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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To practice driving on on own?

98 replies

Fanfeckintastic · 19/01/2015 19:46

This is just a thought so I'm fully prepared to be told it's unreasonable.

I'm a learner driver in Ireland, I've done my 12 edt (essential driving training) lessons plus about ten practice ones with instructor and a few with my dad.

Would I be totally unreasonable to practice on my own at really quiet times like very early weekend mornings or very late evenings? I really feel I need practice more than anything else and it's just not always feasible to be accompanied by a fully licensed driver.

Did any of you practice on your own? A lot of my learner driver friends drive unaccompanied daily but it is illegal and I'm not usually a mad stickler for each and every rule, I just feel a bit differently about driving but I don't know how else I'll get the experience to pass my test.

OP posts:

anothernumberone · 19/01/2015 20:25

I work with young adults from 18 to 22 Fanfeck and the majority of them drive to the college where I work. They have said many times that things have really tightened up on driving on provisionals - I suspect your friend was lucky. The college is literally crawling with those new Novice plates so many students have been recently tested. I wouldn't take the chance.

It really was a shit system in the past where you could drive unaccompanied on your second provisional, even worse my mother got a licence during an amnesty.

Nolim · 19/01/2015 20:26

Dont do it.

IAmAPaleontologist · 19/01/2015 20:26

If you were allowed to drive on your own without a license then what would the point of a license be?

The recent case of the pedestrian being killed by a learner to me illustrates one of the things that concerns me about people being allowed to drive with anyone who has a license supervising them rather than having to have an instructor with duel controls.

NewUserrr · 19/01/2015 20:28

This attitude doesn't surprise me at all. I've lived in Ireland for a year now and I swear 90 percent of the drivers have never taken a lesson. People on phones constantly, indicators, what are they? Stopping distance? No such thing. Using headlights in heavy rain or snow? Why bother? Shocking. And around these parts you can go weeks without seeing a traffic police so what's the point in following any kind of highway code. Ugh rant over.

BlueberryWafer · 19/01/2015 20:28

Yabvu. Just take your fucking test if you're so good at driving that you don't need accompanying... If you're not ready for your test, you're definitely not ready to drive alone. Really is that bloody simple.

Bunbaker · 19/01/2015 20:30

"I'm shocked at the difference in attitude though."

So am I. I am shocked at how committing traffic offences is taken so lightly in Ireland. Apart from speeding most people tend to stick within the rules in the UK as our police are not at all lenient with drivers who break the law.

They always prosecute drivers who drive uninsured. The penalty is £300 and 6 penalty points. If it goes to court you could be fined £5000 and disqualified from driving. These sanctions do tend to discourage drivers from taking stupid risks.

anothernumberone · 19/01/2015 20:31

You had to do the test before you got your third provisional as far as I remember IAMAPal. Also holding a full licence affects your insurance premium ie brings the cost down.

In reality unless you got a cancellation, which I was lucky to get for my second test, it could take years to get a driving test which is why the whole system was so lax for many, many years. Once getting a test became easier they tightened up on the whole licencing system.

waithorse · 19/01/2015 20:34

Yes, you would be unreasonable. It's illegal.

Original poster

Fanfeckintastic · 19/01/2015 20:35

There are tests available in April so going to book it now and also apply for a cancellation so hopefully soon I'll be the proud owner of a full licence.

OP posts:

PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange · 19/01/2015 20:37

It don't post Ireland in a very good light, tbh it puts me off going to visit a country that is so lax on traffic offences.

Op get your licence then drive. It took me 4 failed test and over £3000 to pass my test.

Since I have had 1 minor accident ( just after I passed) no parking tickets or points. 11 years I have been driving.

anothernumberone · 19/01/2015 20:42

Traffic offences is a weird way to judge holiday destinations. I think you might want to avoid a lot of countries with that one since really Ireland is nothing compared to many countries I have travelled in. Maybe you should look at our road deaths stats they are among the lowest in Europe.

joanne1947 · 19/01/2015 20:42

My father got fed up with having to be accompanied as a learner and drove without L plates and alone, or with me (I was 6 years old). He said he needed the practice and could not afford to pay an instructor for the practice.
I sat with all four of my children as they drove with L plates, totally legal but I'm not sure what I could have done if one of them had done something stupid.
I'm not condoning breaking the law but the OP needs to practice, my best suggestion is to get friends to sit with her, not to teach her, but to make it legal.

