R Plate Lunatics

[rallybug]

I still think that using the New Zealand 'Restricted Permit' laws could work over here:

 

You can drive on your own, but not between 10 pm and 5 am. Between these times you must be accompanied by a supervisor, who must sit in the front passenger seat beside you. Your supervisor must hold a current, full New Zealand driver licence and have held this for at least two years.

You must not carry passengers unless you have a supervisor with you. The only passengers you can carry without a supervisor are:

* your spouse or person you live with as if you were married, or with whom you are joined in civil union

* children who live with you and are under the care of you or your spouse (you or your spouse support them financially)

* relatives who live with you and who are on a social security benefit (domestic purposes, widow's, invalid's, unemployment or sickness)

* someone you look after as their primary caregiver.

 

If you're under 20 years old, the legal alcohol limit is 30 mg/100 ml of blood. This is effectively a zero limit - consuming even one drink may mean you can be charged with drink driving. If you're over 20, the legal alcohol limit is 80 mg/100 ml of blood.

 

The penalties for not complying are:

All drivers must carry their licence when driving. You could be fined $55 if you can't produce your driver licence when an enforcement officer asks you to do so.

If you drive with passengers or drive between 10 pm and 5 am without a supervisor, you risk a ticket at the roadside, a fine of $400 and 25 demerit points. If you're summonsed to appear in court the fine could be up to $1,000, as well as 25 demerit points.

Licences are suspended for three months if you get 100 or more demerit points within two years(note: the suspension does not take effect until such time as you are served with the suspension documents.

In addition to more court action, vehicles can be impounded for 28 days if you're caught driving with a suspended licence.

 

You can apply for a full driver licence:

 

* after 18 months on your restricted licence if you're under 25 years of age

* after six months on your restricted licence if you're 25 years of age or older.

 

If you successfully complete an approved course, the length of time you must hold your restricted licence for may be reduced:

 

* to 12 months for those aged under 25 years

* to three months for those aged 25 or older.

 

You must present the course certificate to the driver licensing agent when you book the practical test.

 

For under 25 year olds who wish to complete an approved course, the course must be undertaken after you have held your restricted licence for at least six months.

[BunnyBoiler]

This whole thread has really annoyed me. I'm on R plates & got a 2.0ltr engine in my car. I am also 25 years old and use my car to get me to work and back and to get my weekly shop.

 

Not all R plate drivers are idiots. They will naturally have a lack of experiance and will therfore have a few close calls, but dosnt almost everyone when they first pass their test. Its just that you know they have as they have R plates. In the UK you wouldnt know they had recently passed.

 

I stick to my 50mph because i know that although i think i have enough experiance under my belt, i havent really! I have been overtaken by R plate drivers when i've been sat at 50mph and this guy in a battered Fiesta flew passed me and i was annoyed.

 

One thing people should appreciate is that although everyone moans at R platers not sticking to the 50mph maybe they could have more patiance when they are behind little me doing my 50mph along the Mountain Mile. I dont need you right up my arse and shaking you head. I know im only doing 50mph. Its all im allowed to do. So Bug*er Off.

[Ean]

One thing people should appreciate is that although everyone moans at R platers not sticking to the 50mph maybe they could have more patiance when they are behind little me doing my 50mph along the Mountain Mile. I dont need you right up my arse and shaking you head.

 

Spot on, i don't drive myself but the i've been in quite a few R plate cars where someone is riding the bumper like a mental. Some people seem to get a perverse enjoyment out of doing it, and it's a horrible situation to be in.

[BunnyBoiler]

Your right Ean, its not very nice to have someone trying to hurry you along. It takes a lot of mental strengh to stick to you guns and not speed up a bit to try and get some space between you and the car behind. Lets face it, even if i speeded up to 60mph that still wouldnt be fast enough for the plonkers.

[Lost Login]

One thing people should appreciate is that although everyone moans at R platers not sticking to the 50mph maybe they could have more patiance when they are behind little me doing my 50mph along the Mountain Mile. I dont need you right up my arse and shaking you head.

 

Spot on, i don't drive myself but the i've been in quite a few R plate cars where someone is riding the bumper like a mental. Some people seem to get a perverse enjoyment out of doing it, and it's a horrible situation to be in.

 

This thread is also presuming that everybody driving with an R plate is inexperienced. I may be wrong but I thought that as with L plates if they are on the car even if an experienced driver is at the wheel the 50 mph limit applies. The R plate does not therefore mean an inexperienced driver is at the wheel but just as the plate should caution the driver to restrict how they drive it should also warn the rest of us that an inexperienced driver may be at the wheel and therefore to give them a bit of consideration.

 

Yes some R Platers do in my opinion drive inappropriately and they stand out at times. But try coming back from the airport to Douglas when it is busy and invariably if there is a que of cars going at fifty or so you still find some "experienced" driver in a powerful car trying to overtake at the smallest opportunity. What do they achieve? Well apart from demonstarted what sort of person they are, if they are lucky they are three cars further up the que by the time they have reached the quarterbridge.

[Nitro]

Limit the car to a driver's ability!

 

Good idea in theory, but in reality even a 1 litre car can be driven too fast.

 

Not as fast as the BMW M3 with "R" plates I saw the other day though.

 

I've actually seen 2 M3's with R plates, I'm convinced that both are 1.8 or 2L at the most, And they have stuck a M3 badge on it.

 

There was a 1.8 "sport" model that looked like an M3.

 

Also the first M3 i saw was an old E30 shape, All E30 M3's where LHD, Now unless the person drving it has spent £8,000 on the car (thats bottom range cheap!) and another couple of grand converting it to RHD, It isn't a real M3.

