Yes, fair enough, but I would point out two things here:
1. Motorways are designed to speed up the flow of traffic from A to B. Most users should be driving at something approaching the speed limit, 120kph. I don't think the majority of L drivers should be doing anything like 120kph, and hence have no business on a motorway.
2. Quite a bit more judgement is required when using a motorway, especially in relation to concentration, breaking distances and the speed of other motorists. Again, it is not likely that L drivers have enough experience in these areas to use motorways.
It is a chicken and egg scenario, but I don't think there is anything wrong with this legislation, in fact I think it should be more rigidly enforced, but that's another story. The problem here is with the format of the Irish driving test, that forces L drivers to focus on:
- driving at 50kph
- hill starts
- reversing around a corner in a quiet estate
and ignores things like:
- overtaking
- driving at night
- driving on dual carriageways/motorways
What causes the most accidents? Errors made in the first group above, or the second? Why not have a longer or two part driving test that concentrates on a wider range of driving skills. When I was preparing for my test, my instructor told me the Irish driving test was a farce (too easy) and doesn't teach L drivers anything valuable. I was only concerned about passing the damned thing, but when you think about it, I think it really is a joke (despite this, thousands still fail every year
).