New Driving Regulations in Ireland

national | consumer issues | opinion/analysis Saturday September 04, 2010 13:06 by Ceibhfhionn

understaffed gardai to to deal with company car drivers

By april 2011,what the new (or not so new) road user will need before applying for their test is £1,125 euros,and a lot of time on their hands,as they will be expected to undertake 20 lessons,after completing their theory test,which will set them back an extra 50 euros.

Not everybody passes their test on the first round,and the driving testers,sometimes have the wrong attitude and no people skills,and will just fail you for the smallest slight non endangering mistake.

THE NEW 'R' PLATE..

Suggestions have been made in the Dail,in reference to driving rules,by april 2011,anybody who is interested in completing their driving test will have to complete over 20 lessons from a driving instructor or undertake lessons at one of irelands driving schools.The cost of applying for one's driving test is currently 75 Euro,unless that has increased again.The waiting list is ridiculous for most applying,and driving lessons (per lesson) , cost in the reigion of 40 - 50 euro (and you will have to do 20 of them,which will set you back 1,000)respectively,making it difficult for a first time learner,as some learners as we know are quite young and still school going,and of course there are some,not many that have to resit their test again.Everybody has the right to learn,but given the new restrictions,that will make it even more difficult.Another rule in place is the R plate(which means restricted newly qualified driver),which is a more sound rule to have in place.Learners tend to be more aware and careful as it is their first time driving and will be seen as a lot more cautious.
There are a lot of road users,who have passed their driving tests in the 80's and 90's ,who have never had to go through these rigourous structures,and yet still have their licenses,and are driving today?!
Another proposal was give drivers of company cars a fine,for using their company cars outside of company hours,or for other functions,such as picking up the kids from the creche,or going on a countryside trip.How would the gardai (who are curretly understaffed) be able to pull each and every person who is breaking the new rules(of driving their company car) over,how would the gards even know that the person driving their company car is using it outside of hours,while in transit,some of the new rules being discussed,are not well thought through.The gardai should not have thier time wasted,as the gardai are understaffed as it is,and still do not have all their resources freed up.

This is a question that nobody in the Dail has thought about properly..There are other more pressing issues to deal with ,such as real crime taking place on our streets and in our rented homes and apartments.Some of the ideas proposed and put into action made sense,such as having your theory test completed before,being allowed to apply for your driving test,and of course having a quick theory test,before stepping in the car,and being asked questions about where the engine is and how the car works,and what to do in the event of a breakdown.

The drink driving limits for drivers with learner permits and those in their first two years on a full driving licence will be reduced to 20mg/100ml. This legislation has been passed by the Oireachtas and will come into effect in September 2011.