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    Lazy Llama

Driving Standards

Reno said:
They are indeed. For some reason lots of people who hire these scooters seem to think that traffic rules don't apply to them. That's not just jumping the odd red light when no traffic is around but doing whatever they want in any direction without looking, on pavements, roads and cycling paths. Nearly got run down a couple of times by scooters going up the cycling path the wrong direction, they are a menace on pavements and then they get parked in the stupidest places where they are in the way. We get lots of accidents with them here, alcohol has been cited as the main reason.
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So it's obviously cyclists that are upgrading to them. What could possibly go wrong!
 
Ogmios is quite cool about them, reckons the riders are from the future, finishes with “coming to a morgue near you soon”
 
That pointy canoe end sticking nearly 1.5m out of the kerbside of the car could have made for a Final Destination-style accident involving a cyclist or pedestrian :eek:
 
Bahnhof Strasse said:
They didn’t exist when I passed, but first thing I did was tear off the Ls and get going, accidentally ending up on the M25 at 530pm that day...

In France it is law that you have to have A plates for a year, marking you down as a n00b...
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I think they have been around for a while ? I passed in 97 , thought they were around then?
 
Bahnhof Strasse said:
They didn’t exist when I passed, but first thing I did was tear off the Ls and get going, accidentally ending up on the M25 at 530pm that day...

In France it is law that you have to have A plates for a year, marking you down as a n00b...
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Yeah, the same in Spain. Limited by law to 80 kph maximum, and must display the L sign for a year.

Also, there is no such thing as provisional driving licences. When I first moved here I frankly couldn’t believe a country with as rigorous driving legislation (compared with Spain anyway) as the UK could possibly be okay with the very concept of young inexperienced and untrained people operating cars in public roads with no training so long as a fully licensed driver is sitting next to them. It’s utter madness, frankly. Ditto people learning to drive in cars that don’t have dual controls, or are not supervised by qualified instructors.
 
T & P said:
Yeah, the same in Spain. Limited by law to 80 kph maximum, and must display the L sign for a year.

Also, there is no such thing as provisional driving licences. When I first moved here I frankly couldn’t believe a country with as rigorous driving legislation (compared with Spain anyway) as the UK could possibly be okay with the very concept of young inexperienced and untrained people operating cars in public roads with no training so long as a fully licensed driver is sitting next to them. It’s utter madness, frankly. Ditto people learning to drive in cars that don’t have dual controls, or are not supervised by qualified instructors.
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It's even worse in Ireland. You can rock up at a driving test centre, take your test and fail miserably, then you're allowed to no only drive home, but continue driving until your next test date. It's fucking unbelievable!
I think the three strikes rule should apply to the driving test. If you don't pass the test in three attempts, you shouldn't ever be allowed to drive on the road. The driving test is beyond ridiculously easy, and anyone who doesn't pass it (IMHO) first time, isn't fit to be in charge of the lethal weapon they're being given control of.
 
Spymaster said:
You mean you can continue to drive whilst supervised by a full licence holder?
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No, that's the law, but, as you probably know, laws in Ireland are open to interpretation. Provisional holders in Ireland seem to think their provisional is a full license that hasn't yet been issued. There's pretty much no enforcement of the laws, and people who only hold a provisional license almost never drive with a qualified driver as a passenger. Not that it would make much difference. But it's always been given the 'Irish treatment', which equates to "Ah sure it'll be grand", and the cops turn a blind eye, because the whole country is at it.
Edit: I'm talking about people actually driving to the test centre unaccompanied, then driving home the same, and continuing to drive that way.
Another edit... When you take your motorbike test, you have to take the test on a bike that's illegal for you to ride :facepalm:
 
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Saul Goodman said:
When you take your motorbike test, you have to take the test on a bike that's illegal for you to ride :facepalm:
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That’s the same here (but it’s not illegal to ride it for the test). I’m pretty sure that you have to take the test on a bike appropriate to the licence category. Things have changed a lot since I did mine but I think for an A licence you have to pass the test on a bike of 600cc or more.
 
Spymaster said:
That’s the same here (but it’s not illegal to ride it for the test). I’m pretty sure that you have to take the test on a bike appropriate to the licence category. Things have changed a lot since I did mine but I think for an A licence you have to pass the test on a bike of 600cc or more.
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I'm not even sure how it works here, but I think it's very similar, a 600cc+ bike for the (A) test, which is (should be) beyond the reach of a provisional license holder. Yet if and when they fail the test, they're allowed to jump back on a bike they're not licensed to ride, and ride home. It beggars belief.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not having a go at the riders. My first road bike was a GSXR750, back in 1989. I didn't even have a bike license but I had a GSXR750, and I was cool as fuck, so I availed of the offer to ride a monster of a bike illegally, whilst also being legal, as I could insure it and produce the insurance to the cops, if they ever caught me.
 
