Mr Dempsey? See You Next Tuesday!
The government just announced last night that at midnight Monday night, provisional licensed drivers of all ilks will be required to have an experienced, fully licensed driver with them at all times when driving. Now, I have no problem with this law in theory, but in practice, it’s completely unrealistic. Waiting times are about six months for a driving test in Ireland, and the driving test is notoriously difficult, with 54% of tests resulting in a fail. And if you fail, you join the back of the queue, no matter how close you were to passing.
So four hundred thousand provisional licence holders (including myself) are now left in an impossible situation. You can’t get a test, and you can’t drive without another fully licensed person in the car. So I’ve got to bring my heavily pregnant wife with me to get anywhere? Is that what you are saying, Mr Dempsey? Let’s face it; the testing system is shambolic with huge waiting times and often bizarre anomalies in testing results across test centres; and while lack of experience of drivers may play a major part in road deaths in Ireland (though I’ve never seen figures to support this myself), what about speed? What about drink-driving? What about the condition of some of our roads? And what about the fact that some people have no choice for getting around because our public transport is a national disgrace, which leads to more traffic and therefore more danger on the roads?
Mr Dempsey insists this will make the roads safer. He is right of course, in much the same way as making people with registrations ending in an odd number only drive on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays would make the roads safer. There will clearly be less people on the road!
But it still does not change the fact that some of our fully licensed drivers never sat a test at all, thanks to the amnesties offered people in past years, whilst others, by their own admission, have batted their eyelids to a pass from an admiring tester!
Mr Dempsey compares the introduction of this law with the mobile phone in-car law and the child safety seat law. Now in those cases, one could go out and buy a child safety seat or a hands-free device, so clearly, there is no comparison, unless you can afford to have a chaffeur, or if one is provided for you by the state! Clearly, this is another example of a minister out of touch with the people he is supposed to represent. But hey, at least good ol’ Bertie can afford to pay a licensed driver to sit in his front seat while he gets his full license with the €38,000 pay rise he just got! Phew!
The Gardai will be completely compromised, the public are confused, and as usual, the real problem is not addressed. We need more testers, we need better roads, we need better public transport, and we need better enforcement of the laws that exist now. What we don’t need is this new law which will make a mockery of justice.
The final nail in the coffin for provisional drivers is the as-of-yet undisclosed “learner permit” speed limits, meaning provisional driving license holders must drive slower than anyone else on the road. Now the L tailback isn’t just an inconvenience – it’s the law!
I for one will be out in my car next Tuesday, and will continue to drive alone for the 6-8 months until I am invited for my test.