people and a learner could be driving the car. It's a requirement that the plates are displayed for learner, but may be left in place when a qualified person is driving without a learner being in the car.
There would be some amount of 'chopping & changing' as it were if every time a qualified driver had to remove the plates when a learner wasn't in the car.

As I said it defeats the purpose of displaying L plates at all if they are going to be used by fully qualified drivers. Legislation or not this is just common sense.

R.O.R

Duffryman wrote: »

How does that work, for example, if you're a driving instructor who's got a roof sign with an L plate on it? Do you need to take that and all the other L plates off your car when you're driving to meet a student for a lesson, then put them back up for the lesson itself, and then take them off again when you're driving home?

I learned to drive in the UK and this is exactly what happens. Had my lessons with BSM and the Roof Sign was taken out of the boot of the car when the instructor pulled up, put on the roof for the duration of the lesson, then taken down again before he drove off to the next lesson.

Duffryman wrote: »

Or if a dad is sharing his car with a learner driver son - how long is the adhesive on the L plates supposed to last if they're taken down and put up again regularly, depending on who's actually driving? Do you have to put up fresh sets regularly, to overcome this? Is this part of a plot to increase sales by people who print L plates?

Magnetic L-Plates for the front and rear of the car. I used to drive to work on a Saturday in my car, with my Dad beside me. When we arrived at work, the magnetic plates would be taken off the car and my Dad would drive home. Reverse on the way back.

It is the law in the UK that L-Plates are to be displayed only when a learner driver is driving, but it doesn't appear to be the case here.

Easily removable magnetic L plates are a solution as it's probably not the best idea for a licenced driver to be driving around with L-Plates up, but it isn't against the law in Ireland.

Duffryman

R.O.R wrote: »

It is the law in the UK that L-Plates are to be displayed only when a learner driver is driving, but it doesn't appear to be the case here.

I appreciate your response, but it seems this is key when answering the original question.

For what it’s worth, it’s about 25 years since I needed L plates myself, and my own young lad isn’t yet at the age to learn to drive, so I didn’t realise magnetic plates are so widely available and relatively cheap these days. I was still thinking of the old-fashioned sticky ones that would be an absolute nuisance to have to put up and take down regularly.

I agree the magnetic plates would be the ideal solution if it was indeed the case that the L plates had to come up and down depending on who was driving.

As an aside - take these magnetic plates from Halfords as an example -
https://www.halfords.ie/motoring/travel-accessories/learning-to-drive/halfords-roi-magnetic-learner-driver-plates-x3

It says suitable for Republic of Ireland only, due to size and design. What's the difference between our L plates and the L plates in the UK?

Marcusm

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

From my experience, most of the ones you buy are stickers (which have to be stuck to the outside of the car) and if not they're the ones that are supposed to just cling to the glass on the inside but never do.

It would make life easier if they had these suction pads like Garfield:

I used magnetic ones; by far the simplest.

artanevilla

Magnetic ones tend to go missing.

creedp

artanevilla wrote: »

Magnetic ones tend to go missing.

You need to remove them everytime you park up and put them on again everytime you take off!!

BronsonTB

OP - This has to be a wind up??

You have a full lic, you drive the car. Displaying the L plates relates to the second driver only.
If it bothers you, have them do their test asap & change it to an N plate.
And after that you'll have no plates on the car.

Otherwise get a magnetic L plate & remove it each time you drive the car.

Henry Ford III

Is there a way of using velcro or something to make L plates easy to fit and remove inside the car?

zilog_jones

R.O.R wrote: »

I learned to drive in the UK and this is exactly what happens. Had my lessons with BSM and the Roof Sign was taken out of the boot of the car when the instructor pulled up, put on the roof for the duration of the lesson, then taken down again before he drove off to the next lesson.

My instructor in Limerick also just used static cling L plates that he removed from the windows when he was driving.

how.gareth

BronsonTB wrote: »

OP - This has to be a wind up??

You have a full lic, you drive the car. Displaying the L plates relates to the second driver only.
If it bothers you, have them do their test asap & change it to an N plate.
And after that you'll have no plates on the car.

Otherwise get a magnetic L plate & remove it each time you drive the car.

But then they’ll still have to remove the N plate