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T & P said:
Yeah, the same in Spain. Limited by law to 80 kph maximum, and must display the L sign for a year.

Also, there is no such thing as provisional driving licences. When I first moved here I frankly couldn’t believe a country with as rigorous driving legislation (compared with Spain anyway) as the UK could possibly be okay with the very concept of young inexperienced and untrained people operating cars in public roads with no training so long as a fully licensed driver is sitting next to them. It’s utter madness, frankly. Ditto people learning to drive in cars that don’t have dual controls, or are not supervised by qualified instructors.
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In Spain there are mock ups that you drive around, at least when I was a child I remember seeing them. That is the same as I did near Harrow when I was 16, not heard of such a thing anywhere else in the U.K. though.
 
T & P said:
Yeah, the same in Spain. Limited by law to 80 kph maximum, and must display the L sign for a year.

Also, there is no such thing as provisional driving licences. When I first moved here I frankly couldn’t believe a country with as rigorous driving legislation (compared with Spain anyway) as the UK could possibly be okay with the very concept of young inexperienced and untrained people operating cars in public roads with no training so long as a fully licensed driver is sitting next to them. It’s utter madness, frankly. Ditto people learning to drive in cars that don’t have dual controls, or are not supervised by qualified instructors.
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What's madness is that I passed my test on the strength of half an hour in a Skoda hatchback on the back roads of rural Nottinghamshire and I could then legally drive a long wheelbase transit down the M1.

I've put in many many hours drving vans since then so I'm OK with it, but a particular menace on the roads is self-hire vans driven by bozos who have no idea how to drive a van.
 
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One of the peculiarities of the car driving test is that once you pass it you can drive any car. There’s a massive difference between a Ford Ka and a Bugatti Veyron, but passing the same test permits you to drive either. There needs to be a similar system to that with bikes.
 
Historically UK didn't have tests and less long ago I think that you could drive without a licence in the services.

1) My father told a tale of being ordered to drive a jeep somewhere when he was in WW2. He had no licence but got it half way across, (what was then called) Malaya without realising that it actually had more than 2 gears
2) Many of my school friends lived in far fling countries and got their licences abroad. Consensus was that, in the 80s, Zim was the easiest place: Get in, drive forward 100m without hitting the 2 road cones on either side of the Road, Reverse 100m ,. Stop
 
nick said:
Many of my school friends lived in far fling countries and got their licences abroad. Consensus was that, in the 80s, Zim was the easiest place: Get in, drive forward 100m without hitting the 2 road cones on either side of the Road, Reverse 100m ,. Stop
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Mexico outdoes that (or used to). It differs from state to state but in Mexico City there is no test. You just need to be over 18 and sign a declaration that you can drive. :thumbs:
 
nick said:
2) Many of my school friends lived in far fling countries and got their licences abroad. Consensus was that, in the 80s, Zim was the easiest place: Get in, drive forward 100m without hitting the 2 road cones on either side of the Road, Reverse 100m ,. Stop
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The Indian (or at least Goan) version of the test in the '90s was the same but you didn't even need to do the reversing bit. I met a couple of mad scotsman in Goa who had done the test and intended to transfer it to a UK license when they got home. I've no idea if that was actually possible.

Probably tells you a lot about the driving standards in India though. The roads were lethal.
 
Not sure if it's still the case but a South Korean license was transferable to a UK one. A friend of mine has a perfectly valid UK after taking a few lessons and having a ten minute test (once round the test centre and park), he's not driven in this country yet, but it's scary how easy it is.
 
dervish said:
Not sure if it's still the case but a South Korean license was transferable to a UK one. A friend of mine has a perfectly valid UK after taking a few lessons and having a ten minute test (once round the test centre and park), he's not driven in this country yet, but it's scary how easy it is.
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Is he South Korean, or did he at least use to live in South Korea when he got his licence? Judging by souljacker 's post above, it sounds like you don't even need to live in India or be an Indian national to get a licence there :D
 
I have a St Kitts & Nevis driving permit, no test, didn't ask to see a UK licence, cost ECD30 and had to heed the advice, "There are no drink driving restrictions here, but when you start the second bottle of rum probably best to not drive, always wear a seat belt, the police are strict about that."
 
Bahnhof Strasse said:
I have a St Kitts & Nevis driving permit, no test, didn't ask to see a UK licence, cost ECD30 and had to heed the advice, "There are no drink driving restrictions here, but when you start the second bottle of rum probably best to not drive, always wear a seat belt, the police are strict about that."
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Seriously? How long ago was that? I’ve heard of countries where there are drink driving laws in place but the rozzers never enforce them. But that is next level stuff :eek:
 
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