Tyzer85 · 19/01/2015 20:43

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

DramaAlpaca · 19/01/2015 20:45

It is illegal in Ireland for a learner driver to drive unaccompanied, and if involved in an accident their insurance would not cover them.

Despite this, lots of otherwise perfectly sensible people do drive unaccompanied in Ireland before passing their tests, or allow their teenagers to do so. I know several young people (friends of my own teens) who drive themselves around our local area unaccompanied before they've passed their tests, with the full permission of their parents. I will not allow my own teenagers to do so, nor will I allow them to be a passenger in a car with a friend who has not passed their test. I'm not a particularly strict parent, but I've always put my foot down on this.

There is a huge difference in attitude to driving on a provisional licence in the UK compared to Ireland, and I was very shocked when I first came to live here. It is so much stricter in the UK, but I'm glad to say it is gradually becoming more so here.

OP, sorry you're getting a bit of a bashing, but I'm glad you've decided not to drive on your own. Good luck with your test when you eventually take it!

corkybolleaux · 19/01/2015 20:46

Thanks feckin and good luck to you. I know a lot of people say this, but I'm going to say it too: if I can pass my test, anyone can! At times when I was a learner I honestly thought I'd never get the hang of it, and felt that I'd forgotten everything I'd learned between one lesson and another. But you'll get there. You just have to take the long view. Patience is key here.

I agree, some of the responses on here have been a bit harsh. There are loads of nutters out there with licences who are absofuckinglutely useless at driving.

I hope you get a test for April if not before. But again, patience is the thing here. And don't be too disheartened if you don't pass first time. Look at it this way: you will get your licence this year

ChestyTheSnowman · 19/01/2015 20:48

YABVU

LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett · 19/01/2015 20:51

TBH, this explains a lot. Had to do a lot of driving in Ireland for a particular job and the standard of driving was terrible. I'd always thought it just a lazy stereotype till I saw it for myself.

StickEm · 19/01/2015 20:52

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

thatstoast · 19/01/2015 20:53

I was told by an Irish relative that 'everybody' drives in Ireland with just a provisional. I was shocked but it made a lot more sense when I visited the place she lived which only had two houses within a five mile radius.

Obviously it doesn't make it ok or legal but you can see why that kind of culture would develop with a low population density.

Bunbaker · 19/01/2015 20:55

"Maybe you should look at our road deaths stats they are among the lowest in Europe."

Not just Europe, but worldwide. And we also have the most congested roads in Europe.

Original poster

Fanfeckintastic · 19/01/2015 20:55

drama thank you, it must be very strange moving from the UK and seeing the difference with attitude. If this was ten years ago I wouldn't have even started this thread because it wouldn't even occur to me not to practice on my own. Also it was perfectly legal to drive on your second provisional then too. I'm glad I did start it though, despite the bashing I've gotten because it's eye opening.

Thanks a million corky, I bloody well will pass this year!! I think I'm just feeling impatient because I had been doing lessons for over a year and had no car to practice in so was forgetting everything I was learning whereas now I have a car I feel I'm really getting somewhere but I'm going to take a slow and steady approach. I have a lesson tomorrow and going out with my friend on Wednesday morning and my dad on Wednesday night.

I'm just going to take absolutely everybody up on their offers to come out with me now!

OP posts:

JanineStHubbins · 19/01/2015 21:03

Everyone I know in Ireland either does/has done it, OP.

anothernumberone · 19/01/2015 21:03

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

Not just Europe, but worldwide. And we also have the most congested roads in Europe

Just for reassurance we have the same rate as the UK maybe less of the Ireland basing now.

We have very low public transport and a huge reliance on cars and the longest road network per capita across Europe since we have absolutely no green belts and one off houses dotted everywhere so those statistics are probably for more km traveled per person than most other European countries too.

corkybolleaux · 19/01/2015 21:07

That's the spirit, feckin. And you have a good plan: to get as many people as you can to come out driving with you, as often as possible.

Have fun on Wednesday

MissDuke · 19/01/2015 21:13

It is definitely common in Ireland. In fact I genuinely thought you were allowed to do it in Ireland, did it used to be legal? Here is an article

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