Tom Doyle :: TALK

Today marked the day that it became illegal for second provisional license holders to drive unaccompanied.

I spoke about it before and my attitude has still not changed. This law is well overdue and all the silly provisional license holders who believe this is a joke, need to get a reality check.

92,000 second provisional license holders - off the road… but are they? It was kind of weird this morning, I deliberately set out to spot the number of L plates on the road this morning. I didn’t see one, granted even in bad traffic it only takes me 30 mins to get to work.

So where have they gone? Have people simply peeled off their L plates as I predicted or have they actually stopped driving their cars? I spoke to a relation of mine this morning who works in a junior school and she said that there were a lot of women who were walking in the rain with their kids, who would normally be driving.

Have we just drove these drivers underground with this new law?

It was announced today that the Green Party are proposing a new tiered driving license system. They are suggesting that we have a system whereby people in rural locations will have a restricted license that will allow them to legally drive at certain times of the day and at certain speed limits etc.

The system is the brainchild of councillor Mary White, who today on Newstalk 106 said that it is aimed at people living in remote areas and elderly people who rely on their cars to get through their daily tasks. Adding to that she suggested that this license is for those who get nervous when they sit the real driving test.

What a complete farce!!!!!

For me, driving is black and white. You can either drive or you can’t. If you haven’t passed a driving test, you shouldn’t be in a car without a licensed driver. Why in this country do we always go out to make things more complicated than they actually are. You can drive or you can’t - how simple can it be???

Next thing they’ll be suggesting is a tiered drink driving system… oh yes… I know… they are already discussing this…

Hot on the heels of the governments announced last week on the new Road Safety Strategy 2007, Minister Noel Dempsey has now announced that the requirement for second provisional licence holders to be accompanied by a licenced driver of two years has been deferred until June 30th 2008.

What a typical example of our great government……

Announcing it in the first place, just showed how out of touch the government is with the real world, but this is just another example of why we should never take anything the government says seriously.

Personally I welcomed the new laws. The only people that seemed to disagree with it, were those who held provisional licences. In particular, those who held their second provisional licence.

I can’t help but as… What do you all expect?

Firstly, no-one on a first, third or fourth licence (or more) are meant to driver alone anyway so I don’t see what they are giving out about.

Second provisional license holders are one of a few things in my mind….

• Too lazy or not bothered to apply for a driving test because they didn’t have to.
  or;
• Drivers who have failed their driving test.
  or;
• someone who has got a first license but never used it and reapplied again.

The only argument they seem to have is that they claim to be better drivers than some fully licenced drivers. I can’t disagree with that, however, the fact that the fully licenced driver went through a test, gives them more of a right to be on the road than those that haven’t or those that have failed.

As a country, we always knock change. Remember when  the smoking ban was announced? But no-one can say that hasn’t been a huge success can they?

Yes I do agree, concessions have to be made for those who have already applied for a test, but those who haven’t bothered, should be forced to drive with a fully licenced driver.

I just tried to log on to www.drivingtest.ie - the site is down.

I guess the new road safety act has frightened thousands of people into trying to apply for a test on-line now. Just shows you how lazy most of those learner drivers actually are huh?

They knew there was no real benefit in having a full licence - until now of course!! So they finally get up off their backsides to apply for a test because they know they’ll need one very soon if they want to avoid large fines and penalty points.

So Fianna Fail, what you gonna do now about the driving test waiting lists?

From midnight next Monday (29th October 2007) all learner drivers will have to be accompanied by a driver who holds a full licence for at least 2 years. This new law will also include second provisional licence holders, who have in the past been immune to the law requiring learner drivers to have a full licence holder with them, when driving.

The new Road Safety Strategy 2007 was announced by An Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern T.D., the Minister for Transport, Mr. Noel Dempsey T.D., and the Minister for Justice Mr. Brian Lennihan T.D. yesterday.

The key changes in the to be introduced are:

• The provisional licence is being replaced by a learner permit to emphasise the fact that the holder is learning to drive.
• Existing provisional licences will continue in force until their expiry date after which the holder will be issued with a learner permit.
• A holder of a second provisional licence/learner permit for a car must be accompanied at all times.
• The accompanying driver must in respect of any licence category hold a full licence for the category for at least two years.
• From 1 December 2007 a learner motorcyclist must wear the letter L on a yellow fluorescent tabard.
• From 1 December a provisional licence/learner permit holder must hold the licence/permit for six months before taking a driving test.

They have a completely new graduated license process, similar to that of the UK. Here’s a diagram to show you the process. (click to enlarge).

