Summer Update from Team Astral! 16.07.07

Any of you that have been recently checking out the web site for new nuggets and help with your Driving Tests could be forgiven for thinking that we have retired from the scene!

Not So..

We took our first real holiday for many years and teamed up with old school friends for a Trip of a Lifetime to the world famous Le Mans 24 hour Motor Race in France. The details of our trip will be found elsewhere on our site and blogs in due course.

http://astralmotoring.blogspot.com

http://astraldrivingschool.blogs.ie

To cut a long story short we have been away for close on six weeks and have just returned to the world of stress, wet weather, telephone bills and the never ending quest to play our part in improving Driving Standards on Irish roads.

There is a mountain of change happening in the world of Learning to Drive and Driving Tests here in Ireland at present and we will endeavour to keep you all informed of these changes as they happen. In fact we can let you know what is planned and always try to do this via our Fresh Bites Daily page.

Throughout the World in both developed and developing Nations the message has finally filtered through to decision makers that no longer is it acceptable to let a generation of young inexperienced drivers just go out and kill themselves and their passengers. What is happening is a tightening up and expansion of existing Driving Test and Learner Driver legislation and also Driving License change. It’s happening worldwide and not before time.

Current Change in Ireland.

(1)    The NCT company SSG has received the go ahead from the Government for a further 100,000 Driving Tests over the next 15 months and these are getting underway as I write

(2)    Limerick will see the start up of these extra Driving Tests at the end of this month (July) and the location will be the NCT Test Centre at EastWay Business Park. How they will accommodate Learner Drivers there is beyond me at this stage since all available parking spaces are almost always taken up with cars awaiting their NCT! We have two pupils scheduled for this centre and they will be amongst the first Tests taking place here .So watch this space for details on routes and procedures.

(3)    The extra effort being employed by the RSA in bringing down the waiting list for the Irish Driving Test is expected to deliver us a waiting list of no more than three months nationwide by March 2008

(4)    When the waiting list has been sufficiently reduced it is planned to completely overhaul the existing Provisional License which will be replaced with a graded system. This will ensure that all Learner Drivers will have received a minimum amount of Professional Tuition before being allowed to sit a Driving Test.

(5)     In addition we hope that the system employed in the UK regarding Penalty Points for Learner Drivers will be implemented. Basically the allowance will be cut in half so that six points on your licence in the first three years after passing your Test will mean that you will lose your license and have to start all over again! Not much fun I think you will agree?

(6)    Mandatory Tuition for Motorcyclists is due to be implemented very shortly.

That’s it for the moment…keep an eye on the site… the latter half of this year will see some more developments not only in content but in the way the site is operated.

P.S A thank you to all our subscribers to our mailing list and we hope you all learn something new from the E Mail Mini Course.