Road Safety Ireland - April 2018 - adinjc

Road Safety Ireland –
April 2018
                    This issue …
                         Highest & Lowest Pass Rates
                         Learner Permits & NTUs
                         Insurers & ‘Creative Accounting’
                         Exorbitant Insurance
                         Toll Relief on Motorways
                         World Bike Day – 3 June 2018
                         Murderous Road Rage
                         ‘Fast’ Tractors Exempt from NCT
                         Cost of Learning to Drive
Harrington Driver
                         In Brief …
Training Services

Road Safety Ireland- April 2018
                                             Tom Harrington LL B F Inst. MTD
Highest & Lowest Pass Rates
Figures released by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) show in 2017, that learners
failed their tests more frequently in Dublin and Kilkenny. In Finglas, Dublin, just
40.15% of drivers passed their category B test – the lowest rate for the entire
country. It was followed by Kilkenny, where 41.29% of drivers passed. At the
other end of the scale. The highest pass rates were in the west of the country. An
impressive 70.33% of learners passed in Newcastlewest in County Limerick
followed by Kilrush County Clare and Clifden County Galway which had pass
rates of 65.23% and 64.32%. Overall, 108.930 drivers sat their category B test in
2017, worth over €9.25 million to the RSA. Dublin’s test centres were among the
busiest in the country, with 26% of all category B tests in Ireland sat in its four
centres.

Learner Permits & NTUs
Thousands of learner drivers are on the third learner permit or more. New figures
reveal. The figures show that 65,161 drivers are on their third or subsequent
permits. Of these, 36,814 are on their fifth permit or more. These figures come
from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) following a Dail question to Transport
Minister Shane Ross from Independent TD Neol Grealish. It was also revealed that
around 19,000 learner drivers failed to show for driving tests last year.

Bus Lane Blues!
According to the Royal Automobile Club (RAC), city based drivers are being
issued with more than 1 million penalty notices each year for driving in a bus lane
– equating to approximately £68 million. Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to
authorities in the UK’s largest cities show that 3,437,348 penalty charge notices
(PCNs) for the offence were issued between 2015 and 2017. The RAC data also
highlights a rise in the number of PCNs issued annually from 2015 to 2017 – up
5% from 1,078,816 to 1,129,613. Outside London, there was a 9% increase over
the three years (741,777 to 810,642) while inside the capital there was a 5%
reduction (337,039 to 318,971). The fine for driving in a bus lane varies across the
UK, with London levying some of the steepest charges at £160 or £80 if paid
quickly. At around £60, other metropolitan areas charge much less. According to
Simon Williams, spokesman for the RAC: “While there is clearly no defense for
deliberately driving in a bus lane, we believe more can be done to make it obvious
to drivers when they can and can’t drive in one.

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But the sheer quantity of fines – more than a million every year – suggests
something is awry and we don’t believe the vast majority are knowingly breaking
the rules. He added: “A lot of this is down to improving signage. Every city driver
will be familiar with the blue bus lane sign, but in city centre streets with a lot of
signage ‘clutter’, it can be very easy to miss the specific times of operation”.

Insurers & ‘Creative Accounting’
Insurance have been accused of engaging in ‘creative accounting’ to justify sharp
rises in premiums. Insurance expert Dorothea Dowling claims insurers have been
artificially inflating their management expensive and reinsurance costs since 2005.
She claims this was one of the real reasons premiums have shot up, insisting there
has been no major change in the cost of dealing with exaggerated and false claims.
Ms Dowling who was the founding chairperson of the State’s Personal Injuries
Board, is completing a doctorate on insurance companies and their accounting
practices. She accused insurers of inflating costs to make the market here less
attractive for new entrants, to justify huge premium increases, and as a way to send
funds to their head offices in the UK and the rest of the EU. Motor premiums have
shot up by 70pc over a recent three-year period, but have fallen slightly according
to official figures. The industry representative body, Insurance Ireland, disputed
the findings and accused Ms. Dowling of selective analysis.

Exorbitant Insurance?
A woman who car was stolen says she feels she is being punished more than the
thief after her insurance was hiked by €815 and she lost her no-claims bonus. She
notified her insurance company, Liberty Insurance, and received a letter saying her
premium had increased from €691 to €1,506 and her no-claims reduced to zero
years. Meanwhile, Meath publican Brian Kelly received a renewal quote from
Liberty for €19,368.26 for his 2007 Toyota Avensis. He was told the huge
premium was due to two outstanding claims against him. Mr. Kelly is with Liberty
for 17 years and has nine years of a no-claims bonus intact although he had two
tips since Christmas 2016 on two separate occasions in Navan and Meath.

Toll Relief on Motorways
Electric car owners are set to save €1,000 with the introduction of discount toll
charges for environmentally friendly vehicle owners. Toll charges on the M50 and
other major motorways are to be slashed by up to 75pc for drivers of electric
powered vehicles. The move is the latest government initiative to increase the
number of electric cars on the road. The current M50 toll charge for drivers with
electronic tags is €2.10 or €1.05 each way.