So what does that mean for all those provisional licence drivers now? Well anyone caught driving without a licence holder of two years or more, will be hit with a €1,000 fine.

All sounds good in theory, but how will the Gardai clamp down on these drivers? For me, I think it will just push provisional drivers underground. I personally think this is just going to drive learner drivers to remove their L plates and pretend to be full licence holders.

As much as I welcome these new laws, how they will enforce these new laws.

The new laws are likely to cause huge public debate and confusion, generally based around the holders of second provisional licences. As mentioned above, these drivers (120,000 of them) have legally been allowed to drive on Irish roads without a licensed driver - from Monday though, it will be illegal to do so.

I spoke today with a current second provisional licence holder. He is outraged and feels he should have got more notice of the new law. As much as I have sympathy for him, I don’t think he should have been given more notice. He has held the second licence for a while now and he admits he didn’t bother applying for a new licence because it wasn’t illegal for him to drive with his second provisional.

This law is well overdue and is made to create a safer environment for all road users, which lets face it, is nearly all of us. It’s ludicrous to think that someone that has failed a driving test - can get straight back into their car and drive on our roads. I’ve spoke about this before here >>

The next big question now is how will this affect the waiting lists for getting a licence?? It’s always been a nightmare to get a test, what are the government doing to shorten the waiting lists?

Will there be provisions for drivers on the waiting list? If so, is this just a pointless new law that won’t be at all effective???

NEWSFLASH: What a government we have…. only announced and then this
Friday, 26 October 2007 13:06  >> http://www.rte.ie/news/2007/1026/roadsafety.html

I wrote an article a few weeks back about the dangers of cycling on Irish roads (view here) - well I had another near miss today.

On my way into work, I met a roundabout with two lanes. Because I was going straight ahead, I rightly took the inside lane (closest to path). A stoopid driver that was coming from behind me decided he wanted to go left, but instead of waiting for me to go on ahead, he decides to try pass me. Totally under estimating the speed a cyclist can travel at (i was doing about 18mph) he didn’t have the time to pass me, so he was in effect coming in on top of me. I speed up to dry and avoid him and thankfully that helped him narrowly miss me. He did slam on and come to a halt. He then had the nerve to wave his fist at me, beep his horn and call me all the names under the sun.

I of course stopped my bike, turned around and walked towards him to have it out with him. He rolled down his window and told me how I was a “stupid f**ker”, how I shouldn’t be in that lane and how I shouldn’t be on the road because I don’t pay road tax - I lost it back at this stage. As I got close to the car though, he drove off…….

I was so pissed off, I could have been seriously injured, while this guy insists he had the right of way and that I was in the wrong. Without getting a chance to explain my side of the story to him, it left me feeling very frustrated. Enough so that I have to admit, I lost respect for other drivers on the road. Instead of having courtesy at junctions, I admit this morning I treated all drivers as if they were this twat that I had encountered earlier. Every car that came in on top of me, rather than just shaking my head at them, I’d be a bit more annoyed looking….

This is road rage - but it all starts with someone’s lack of knowledge of the rules of the road. There’s so many drivers out there that don’t know the rules of the road - we should have regular checks for people that have held their licenses for so long. It doesn’t have to be a full blown test, maybe just something like the theory test that you’d need to pass to renew your license. This simple task would mean that people would need to remind themselves of the rules of the road on a regular basis.

The jury of the M7 pile up last March, in which Kate Moyles died, have returned a verdict of accidental death. This I have no problem with, it was a very sad accident that claimed the life of a young lady. However, what I do have a problem with is their call for overhead warning signs.

Although disputed by Met Eireann meteorologist, it was apparently one of the foggiest days some people had ever seen that morning in March. So bad that you could hardly see the car in front of you. Yet the jury claim that overhead warning signs would have helped prevent this accident.

I’m sorry but, if you couldn’t see the car in front of you, how the hell are you going to see an overhead warning sign???

We as a nation always look to blame someone else for our own wrong doing and here in my opinion is another classis example. I mean absolutely no offence to the Moyles family, but there was a severe lack of judgement on the case of most people involved in the accident.

The driver of the fire engine that Ms Moyles crashed into stated that he couldn’t move into the outside lane (even with sirens and bluelights flashing) because traffic was moving too fast in the outside lane. For me, those drivers in this case were either:

1. bad enough drivers to not be on the lookout for dangers ahead;
2. bad enough drivers to not see a flashing blue light or a siren ahead (if they did, not to give them way);
   or…
3. bad enough drivers to not change their driving to match the adverse weather conditions.

