Driving lessons
- Thread starter foxylady
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happygoose
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I was you 6 months ago. Arrow school of motoring, female instructor, 28ish, shes briliiant.
foxylady said:
Colliers Driving School in Finglas - ask for Damien. Passed my test after lessons from him. I was a complete beginner when I went out with him and he's very nice. George is also a good option. I've no affiliation with the school other than being a satisfied former customer.
Can I ask how many lessons it took you as I have taken 7 so far and am losing heart rapidly
God am so glad to hear that as I have had 8 so far and am nowhere near confident enough to go out on my own. Its a refreshing change from listening to peoplesay they only needed 5 and that driving schools are only a racket etc etc. It is also good to hear that coming from a bloke, as i always imagined men to be far more confident when it came to driving.
Learner drivers should be looking at 20 - 25 lessons to be competent on the road and thus pass the test. Lessons with friends/relatives should be avoided.
My wife bought an automatic and was driving from scratch very quickly. She took no lessons. She passed her test first timne recently. With an automatic you get to learn the important stuff (like keeping your eye on the road and not crashing into parked cars!) rather than worrying about the gears and the clutch initially.
AFAIK if you do a test in an Automatic your licence only covers you to drive Automatics. The notion of driving on the roads unsupervised by a qualified instructor in a suitably equipped car (instructor pedals) before having obtained a full licence, is a pretty much a uniquely Irish concept. There should be a mandatory minimum number of lessons with a qualified instructor and a set number of hours attending driving school before one should be entitled to sit the driving test.
If you are looking for a good driving school and instructer, paul at the independent driving school, finglas is great. Plus its based in the same place as the finglas test centre so you'll get to know the route really well.
I failed the test 3 times - my own fault!
I failed the test 3 times - my own fault!
Sorry to hi-jack this thread a bit... but since you guys have used these schools recently can you advise me what the approx going rate for lessons is ? I'm presuming most schools do a package of x number lessons for €x ?
I intend ringing around a few places but would like some ball park figures before doing so...
Thanks
I intend ringing around a few places but would like some ball park figures before doing so...
Thanks
Ron Burgundy
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thats on the way from Dept of Transport, along with the new rules of the road, but don't hold your breath.
The insturctors working at the mo want a proper test and register but you might as well ask an oak tree and the government
I know of 4 students that have just gone to the USA to take up jobs in Palm Beech. They all needed cars over there to get to work.
2 of them have Full Driving licences here and the other 2 have Prov. Licences (1 of them for 1 year & the other 6 months).
They all applied for their driving tests in Palm Beech and all got the same date. The one with the Prov Licence for 6 months passed first time. Second time round 1 Full Licence + 1 with Prov passed. Third time round the other with full licence passed. All of this happened within 1 week. That is some of them done the driving test three times in the one week. I should have said all are driving Automatic cars but were driving manual cars here in Ireland.
We have alot of catching up to do regarding the driving test here.
2 of them have Full Driving licences here and the other 2 have Prov. Licences (1 of them for 1 year & the other 6 months).
They all applied for their driving tests in Palm Beech and all got the same date. The one with the Prov Licence for 6 months passed first time. Second time round 1 Full Licence + 1 with Prov passed. Third time round the other with full licence passed. All of this happened within 1 week. That is some of them done the driving test three times in the one week. I should have said all are driving Automatic cars but were driving manual cars here in Ireland.
We have alot of catching up to do regarding the driving test here.
thats what happens when you have civil servants telling the govt if they can or cant employ more testers, apparently theres a quota of driving testers, so they can get a nice bit of overtime, in the meantime everyone else has to wait 18 months to resit the test.
Ron Burgundy
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indeed we do and we are looking at a model used is New Zeland where you have to have x lessons before you apply for your text and x to sit it. all must be signed off by a qualified & registered instructor.
the problem in Ireland is that people only want to learn for the test and not to drive for life
Example :
out with a student and i say we are going to do parking Parallel parking, they ask why and i say its an important part of driving. You must be able to park a car in order to master driving.
The response i got was, listen its not on the test i'm so i'm not interested. I'm pay you to get me to pass my test not teach me to drive.
the look on my face was
, needless to say it was the last lesson i gave her.indeed we do and we are looking at a model used is New Zeland where you have to have x lessons before you apply for your text and x to sit it. all must be signed off by a qualified & registered instructor.
Where would you get a qualified & registered driving instructor in Ireland. I know there some who are self regalated but no Government Department are responisble for driving instructors.
It a sorry mess the whole driving test.
Where would you get a qualified & registered driving instructor in Ireland. I know there some who are self regalated but no Government Department are responisble for driving instructors.
It a sorry mess the whole driving test.
Ron Burgundy
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thats part of the problem Megan, i did a course with the Irish School of Motoring and there is also a register you can join but not offical.
I would gladly sit any exam or test to have a government backed scheme as would any instructor serious about their business. The Government have been lobbied but as usual its running at a snails pace.
The register of instrcutors would come in with the overall of the test and the whole system of gaining a full licence. The sooner the better.
When I was learning I wanted to practice parallel parking, only to be told that it wasn't part of the test so there was no point! I also asked to go driving at more than 50km/h on main roads etc. with similar response. I came across several instructors who seemed to have the same attitude to teaching that your pupil had to learning.