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However, there will be an annual cap on the discount rates of €500 for private car
owners and €1,000 for commercial vehicles. Minister for Transport Shane Ross
said he hopes the reduced toll charges will encourage more drivers to buy electric
vehicles. It is estimated there are currently around 3,500 electric cars on the roads
in Ireland but the Government is aiming to increase this to 50,000 vehicles by
2020.

World Bike Day – 3 June 2018
The inaugural World Bicycle day was voted by members of the United Nations
(UN) in the week commencing 16 April 2018 to acknowledge the ‘uniqueness,
longevity and versatility of the bicycle. The event will look to celebrate cycling as
a ‘simple, affordable, reliable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of
transportation. In announcing the day the UN said: “The bicycle and the user
fosters creativity and social engagement and gives the user an immense awareness
of the local environment. The bicycle can serve as a tool for development and as a
means not just as of transportation but also of access to education, healthcare and
sport”. In the UK, the date for Cycle to Work Day 2018 has been confirmed as 15
August 2018.

Murderous Road Rage
A man died after he was punched and fell backwards during an apparent road rage
incident in Co. Wexford. The two men involved were both lorry drivers in their
50s. The two vehicles were being driven into Rosslare Europort when the incident
took place as the trucks came close together. The drivers of the trucks jumped out
of their cabs and came face to face. After an argument in which witnesses said that
blows appeared to have been exchanged, one driver fell backwards and hit his head
on the ground.

‘Fast’ Tractors Exempt from NCT
‘Fast’ tractors that are being used for agricultural activities will be excluded from
new regulations, introducing an National Car Test (NCT) for vehicles that can
travel over 40k/mh. Transport Minister Shane Ross went back to the drawing board
on the new regulations following intense lobbying from farm groups amid
concerns over the initial measures. The initial EU directive required road-
worthiness testing for ‘fast’ tractors that could exceed 40k/mh. From May 20, the
regulations will see the introduction of a compulsory road-worthiness testing for
tractors with a maximum design speed exceeding 40k/mh which are being used for
non-agricultural activities. New vehicles will be required to be tested after four
years and every second year after that.

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Cost of Learning To Drive?
The following is a breakdown of some of the costs of learning to drive in Ireland:

Driver Theory Test                          €45.00
Driver Theory Test Q&A                      €20.00
Learner Permit                              €35.00
Eyesight Report                             €20.00
Essential Driver Training 12 lessons        €350.00 (average)
Driving Test Cat B                          €85.00
10 Year Driving Licence                     €55.00
                                            ______
                                            €610.00
This total does not cover any additional lessons a pupil may take. It appears that
since the 12 EDT lessons were introduced, many pupils feel that is all they require
and expect to be able to drive competently after them. It’s now high time the Road
Safety Authority (RSA) reviewed this situation and increased the number of EDT
lessons substantially.

In Brief …

New IAM RoadSmart CEO
Mike Quinton, former Chief Executive Officer of the National House Building
Council (NHBC) is the new CEO of IAM Road Smart He took up his new position
on 23 April 2018. Mike replaces Sarah Millars who was with IAM for three years.

NCT Tests
Pre-tax profits at the firm that operates the National Car Test (NCT) were down by
16% to €7.58 million, due to a decrease in the number of tests carried out. The
Irish arm of the Spanish firm Applus sustained the drop in profits as revenues
decreased by 6.4pc, going from €83.18m to €77.8m. The number of tests carried
out last year totaled 2.5m, made up of 1.35m full tests and 688,336 re-tests.

Hefty D/D Fine
TV presenter Ant McPartlin was fined £86,000 and banned from driving for 20
months after pleading guilty to driving while more than twice the legal limit. His
fine eclipses the £54,000 imposed on footballer Yaya Toure for the same offence
in 2016. Ant pleaded guilty to driving with 75 microgrammes of alcohol in 100
millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 microgrammes.

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The Carnage Continues …
There were 54 road fatalities up to 27 April, three more than to the same time in
2017.

No Back-Seat Driver?
A smug driver who activated his car’s autopilot on the motorway before climbing
into the passenger seat has been handed a 19-month ban. The driver was driving
his £80,000 Tesla S 60 on the M1 before switching seats, leaving the controls
unattended. A passenger from another car filmed him while the Tesla shot past.
Footage was posted on social media, and then reported to police. The driver
admitted that what he done was ‘silly’, but said the car was capable of something
“amazing” and he was just the “unlucky who got caught”.

Peed Off!
A US woman’s efforts to beat a drugs test backfired after the borrowed urine
sample she submitted tested positive for drugs. Judge Frank Fregiato in Eastern
Ohio’s Belmont County, called the attempted deception ‘bizarre’ and sentenced her
to 18 months in prison for attempted tampering with evidence.

And Finally …
Never lend your car to anyone to whom you have given birth.

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