The bottom line is that their judgement on how good their driving was on this day was completely wrong. These are the types of drivers that cause accidents and these are the types of drivers we need to take of our roads.

As a nation, we need to stop blaming others and look at our own abilities as drivers.

I’ve recently taken up cycling to work, on the days that I can. Those days are those that I don’t have meetings, so I’m not suited and booted so to speak. My reasons for taking up cycling to work was because of recently becoming a father. Before my beautiful daughter came along (ahhhhhh), I would spend my evenings working and then trying to fit in a jog or a game of football to keep fit. So I thought the best way to maximise my time was to get a bike and cycle to work at least twice a week.

The cycle to work is just under 8 miles, so it takes me on average, 35 mins to reach my destination. For me this was a good way of getting a workout in and maximising my time in the evenings to spend with the family!

But….. The more I cycle, the more I feel I’m really taking my life into my own hands. Every day since I began cycling, I have had situations which just make me rethink whether or not my cycling idea was a good one for my health.

Irish drivers really don’t have any regard for cyclists on Irish roads. I have had people open the car doors when parked, pulling out in front of me, turning corners right in front of my path and encroaching on me while I’m on a cycle lane.

The closest call I’ve had yet was when a woman was coming out of an estate, where the traffic was built up and the only place she could go was the yellow box. I’ve no problem here coming out, but when she doesn’t even bother to look, now that annoys me. I was easily doing 20 miles an hour on a cycle lane, and she just pulls out in front of me without looking. I didn’t even have the time to stop and I ended up crashing into her. Granted, I did have enough time to slow down a lot, so there was no damage and no injuries, but she thought nothing of it. Looking at me as if it was my fault. I calmly(;)) lost my head at her and told her that she should go and get lessons etc. But she ust brushed it off as if she wasn’t wrong at all.

Now I do agree that no-one has a divine right to the right of way, but this was just pure ignorance and really poor driving. But that has been one of many incidents that I have encountered since taking up cycling.

I also agree that some cyclists are just as bad with their manners on the road, but at the end of the day, cyclists are the ones driving a big piece of metal, so if there is a collision between cars and cyclists, we know which of the two would come out best.

As I am also a driver, I decided to put together a list that will hopefully help both sides see the grieviances on road safety between the two types of road users.

Top 5 driver errors when dealing with cyclists

1. Miscaculating the speed of a cyclist. A lot of drivers think that because it’s a bike, that they can just cut across their path when taking a right turn. Bikes can travel at speeds of easily up to 30MPH, just like a typical car on a public road. Don’t under estimate the speed the cyclist is travelling at.
2. Opening car doors without checking. Happens way too often.
3. When they see a cyclist, some drivers like to move in closer to the path to stop them from passing them…. how childish….
4. Pulling out onto cycle lanes without looking left. Probably another of the most common ones. Drivers come out of an estate right onto a cycle lane as if it’s the edge of the road.
5. Cutting across or speeding up in front of cyclists to turn left.

Top 5 Cyclist Errors when cycling

1. Driving the wrong way up cycle lanes. One of my pet hates. Nevermind the gobshites that cycle the wrong way on cycle lanes that reside on a road, but those that cycle on the pathway ones too. A drivers natural instict is to look right when coming onto a road, this is because that’s the direction the traffic should be coming (closest to them). When someone is cycling the wrong way, it’s likely you won’t be seen.
2. Weaving in front of cars - this is both from avoiding potholes in the road, to traffic hoping. etc. etc.
3. Breaking traffic lights - Traffic lights are there for a reason. Unless there are absoultey no cars coming, you should never break a traffic light. In fact, the rules of the road state that cyclists must obey the laws for all road users.
4. Side by side cycling - Contrary to popular believe, this is illegal. You can’t cycle side by side with other cyclists - especially when it is effecting other traffic. Such as cars not being able to pass you out etc.
5. Hard to find a fifth - maybe it’s those cyclists that don’t think about what they look like from behind when they have big builders bums and stuff…. yuk, enough to make someone crash for sure….

I’m sure you all have your own thoughts - maybe we can add to this list!

There was much talk on the airwaves this morning about a new website that shows you the locations of all speed cameras in Ireland. However… when I visited this morning, the site simply showed a “Service Unavailable” error. www.irishspeedtraps.com

I can’t to see this site and obviously either can anyone else! The site being down is most likely due to an unexpected level of traffic to the website.

A lot people see this site as a bad thing, but I personally think it will be a good thing. According to the Gardai, the locations of speed traps and cameras are chosen based on the number of accidents in that vicinity. So if that is true, it should make people slow down in these areas and hopefully as a knock on effect, reduce accidents too.

