Trailer licence

johnnyfruitcake

Is the trailer test for cars only come in recently or was it just never enforced?

I have to do a test, yet a 17 year old can get up on a tractor and pull a few tonnes behind them without doing anything?

Del2005

There's always been a trailer test for cars. They never enforced needing the licence to tow before. Now the RSA are on to it there's been panics all over the country as people rush to get legal.

selectamatic

No up until a certain date people got the trailer BE licence when they did their normal driving test. Years ago ya could get all sorts of extra licences with just the normal test.

That was changed and now the trailer licence is a separate test.

mickdw

16 year olds on tractors with learner permits needs to change though. Seems if only 1 seat, they are legal driving alone with all sorts towed behind.

Del2005

mickdw wrote: »

16 year olds on tractors with learner permits needs to change though. Seems if only 1 seat, they are legal driving alone with all sorts towed behind.

Have there been many RTC's involving 16 year olds in tractors and what level of injuries are involved? No point in "fixing" something that's not broken.

khalessi

I thought you can tow on a BE licence a single axle trailer without having to do licence test as most people puill caravans on their normal licence once under 3500kg including car and single axle

beauf

Del2005 wrote: »

Have there been many RTC's involving 16 year olds in tractors and what level of injuries are involved? No point in "fixing" something that's not broken.

Where the votes in that?

Car99

Del2005 wrote: »

Have there been many RTC's involving 16 year olds in tractors and what level of injuries are involved? No point in "fixing" something that's not broken.

What's that got to do with the law?

Squatman

Car99 wrote: »

What's that got to do with the law?

Nothing but it seems you missed his point

CiniO

khalessi wrote: »

I thought you can tow on a BE licence a single axle trailer without having to do licence test as most people puill caravans on their normal licence once under 3500kg including car and single axle

BE is a trailer licence.
Normal car licence i B.

And yes - you can tow a trailer with that licence (B) provided sum of maximum design gross weight of trailer and car doesn't exceed 3500kg.

Number of axles is irrelevant, but indeed it's hard to find a 2 axle trailer with weights which would not exceed that limit.

antix80

https://www.irishexaminer.com/farming/news/deadline-looms-for-assessment-to-reinstate-car-and-trailer-licences-248644.html

Before 1989, there was one category of driving licence, for a car or a car with a trailer. In 1989, this was changed to two categories, one for cars alone and one for cars with trailers. Some drivers unintentionally lost their trailer entitlement, when renewing licences.

(my note: DEADLINE WAS November 8th, 2013: )
In order to have the BE category reinstated on their licence, drivers must have been born before Nov 13, 1972, and have held a full driving licence for a car before Nov 13, 1989.

Clareemigrant

Does anyone know when the practice of giving out the trailer licence (BE equivalent) was stopped when passing the test in a normal car.
I know an awful lot of people who got this licence automatically when they passed their normal test and that was well after 1989.

TrailerBob

It was pre 2000 anyway, as I passed the B car test that year, and added the trailer a few years later.

There's an awful lot of people who get hot under the collar about the BE license and the need for it.. it's not a big deal, not hard to pass and should be there from all I've seen on the road in 20 years. The tractors are a separate issue, and I do agree that the licensing law is out dated, from a time when a 100hp tractor was considered big. Don't expect that to change though, the IFA are a powerful lobby group, and silage/harvest season wouldn't run without the 17 year olds who are willing to run late shifts..

Car99

TrailerBob wrote: »

It was pre 2000 anyway, as I passed the B car test that year, and added the trailer a few years later.

There's an awful lot of people who get hot under the collar about the BE license and the need for it.. it's not a big deal, not hard to pass and should be there from all I've seen on the road in 20 years. The tractors are a separate issue, and I do agree that the licensing law is out dated, from a time when a 100hp tractor was considered big. Don't expect that to change though, the IFA are a powerful lobby group, and silage/harvest season wouldn't run without the 17 year olds who are willing to run late shifts..

The tractor trailer licensing regs for 16 year olds on a provisional are insufficient when you consider the size , weight , speed and distance modern agricultural machinery operate at. Most lads driving them are probably driving them a few years before they get on the road and could probably waltz through a test but that doesnt jmean they shouldn't be tested.

Clareemigrant

johnnyfruitcake wrote: »

Is the trailer test for cars only come in recently or was it just never enforced?

I have to do a test, yet a 17 year old can get up on a tractor and pull a few tonnes behind them without doing anything?

From what I can make out legislation came in in 1989 suggesting the need for a separate licence to tow the larger trailers. However it appears that long after 1989 Councils gave out licences allowing the towing of these trailer (category BE). Then circa 2000 the licencing authorities started to sneakily knock off the BE category when renewing a licence if they could get away with it. If they were pulled up on it they didn't argue and reinstated the BE. If not, you lost the BE category for good (unless you got in for an amnesty for pre 1989 licences in 2013) Now it appears they've lost (or more likely) destroyed all records of who passed what back then and claim only to have records going back to 2000 which conveniently is the time they removed peoples entitlement to the BE even when renewing. Now they've got a nice little earner for themselves forcing people to do this test all the while allowing 16 year old to drive tractor-trailer combinations of near 50 tonnes with dead or live loads (cattle) at unimaginable speeds. No doubt official Ireland at its finest.

alo1587

Del2005 wrote: »

Have there been many RTC's involving 16 year olds in tractors and what level of injuries are involved? No point in "fixing" something that's not broken.

Plenty around here, and a couple of fatalities.

TrailerBob

I know of 3 grain/silage trailers that were turned over this year within 10km of my house alone.. all drivers under 20 years old. it's just luck that they didn't hurt anyone else