Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey was yesterday forced to clarify how new regulations for provisional drivers would be enforced. David Labanyi reports.
Mr Dempsey issued the statement after a range of organisations expressed concern at the impact rigorous enforcement of rules on provisional drivers being accompanied would cause to those reliant on a car for work and in areas without public transport.
The Minister said that from midnight on Monday next, gardaí policing provisional drivers would use "discretion and common sense, as opposed to automatic prosecution", adding that this approach would remain in place for the next "few months".
He denied this was a U-turn having announced yesterday that new regulations required all provisional drivers, including those on their second provisional, to be accompanied by a driver who has held a full-licence for a minimum of two years.
Chairman of the Road Safety Authority Gay Byrne said that "quite clearly there has been a backlash from TDs, who are also getting a backlash, and the Minister is alleviating the hysteria that we all be jailed by next Wednesday."
Mr Byrne said the discretionary approach being taken by gardaí was sensible and that setting a date of midnight on Monday was a good idea as it would "give drivers a warning".
He added: "Unfortunately, lead-in periods rarely work, especially in Ireland. I think people only respond to penalties and enforcement." The Irish Timeswas "in the lead of newspapers over the past couple years in telling us how nonsensical and outrageous it was that people could go in for their driving test, fail it and go straight on down the motorway. This is coming to an end."
Mr Byrne said there was a three-fold jump in driving test applications to the RSA yesterday.
The Garda Press Office said in a statement last night that gardaí would run scheduled checkpoints next week and that when policing provisional drivers, they would take into consideration "all of the circumstances and where appropriate issue a caution, warning, notice or prosecution".
Noel Brett, chief executive of the RSA, said anyone on a second provisional licence who was dependent on a car for work should contact the RSA for a priority test. He said gardaí would enforce the new regulations and would take a gradual approach to the enforcement.
The reaction to the change of rules offers an insight to the extent to which the rules on learner drivers being accompanied are ignored.
The widespread flouting of this law has seen a culture develop where inexperienced drivers often apply for the test solely for the purposes of renewing their provisional licence and then either cancel or fail to appear for the test.
This approach has allowed a scenario to develop where more than 33,000 drivers have obtained a fifth provisional, meaning they have been unable to pass a test in more than 10 years.
Under the regulations signed by the Minister this week, from midnight next Monday all drivers on a provisional licence must be accompanied by a driver with a full licence for a minimum of two years. From that date, anyone applying for their first licence will be given a learner permit. In future, a range of restrictions will be applied to learner permits, aimed at reducing deaths among 17- to 25-year-old drivers.
Anyone holding a provisional licence will continue to drive under its terms until it expires, by which time if they have not passed a test they will be given a permit. The penalty for driving unaccompanied is a fine of up to €1,000 and possible disqualification. From next Monday, the same penalties will apply to provisional drivers who do not display an L-plate and a driver can be prosecuted separately for each.