If you want to become a pilot you have to do a test that determines how you can process a bombardment of information coming at you from all sides. How can your brain select from the view out the cockpit window, your instrument readouts, what you hear on the radio, what the co-pilot is telling you and sensory feedback from the plane itself, i.e. the controls, which bits of information to focus your concentration on.

Some people do not have the ability to filter. they cannot concentrate on one bit of information alone, they get completely overwhelmed and either panic or freeze. It is not dissimilar in a car.

When doing a right turn, you must take into account what’s behind you, in front of you, and, of course, to the right and left. All this while taking into account how fast you are, what gear you’re in, signaling and possibly arguing with whoever is in the vehicle with you at the time. Some people are great and can do all the above while on the phone (hope the insurance pays).

The same principle comes into action here.

Some people are not able to filter information, they are subjected to a constant torrent of it flooding at them from all angles at all times.

If you see someone approaching a turn and slowing down to 2.5 km/h about 2 miles before they approach the turn while signaling left instead of right, then stop for 5 minutes and finally turn while almost crashing head on into oncoming traffic they didn’t see and continue oblivious to the mess of beeping and swearing they left behind, you can be pretty sure that person has trouble filtering information according to what’s important and not. To them a lamppost on the side of the street has the same priority as a car screaming at them at 100 km/h with lights flashing and horn blaring.

If a pilot fails this test he is told he cannot become a pilot. If a driver fails his test, he repeats it 258 times till he finds a tester kind enough to finally pass him, so he can go out there and wreak havoc.

It’s about time we all stopped regarding driving as a god-given right that entitles each and everyone of us to be on the roads and took testing a bit more serious and introduce retesting to weed out people who are ticking time bombs and will someday kill themselves or a school bus full of children, because they where concentrating on a potted plant by the side of the road instead of the oncoming bus.

BBC Radio Northampton

[audio:080530-BBCRadioNorthampton.mp3]

(Note: The presenter goes on for 4 minutes, introducing the topic before the interview itself starts)

The programme, “Late & Live” will have, among the topics tackled, the issue of young drivers and “boy racers” in Northern Ireland.

I’ve also been asked to find out if there are any ShiteDrivers.com contributors or readers who feel they could add something to this debate and would like to take part in it. If there are, please send an email to me at Admin@ShiteDrivers.com (as soon as possible) letting me know and I’ll put you in touch with the programme producers.

See comments for more info on this.

Niall O’Keeffe

A new Road Safety Programme targeted at Transition Year students was launched today.

The new programme, sponsored by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin (pictured, right) and Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, will be available for schools from this coming September.

It is currently being piloted in some 50 schools.

The programme covers issues such as seatbelts and airbags, driver fatigue, drink/drug driving, enforcement, basic first aid at road crashes, emergency services and rehabilitation.

The programme provides for visiting speakers, trips out of school, projects and case studies.

The programme does not include driving lessons.

Minister Hanafin noted that ‘while 2007 was one of the safest years on Irish roads in over 40 years, the stark fact is that 338 people lost their lives last year’.

She said education is key to reducing road casualties.

It’s expected that the programme will now be rolled out to 500 schools. Maybe this will improve Minister Dempsey’s "approval rating"…

More specific information on the programme itself can be found on the Department of Education web site, here.

Yeah.

My case is that, not only is this rubbish, but I should be allowed to drive faster than the Irish.

When I did my licence in Germany, first I had to pass a theory test, know about some basic technical aspects of the car (lights, oil, coolant, check and change tyres, etc…) and also complete a compulsory first aid test.

After that I was allowed to sit in the car for my first time (no provisional licences there, you either got one, or you’re not driving sunshine) and after making sure I understood all the controls came a few weeks of constant lessons. That’s right, weeks.

