Isn't the Standard of Driving in Ireland Terrible?

Can have a bit of a rant about the new '12 lessons' rule thats been introduced?

(Mods - please separate to new thread if this is felt to be off topic)

What a stupid idea! Whoever came up with this should have their job taken away from them!

The test is the test.... not the number of lessons an individual has. If the Govt is concerned about the standard of driving in the country make the test more difficult and introduce mandatory retests at expanding and contracting intervals dependent on driver age and experience along with medicals for drivers over a certain age. After all... if a car needs to be NCT'd to make sure its still fit to be on the road, surely the 'nut behind the wheel' should be assessed for capability too.

Introducing a madatory number of lessons does nothing more than secure an income for instructors.... and who tests them, how do we know if they are capable? (And that wasn't a rhetorical question to make a point... I'm actually interested to know).

PetrolHead said:

Can have a bit of a rant about the new '12 lessons' rule thats been introduced?

(Mods - please separate to new thread if this is felt to be off topic)

What a stupid idea! Whoever came up with this should have their job taken away from them!

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Have you done much research into effectiveness of driver training yourself?

They've had CBT and Direct Access training for motorcycle training in the UK for quite a while. And introduced CBT for motorcycles in Ireland and there are approved courses you can do for insurance discounts.

This thread is mainly on cars but I did 12 hours lessons and passed a motorcycle test before I even owned one.
I think it's a great benefit, you don't learn bad habits and no better way to get started.
What works for bikes can work for cars.

Out for a walk with the dog this morning I was reminded of how almost no-one seems to understand that FOG lights are to be used in the FOG! Out of dozens of cars that passed us I saw only 1 using fog lights, despite thick heavy fog all around. Most had no lights on at all, some had their parking lights on, some had headlights on full beam, most had opted for half beam - ( I know, it's better than nothing at all).

Yet, at night I see plenty of people driving round with full beam and fog lights on.

Isn't it just common sense to realise when and what lights to use in certain conditions

PetrolHead said:

... for instructors.... and who tests them, how do we know if they are capable? (And that wasn't a rhetorical question to make a point... I'm actually interested to know)...

Click to expand...

The only Grade3 fault in the Signals section of the driving test score sheet is for "Beckoning Others". In other words, AFAIK, it is possible to fail your test by beckoning others just once!

I personaly observed an instructor of a well known driving school doing multiple instances of 'directing traffic' from the passenger seat of the car while teaching a student how to drive... That should have given the student a good grounding for future life in that she can always refer back to it in the future to justify her use of beckoning others by saying "My instructor always did it!"
JC wept!

@Complainer, micmclo - I'm not knocking proper tutelage or questioning the efficacy of paid-for driver training. The point I am making is that the legislation presents a solution from the wrong direction.