MICHAEL McALEER answers your questions:
From Patrick O'Brien, Dublin 1:
Why can't we have a freeflow system all year round? I know it gets criticised, but I have always found that traffic flows much better with a few gardaí on the street corners. As a city dweller, it's also comforting to know that at the busiest times of the day, you know where you can locate a garda.
Of course we can have operation freeflow every day - it's really only the proper enforcement of the laws and rules already in place. In many ways all the gardaí are doing during this time is enforcing the rules the way they should be enforced every day of the week.
The results are startling, and with the introduction of new penalty points for many of these offences, hopefully your wish will be granted. The problem is that, as you suggest, it's about getting gardai on the scene. Without increased enforcement, it's merely hot air.
Sadly, I do not share your view that the traffic flows more freely. That's not the fault of the gardaí, but simply a fact of life for a city whose population will have doubled within the next decade from its 1980s levels, when freeflow was first introduced.
From Orla Cunningham:
I am writing in relation to the piece on the Rules of the Road booklet. Last week I sat the Irish Driving Theory test in the South Cumberland Street test centre (DTTS).
The plot thickens in relation to the whole process of learning to drive in this country.
Is it all a conspiracy to increase revenues, or is it simply a lack of efficiency within our system?
Perhaps it is a little of both.
I failed with a score of 33/40. The pass rate is 35. I have several areas of concern around the whole process which might be of interest to you:
Apart from the Rules of the Road booklet being out of date, so too is the CD-ROM issued by the DTTS for which they feel justified in charging just under €17.
The DTTS does not give the students the details of the questions he/she got wrong in the test. When I asked for these yesterday, I was told they were not available and I was given a sheet detailing the topics I needed to review, which was not a great deal of help, as the topics are so broad.
Some of the questions asked during the test seem strange. Here are two examples (I cannot remember the questions word for word, but this will give you a general idea):
- We were asked about how to manoeuvre a tractor. I have an issue with this, because firstly I cannot find the information in relation to this in the Rules of the Road, and secondly I want to learn to drive a car not a tractor.
I appreciate as a car driver you should be aware of tractors, and that they are slow moving vehicles and could carry a trailer, but why do I need to know about the driving of a tractor?
- We were asked about the use of gears/acceleration on a slippery road. Again, as far as I can see, this information is not in the Rules of the Road booklet.
Is the point of the exercise not to learn the basic rules that govern driving in order to allow you apply for the licence so that you can learn such things as how to manage the car on a slippery road? Remember we are not supposed to have ever driven previously, therefore we should have had lessons and thus should not be expected to know the answer to this question.
To date I have spent approx €55 trying to pass this test, I have also taken a half day from work and will now probably have to pay another €34 to sit a second exam to which I may not pass even if I can recite the Rules of the Roads from start to finish.
I can understand your frustration regarding the driving of tractors, but I would give credit to the test for the second question. I believe it is featured in the current - though outdated - Rules of the Road booklet.
The theory test is a welcome addition to the education system for drivers, but it's not enough.
The Government needs to introduce driving training in some form to schools, so that some of the areas with which you had problems are taught in class rather than self-taught by learners from an out-of-date booklet and CD.
Secondly, on your point about not having driven yet, it's frankly quite frightening to think that simply answering a few questions in front of a PC entitles learner drivers to take to the road.
There needs to be some form of compulsory basic training involved, whereby you have got the chance to drive on private grounds before you get out on the public road.
It's at this stage that you will be taught how to use the gears and accelerator in slippery circumstances.
Send your queries to Motors Help Desk, The Irish Times, D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 - or e-mail motorshelp@irish-times.ie