We have a minimum set number of lessons which you must complete, regardless of how good you are. And these lessons include driving by night, in adverse weather and on the motorway. Time and time again my instructor would berate me for not going fast enough. I was encouraged to stick to the limit as closely as possible, taking road conditions into account. On the motorway (or Autobahn) he pushed me until I was comfortable doing 160 km/h cruising speed. This is not an unusual speed by any means and I have, over the years, reached speeds of up to 220 km/h, without any trouble whatsoever.

The missing element here is obeying the speed limit and reading the road ahead, since most Irish never seem to think past their bumpers they should restricted to 80.

So, since I hold a proper licence and not something that some people here got from a cereal box, I should be allowed to drive faster.

So there…

And an add on:

What really gets me about this item on the Last Word is that it is another one in a long line of increasingly deranged fascist bullyboys (and girls) who seem to have taken to spouting ever more bizarre nonsense about banning this, forcing us to do that, outlawing something or other.
They must know they are talking utter rubbish and I can only hope for the sake of the Irish that they can see through rubbish like that.
What worries me is the fact that there seems to be an audience for this claptrap, but as Germany has illustrated all those years ago, if someone just shouts loud enough and waves his arms about and bangs the podium and promises to “deal with the problem once and for all”, people will fall for it.
And before you know it the lunatics are running the asylum.
Anyone who spouts this kind of rubbish must know that his party is in very deep trouble, only hanging on by one finger and has to turn to the politics of desperation in order to hold on by any means.
Dustin for Taoiseach I say, better him than those muppets.

Courtesy: Road Safety Authority

Now there are good Irish jokes floating around and then there are Irish jokes that make all other Irish jokes look that little bit less rediculous. The second provisional licence joke is but one joke that must have been thought up by the men in black over a good political drinking session that ended with the theme song from Bear in the Big Blue House being sung by all. How can anybody justify the logic behind telling someone that you cannot drive on the road unless your are accompanied by a full licence holder and then in the next breath say it’s alright to drive alone on a second licence. To add greater insult and blatant stupidity to the provisional licence scandal, on your third licence you are not allowed to drive unless you are accompanied once again by a full licence holder. Now I thought the idea of practice makes perfect means that the more one is on the road the greater the chances of that individual becoming a competent and experienced driver. What the current provisional licencing system tells me is that on the first licence you are not compentent to drive alone, on the second licence you suddenly become competent, while on your third and subsequent licences you suddenly go back to becoming incompetent.

Now this really boggles the mind when trying to understand as to why enormous emphasis is constantly placed on the causes of road fatalities, and here we have a regulation that eminates from the highest of authority, is flawed to such an extent that it makes the process of saving lives through road safety iniatives a complete farce and a joke. Once again the thoughts of commerce comes into one’s mind as provisional driving licence holders are encourage to purchase vehicles, tax and insure the same vehicles and then drive those vehicles despite the fact that they are toying with a licence that operates on the same principals as childrens play money. Insurance companies, government agencies and local authorities openly encourage inexperienced drivers to drive motor vehicles on the road, purely because its revenue into the accounts of the same insurance companies and a tidy earner for the state and its local authorities.

I have said it before and I will say it again, the Gardai are being used as a political football in the enforcement of regulations that are ill-concieved and badly thought out and to which make the Gardai look like a local branch of the political establishment. Mothers collect their children in 4X4 vehicles they are unable to reverse if they are caught in a sticky situation. Young 19 to 24 year old adults drive sports cars without any real comprehension of the handling, brakeing and power charasiticics of the vehicle, as insurance companies line up to make the monthly debits from their bank accounts and the state sends out the Gardai to make sure they have paid their road tax. Gay Byrne waffles on about all our wrongs, but makes no remarks about the shortcoming of the same authorities who consistently get their regulations wrong and who pay absolutrely no attention to inappropriate road signs on many of our roads, bad lighting at many accident blackspots and the problem of the taxi industry that nobody is willing and prepared to tackle as an ongoing problem of bad driving. Taxi’s may not directly kill people, but the standards of driving by the vast majority of members in that industry, directly contribute to bad driving practices by other road users and therefore directly contribute as a secondary sourse for road accidents.The Road Safety Authority is handpicking situations that provide a maximum revenue return for the state by using the Gardai to enforce secondary regulations that in reality would be far better enforced if the root cause of the problems were addressed as their primary priority over petty speeding checks on roads that have the capability of handling 747Jumbo jets. Last Saturday night I stood with my bicycle at the junction of Stephens Green and Leeson Street and watched wave after wave of taxi’s driving up the contra-flow bus lane without one Garda being present for the duration of my observations. Now these guys have PSV driving licences, are supposed to comply with the rules of the road as PSV operators but can be seen night after night violating all regulations with total immunity from prosecution basically because the interest of commerce takes presidence over the enforcement of road safety regulations and the saving of lives.