I’ll give a proper review of the site when it’s live again.

EDIT:
Just listening to the main guy behind the website on NewsTalk 106 right now and he is saying that the cameras are actually more focused on dual carraigeways and motorways, where in fact the accident rate is much lower…. more to come…

Yet another killing on our roads early today. There has been 13 deaths in the last 72 hours on Irish roads, bringing the total of deaths on our roads so far this year to 218.

Yesterday I drove to Enniscorthy for a meeting and on my way I saw at least 6 really poor and dangerous manoeuvres by drivers on our roads. One in particular made me realise that it is not speed that kills, it’s drvier attitude.

As I was driving down the dual carraigeway just past Arklow, I glanced out my rear view mirror and spotted a BMW in the distance well behind me. However it was obvious it was breaking the speed limit as I was just on the limit at 100KPH and it was catching me fast. Within seconds, it was now right beside me. The driver was a professional looking lady, that must have been in a hurry to some important meeting I imagine.

As she flew by me, she decided it would be a good idea to pull into my lane and slam on to slow below the speed limit to 80KPH. I have to admit, this irked me a little. She just wanted to be in front of … everyone I guess.

Not content with driving at 80KPH I pulled out into the outside lane to overtake her and get some clearance ahead of me and so that I wasn’t tailgating her. Up ahead I could see the road was now merging into one lane. I thought ok, I better speed up to get plenty of distance between myself and this car that was slightly behind me at this stage. Up at the merge, there was a “long vehicle”, which was moving pretty slow. I gave myself plenty of time to get distance between the car behind me and the long vehicle in front to move into this space.

So now was the time to make the move….. I took a look in my rear view mirror, seen there was plenty of time to move in, indicated to move and finally took one last look in my side mirror…… and there she was. This woman had accellerated to prevent me from pulling into this merging lane. There was still room to move into the lane, but not enough to do safely as I would be soon slamming on my brakes because of the long vehicle in front. So I speed up a little more to try gain more room. But, this woman persisted, even though my indicator was on, she just wasn’t letting me in. We were now on the merge, she was still slighly behind me yet, she wouldn’t budge. This woman was happy enough to push me onto the other side of the road where there was oncoming traffic. My only option now was to slam on and hope the other cars coming behind me had seen what was going on and would be prepared to slow down. Luckily for my sake they did…..

At this stage I was rightly royaled. I know my driving detoriorated while I tried to get this womans attention to ask her why she did what she did. I now was a menace to others on the road. But this is my point, we are all guilty of causing accidents on the roads, no matter how good of drivers we think we are.

We could do something very simply wrong, such as driving slow, not indicating, etc. But this could be causing huge strss for people driving behind us, who in turn, their driving gets worse.

So I for once agree with Gay Byrne and a Policitian…. (strange that) - there is nothing the the police can do that will stop this carnage ut ourselves. Until we take this whole debacle seriously, the roads are just not going to be a safe place to be.

I still think that there are some issues that have to be addressed: 

1. Drivers attitude
   This in my opinion is the worst of them all. It covers numerous situations, from drink driving to road manners etc. 
   It’s strange that peoples attitudes and personalities change  once they are behind the wheel of car. How many of us would stick their fingers up or shout and scream at someone who has stepped in front of you in a queue in a shop? But yet, we’d easily do it while behind the wheel of a car.
2. Points System
   It doesn’t work, there is not enough enforcement of the law. People know they can get away with it because there is no-one there to punish their wrong doings.
3. Speeding
   Well I think both the drivers and the government are to blame here. Again many reasons, but how can a country with such a high death rate on our roads increase the speed limit to 120KPH. They say that learner drivers aren’t allowed on motorways because they have no experience at driving their car at such a high speed….. Well eh, in theory no-one should have ever been driving at 75MPH before… so why increase it? 110 KPH is around 68 MPH, why not decrease instead of increasing??
   From a drivers point of view…. why are most people sheep? Once one person breaks a law on the road, others follow - especially when it comes to speed.
4. Learner Drivers
   I feel sorry for SOME of these. I know when I started driving, I didn’t have someone with a full driving license that could be around everytime I needed experience on the road. If that was enforced, I wouldn’t be driving now. I think we need to look at this and work something out that suits the majority.
   The ones I don’t feel sorry for are the ones that shouldn’t be on the road….. get them off!!

I could go on - but the more I think about it, the more messed up it seems.

By the end of July it is expected that there will be 20 more of us dead from road accidents….. How sad is that?