Everything Ulster - Latest comments on Republic to close Learner Driver Loophole

A Learner Driver in London [Visitor] in response to: Republic to close Learner Driver Loophole

A Learner Driver in London [Visitor] — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:14:23 +0000

I think it's quite silly that it's taken them this long to close this "Loop-Hole". I'm a leaner driver in London and to be honest if I was living in Ireland I probably would've taken advantage of it too.

And Mike the doll trick is quite clever... not that I'd be trying it or anything...

Mike [Visitor] in response to: Republic to close Learner Driver Loophole

Mike [Visitor] — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:53:20 +0000

In the States some busy roads have "carpool lanes" a bit like our bus lanes but cars can use them if there is more than one person in the car.

Some guy got done a few months ago for driving in the carpool lane with an Inflatable doll in the passenger seat.

I wonder will any provisional licence holders in the Republic try the same trick.

Reg [Visitor] in response to: Republic to close Learner Driver Loophole

Reg [Visitor] — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:09:52 +0000

Mike,

The old regime in the Republic used to baffle me. It was incredibly lax. The scary thing is that no-one seemed to realise how ridiculous it was. When I discussed it with people they would say things like:

"sure he can drive, he's on his 4th provisional; he just hasn't taken the test yet."

Mike [Visitor] in response to: Republic to close Learner Driver Loophole

Mike [Visitor] — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 04:45:25 +0000

"but outside Dublin and the south-east (dont you mean North-east ?????) this probably wouldn't rank highly on one's list of concerns"

One is not (supposed to be) able to drive outside the Republic either which would be an issue for many drivers in the border counties were the restrictions not widely ignored anyway.

"Provisional" drivers are a favorite media scapegoat for the Republics high accident rate while everyone forgets that the Republic was one of the last countries in Europe to introduce a driving test in the first place. This coupled with the infamous "amnesty" in the late seventies means there are tens of thousands of holders of "full" driving licence holders in the Republic who have never passed any kind of driving test. Apparently this includes (wait for it) the chairperson of the Road safety authority !

Meanwhile the Irish government takes great pride in their achievment of getting the average waiting list for a driving test (only in some towns mind) down to less than twenty weeks. And then they wonder why there are so many "provisional" drivers.