BikeNews: Learner motorcyclistsChanges to the provisional license system should help reduce the number of 'single vehicle accidents', writes John Wheeler
First, the good news; in mid-2008 the RSA plans to undertake "research" into letting motorcycles use bus lanes. If that sounds like light at the end of the tunnel, it is, but it is the headlight on an oncoming train.
Big changes are afoot. The provisional licence as we knew it has gone. You now start off with a learner's permit. For a very brief moment, all that is different is the name.
From 1st December. 2007, whether you have an "old style" provisional licence or the new learner's permit, you must wear a fluorescent tabard (not a jacket or vest that has a front zip or velcro) which displays the letter L "not less that 150mm high on a white background in clearly visible positions to the front and rear of your torso". So, if you have been using a rucksack or "courier's bag" you will have to re-think your luggage system so as not to hide the L plates.
All the world can now see clearly that you have not passed the test. There is no more powerful incentive to get your full, unrestricted licence. Having to display L plates is akin to going around in nappies. At any gathering of bikers you will feel three feet tall.
With the learner's permit you cannot apply for a driving test until you have held the permit for six months. The idea is that you should by then have had time to get trained an acquired sufficient skills and confidence to pass first time.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) says that it will bring down the average lead-in time for a driving test, for those who have already applied, to 10 weeks by the end of March, 2008, and then to 10 weeks for all others by June, 2008. Already some riders are getting 10 days or less prior notice. Some are finding it is too late to book a "pre-test" session.
It will pay to get the driving test out of the way as soon as possible, given what else is coming down the line. From late 2008, that's less than a year away but its surprising how time flies, you will not be permitted to ride unaccompanied on a learner's permit until you have completed a basic training course of around 12 to 16 hours duration.
The RSA has not yet decided on the minimum hours training time. This will have to be under the supervision of an approved instructor and you will have to reach the required standard even if it takes you longer. In most cases you will not be able to insure your own machine until you have done this so you will have to use a "school bike". This kind of training cannot come cheap.
Only then can you ride on your own prior to the driving test which needs to be taken before the learner's permit's two-year expiry date. You still cannot carry a pillion passenger until after you have passed the driving test. Not only will there be a fine of € 1,000 for the first offence and € 2,000 for the second, carrying a pillion passenger without holding a full licence will become a penal offence.
Once you have taken and passed the test, you are still not in the clear. You will continue to be subject to the 25kW or 0.16kW per kilogramme power restriction for two years after passing the driving test and, by early 2009 there are also plans afoot for graduated licence proposals to consider a lower blood alcohol limit for L & R drivers and motorcyclists. Importantly, the graduated licence proposals could well sanction the long overdue Direct Access system.
This, common in the UK, enables learners over 21 to take instruction on bikes of over 35kW capacity, take the test on such a bike and, once they have passed, to be free of the irksome 25kW restriction. Motorcyclists would regard the provision of Direct Access as a hugely welcome step forward.
In all sense and reason it was beyond belief that someone who had never sat on a motorcycle before could walk into a bike shop, buy a machine with a power to weight ratio close to that of a Grand Prix car, get insurance and ride it forever without any training or ever taking a test.
Dramatic and painful as many will find some of these changes, they should come as no surprise. The dogs in the street knew, certainly from the time of Séamus Brennan's watch in transport, that things were not going to stay the same forever.
There are totally defensible reasons for the changes, Irish motorcyclists have one of the worst records for "single vehicle accidents" which means most of these "accidents" are, in the vast majority of cases, due to a lack of skill.
Raising the skill levels should mean a lot more could live to enjoy their old age pensions.