 

Also insurance would be unreal.

 

Don't forget some people with R plates aren't "just teenagers", As mentioned, You can be 25, 30 or older, Also it could be someone who has been previously disqualified etc.

 

R or L platers can't win, If they don't stick to 50mph they are seen as "idiots" and if they stick to 50mph they are going to slow.

[stookie]

Limit the car to a driver's ability!

 

So how would you do that then?

 

Limiting wouldn't work, It costs money to fit the limiter, Who would pay that?

If it is found that by accelerating it would have been possible to avoid an accident, Who is at fault?.

 

Restricting engine size would be pointless, There would be even more smaller tin boxes wizzing around.

 

You misunderstand.

 

I can only drive, say, a Subrau Impreza if I've paid for and passed a more advanced test of competency. I would have to display a plate (another version of an 'R' plate) handed out only by the testing authorities. Maybe details would have to be worked out, but you simply pass on the cost to the people who want them. It's no good being negative if you want to solve a problem like this, after all.

 

Limiting inexperienced drivers to certain types of car works in Australia where they had a similar problem I believe.

[stookie]

Not necessarily, I reported a driver on an R plate who forced me to take evasive action. The police took me very seriously and followed it up, although they couldn't prosecute (on the basis that it is word against word), they did visit the driver and explain the error of his ways.

 

Not much of a result, but if these no-beds get a visit from the Police then they may in fact realise that people do notice and care if they are breaking the law. Also if enough of us reported these and other infringements the Police may have to be proactive and actually do something about flagrant breaches of the law including people using mobile phones whilst driving.

 

I think you should join the police force as it sounds like you'd enjoy the job. The police do prosecute when it's one person's word against another - they just sit in judgment (a bit like you did, presumably) and pick and choose who they inflict pain on - very fair.

[stookie]

But try coming back from the airport to Douglas when it is busy and invariably if there is a que of cars going at fifty or so you still find some "experienced" driver in a powerful car trying to overtake at the smallest opportunity.

 

All the times I've ever been in a queue on that road the traffic is never going at 50 or so. Most lines of traffic on that road are travelling at 40 everywhere - on the drerestricted sections, the 50mph sections and the 30mph sections - I just assume they're having a good old natter to whoever it is they've just collected and not seen for 20 years and that they can't wait until they reach home to talk properly - and I overtake them if it's safe (one of the few justifications for having a faster car is its ability to overtake more safely, after all) so I can concentrate on my driving

[Nitro]

Limit the car to a driver's ability!

 

So how would you do that then?

 

Limiting wouldn't work, It costs money to fit the limiter, Who would pay that?

If it is found that by accelerating it would have been possible to avoid an accident, Who is at fault?.

 

Restricting engine size would be pointless, There would be even more smaller tin boxes wizzing around.

 

You misunderstand.

 

I can only drive, say, a Subrau Impreza if I've paid for and passed a more advanced test of competency. I would have to display a plate (another version of an 'R' plate) handed out only by the testing authorities. Maybe details would have to be worked out, but you simply pass on the cost to the people who want them. It's no good being negative if you want to solve a problem like this, after all.

 

Limiting inexperienced drivers to certain types of car works in Australia where they had a similar problem I believe.

 

Heh, I totally misunderstood, Thats actually a brillant idea.

 

Although I take it you would have to work it out by the engine power output, Not size.

 

So for example R platers are only allowed to drive a car with 90bhp or less

[Uni]

R Platers/Racers don't really bother me, aslong as they don't drive dangerously close my car - they can do what they want as far as I'm concerned.

[Nitro]

R Platers/Racers don't really bother me, aslong as they don't drive dangerously close my car - they can do what they want as far as I'm concerned.

 

So it doesn't matter if they do it to somebody else?

 

I'm sure thats not what you meant but its how it looks.

[stookie]

Heh, I totally misunderstood, Thats actually a brillant idea.

 

Although I take it you would have to work it out by the engine power output, Not size.

 

So for example R platers are only allowed to drive a car with 90bhp or less

 

Precisely and you couldn't drive a modified car without similar licensing requirements. It isn't a perfect solution but it's better than the current free for all. The insurance argument doesn't work, because drivers use their parents (actually that wouldn't be technically legal since the 'main' driver of the car wouldn't be that parent and that may involve having made a false statement to the insurance company to procure insurance, something which is capable of invalidating the policy) and if the cheque book is big enough there doesn't seem to be a problem anyway - the Island is too affluent.

 

While I don't get too worked up by R platers either per se, if addressing the problem means I can still occasionally enjoy my car at 'high' speeds that are legal, then I'm all for that

[Nitro]

I imagine it would solve more than the R platers problems, Sometimes people with powerfull/nice cars, Take just as much risks because "they can".

[Uni]

R Platers/Racers don't really bother me, aslong as they don't drive dangerously close my car - they can do what they want as far as I'm concerned.

 

So it doesn't matter if they do it to somebody else?

 

I'm sure thats not what you meant but its how it looks.

 

I hate it when drivers, drive very close to my rear when in built-up areas - I'm driving slow due to wet or kids around etc. I also hate seeing R-Platers driving 1 metre apart though town and especially Port Erin prom this summer, very dangerous in my opinion.

 

What I meant was, that on open roads there is never anything behind me unless I'm in traffic and R-plates/racers can do when they wants as it's not going to affect me. I get stressed with a few cars who deem fit driving at 30 in an unrestricted zone (example Fair Bridge to Ballasalla), you get a slow driver and then cars that are too weak to overtake and it's so uncomfortable driving... an R-plater doing 60 is the last on my complaints list.

 

I like to travel at an optimum speed for me and my car, not someone else’s.