There are thousand of provisional licence drivers out there who due to the financial investment they have placed in purchasing a motor vehicle, now find themselves driving the same vehicles because they have accustomised themselves to driving alone on their second licence.As I write this article an advertisement sponsored by the RSA and AXA that says ‘The faster the speed the bigger the mess’, suddenly appeared on the television. Ah great, the RSA is screaming about speed while at the same time provisional licence holders are jumping from your not, you are, and back again to your not authourised to drive on the road. We now have a wig wam situation where the driver testing centres cannot handle the influx of applications for driving tests; provisional driver licence holders are still waiting weeks and months for a test while the RSA clatters-on about striking these drivers off the road in one foul swoop. Listen Gaybo, this Mickey mouse state and its political hoo-haas caused the problem by their lack of leadership and foresight at the consequences their actions of handing out full driving licences to provisional drivers without having to take a test would cause and then, having failed to learn form their blatant mistakes then went along to hand out provisional driving licences to everybody and anybody who wanted to get onto the road, purely because the state was reaping in the money from duties and taxes on motor vehicles, fuels and spare parts sold by motor dealers and motor factors.

Every death is a direct result of a political incompetence that has led to the situations we see on our roads today. W cannot blame provisional drivers (although the emphasis on driver responsibility is forcibly rammed down our necks) , nor can we blame full licence holders as they have been conditioned over many years to driving in a manner that seen the state turn a blind eye to what was going on around it. We cannot blame the Gardai for the ongoing rise in road fatalities, although when a finger needs to be pointed they seem to be in direct line for criticism from those who duck and dive away from their own responsibilities. The Gardai are obliged to mount road checks on roads they themselves know Sterling Moss would have no problem driving under any road conditions or circumstances.

It’s as simple as this; let’s go back to basics, let us look at all the other violations of road safety regulations and let us find a better way in which to enforce those regulations. The idea of Gardai in great numbers patrolling our streets is just a plaster on a wound that requires stitches. Let us start enforcing regulations that govern the use bicycles including a regulation that addresses J walking by pedestrians.

Finally, to add insult to injury, our old friend Gaybo comes out and says in response to a question on the lowering of the alcohol limits when driving, said; “Existing limits should be enforced properly”. Talking about kicking the Gardai in the teeth should we see any further rise in road fatalities. It’s not our problem, it’s the bloody guards who won’t do their job. The veteran broadcaster is like a Ever-Ready battery, low in power, is second best to a Duracell and is promoted and maintained by the use of a brand image and nothing really much beyond that. You can give the boys a job but can the boys do the job? To date the wind is blowing from the lower orifice with nothing that indicates life noticeably present from the other end.

As we move into the new year I wonder, will the RSA leave resolution of the learner driver licence debacle until the very last minute, and will the RSA then turn to the Gardai and expect them to do their dirty work in enforcing the regulations. Will these actions in turn drive a greater wedge between the good community relations the Gardai have built up with the general public and therefore further encourage a ‘them and us’ mentality among ordinary law abiding citizens? It’s time the RSA stopped picking their noses and got down to the real causes of road fatalities, which seem to indicate a real problem with the overall driving standards of motorists rather than specific problems such as speeding. It’s time for the RSA to take on the local authorities with their inconsistencies in the setting speed limits and it’s time to stop blaming road users for a problem that was encouraged and swept under the carpet until the need to secure alternative revenue was suddenly required due to falling revenues from other sources.

