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Driving licenses

So the Government has finally made a move on the precarious situation of provisional licence holders. The new rules appear to mean that from Tuesday, 455,000 people will be driving without insurance.

It also gives me a certain problem. I am on my second provisional licence, and I need to drive to and from university, and to and from work. How on earth am I going to work this?

Public transport you might say. Not after 11pm in Cork, and my shifts finish after that time. Get a full licence you might say. Applied for my driving test – in June – still waiting. So where do I find a fully licensed driver to escort me home at 11.30pm at night? God knows.

The solution? Reduce the goddam waiting lists for testing before bringing in this ridiculous rule. How am I expected to abide by the law if I can’t do my test? How do I get to and from work legally? Is it just me or is this thing very badly thought through?

So what do I do now? I guess I have two options.

Take my chances, keep the L plates up and continue as normal. Hope that garda enforcement of laws are mild at best, and wait for a garda at a checkpoint to say “You are aware of the new rules young man?”, “Yes”, “Ok, drive on”.

Or, take my L plates down and take my chances.

Both appear to be illegal, but what options do I have? I wonder what the other 455,000 people are going to do.

Comments welcome.

15 thoughts on “Driving licenses”

  1. From Midleton to Cork? Argh, I would die of a heart attack before I left Midleton. I think I’d rather live!

  2. Don’t worry, it’ll never happen. Every now and then the government has to check in to the reality hotel. Only problem is they rarely make a reservation.

    The RSA strategy looks to be a bit of a farce. It’s fuzzy on key figures but it does claim it will save 400 lives. I want the names and addresses of the 400. Otherwise I won’t take the claim seriously.

  3. From the link above (whch they updated since I posted, it originally said that the new measures would be deferred):

    “the garda authorities will take a ‘common sense’ approach for ‘two or three months'”

    What can we expect in the twilight zone of the third month? Will it be pot luck whether you get ‘common sense’ or law enforcement? At least we know for certain that after three months any notion of common sense will be absolutely and categorically thrown out the window.

    They’re not making it up as they go along. Honestly.

  4. Though, admittedly, I only ever had to cycle across the city from Douglas to Bishopstown, which is only around a 1/3 the distance. Cycling through the Wilton roundabout every morning was fun…

  5. Well thats what you get for reading rag newspapers. You are insured, and will be for the remainder of your current years policy. Even if you don’t hold any kind of licence but manage (somehow) to hold an insurance certificate you are covered in the event of an accident. You could be racing down Patrick street at warp 9, both nostrils full of coke, screaming abuse at the Guards before crashing into a school bus… you are still covered. You’ll just end up in jail for a long time, thats all.

    So lets say youre on your forth provo licence, driving along the road on your own, and crash into a granny in a micra. Your insurance company will pay up (no quibble third party) but youll end up getting prosicuted seperately for driving without a fully qualified driver afterward. Think about it logically. Suppose you crash into someone and you are exceeding the speed limit, or over the legal blood/alcohol limit (ie breaking some rule of the road) does that mean your insurance is automatically invalidated? Nope!

  6. GG is on the money as usual. A few worried chaps in work who are currently on provisionals rang their insurance companies and have been reassured.

  7. Nope, Gamma Goblin is talking crap. I went to Quinn Direct’s website and look at their normal car policy document (they are my insurance company). In great big bold type it states:
    “We will not provide cover for loss of or damage to the vehicle whilst the driver is under the influence of drink or drugs.”

    You are also not covered by insurance policies if you tax has expired, for example, or if the vehicle can be deemed unroadworthy for any reason.

    Quinn also states:
    We will not cover the driver unless they:
    a) hold a licence to drive the vehicle

    If your licence specifies that you must be accompanied and you weren’t, then that’s an illegal use of your licence and I’ll guarantee they will try to get out of paying your claim. Although perhaps Gamma Goblin knows of some magical insurance company that pays out every claim made without quibbling? I’d sure like to know who they are, having had to wait months on two occasions to get the money to repair my husband’s car after he was rear-ended by insured drivers who took complete blame for the accidents…

  8. “Nope, Gamma Goblin is talking crap”….

    Yes I do that from time to time, unfortunately for you this isn’t one of those times.

    “Although perhaps Gamma Goblin knows of some magical insurance company that pays out every claim made without quibbling?”

    What I said is that if you damage someone elses car whilst driving illegally, the third party portion of youur insurance policy (the manditory part) will not be invalidated. Obviously theres going to conflict between insurance companies over any accident, but if/when youre found to be in the wrong, your insurance company pays the bill and not you.

  9. Have insurance companies not had a policy of insuring first/second/third provisional drivers for years? Anecdotally at least I know of instances where firms paid out regardless of persons driving unaccompanied as first provisional licence holders. My question is whether this ‘arrangement’ has changed.

Comments are closed.


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