Speed kills, at 5 KPh speed kills, so what is all the hype about speed, as if speed was the only contributing factor that needs to be addressed in order to resolve the problem of road fatalities? Speed is most certainly a contributing factor, but it is not the main factor. A learner driver driving in an unacceptable manner at 20 KPh is as dangerous as another motorist driving on a motorway 20 KPH above the speed limit. A driver with a full licence who drives (not speeds) through a red traffic light is more dangerous than a learner driver crawling along the road and holding up the traffic. A taxi that stops in the middle of Westmoreland Street in order to secure a fare, as traffic passes on either side, is as dangerous as the taxi driver who stops at a bus stop thereby causing elderly people to struggle in order to board or disembark the bus because the driver cannot pull into the stop and the Gardai pass by. Funny old Celtic Tiger, money out strips the importance and value of life.

There will be a discussion on motoring, including topics on foreign drivers, the penalty points system and this very web site on the Moncrieff programme on Newstalk 106-108 today at 2pm.

I should be on it talking to Seán about ShiteDrivers.com at about 2.20pm. You can tune in live via the Web here or between 106 and 108FM (Ireland only).

EDIT: I won’t now be on the show. They’re talking to someone from AA roadwatch instead.

I’m a foreign national, have been in Ireland for a few years and it’s bad for me that a few idiots are focusing attention on foreigners and by extension, me. I abide by the law and I see plenty of shite going on on the roads. The statistics are undeniable, there is a growing issue here.
I have a valid license, issued in another country and EU law requires the authorities here to accept this document. That’s the way it is, it’s EU law and there’s no way round that.
It is not my fault if the authorities of here cannot deal with legal, valid documentation. All the handwringing and blaming “dem fordeigners” isn’t good enough. Get the finger out, get organised and get your system in order.
I personally would never, ever drive without having everything in order. My car is Irish registered, taxed, insured, NCT, the works. And since I got it here it’s also right hand drive. It’s just easier for overtaking. You cannot however ban left hand drive vehicles here. Some of those are just passing tourists and since European cars are, by and large, left hand drive, that’s the way it goes. You cannot decide what type of car you will allow on your roads and what not.
If the Irish government does not deem it necessary to provide the legislation it needs to deal with a problem it KNEW would exist in the future, it has left itself wide open for abuse and that’s exactly what’s happening right now.
Don’t blame the foreigners, get a system that works.
If you do anything silly in another country, you are stopped by the police and have to pay an on the spot fine. There and then. If you cannot pay you will be jailed till you do. If you can’t, they’ll crush your car. And then you are forever banned from driving there again. They mean business. Not so here. You can rely on most people to behave responsibly, but some arseholes will take the piss. And the Irish have no one to blame but themselves.

This happened sometime ago near where he live and it involves two cars [one with L plate and one without] and a set of traffic lights.

And this is how the drama unfolded. [no pictures i am afraid]…

• So this L-driver was driving around the area – nothing out of ordinary

• The Traffic light in front of L-Driver turned red – nothing out of ordinary

• The L-driver slowed down for the red light – instead of speeding up like some people

• Then; out of the blue; this driver with no L plate came out of the blue behind the L-driver full speed and *WHAM* right into the back of L-Driver’s car. (presumably at approx 40~50km/h; and my friend did not recall hearing screechy breaking sounds) ; to add on to the drama; the non-L driver got out of his car and started shouting abuses at the L-driver for stopping at a red light.

I laughed so hard I just had to share it here.

Note: No-one was injured [even the slightest] in this event and the two cars involved suffered only minor damage.