Provisional Licence Drivers Demand Immeadiate Review of Driving Restictions

We petition the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey, and the Road Safety Authority in support of the Provisional Drivers of Ireland to immediately review the revised Road Safety Strategy on the following grounds:







a) Provisional Drivers have paid for licences on the understanding of certain driving restrictions. As no due warning was issued on the impending changes to the laws regarding Provisional Drivers, 500,000 drivers through no fault of our own, approximately in a serious predicament regarding transport as of Monday 29th October 2007.







b) Primarily, the introduction of these laws two working days before their effect is utterly unacceptable, aside from the fact that the first day of the revised laws falls on a bank holiday.







c) The manner in which these new laws have been introduced is underhand and dangerous. The sorry state and range of public transport in this country leaves many with no other option than to drive. It is mandatory for all drivers to undergo a period as a Provisional Licensed driver. Adequate provision of public transport for all is a minimum pre-requisite for these changes in the law.







d) Rather than save lives as intended, the result of this rapid introduction will be to force the majority of law-abiding and safety-aware Provisional Drivers (especially those on their second and subsequent Provisional Licences) to undertake illegal activity in order to go about their business, such as removing their L-Plates, etc.







e) We purport that no representation on the behalf of the population of existing Provisional Drivers was made in the design of these laws, and that our rights have been affected by same.







f) The Minister should explain in a full and public forum why he saw fit to change the laws in such a manner, and chose not to phase-in the laws, allowing an adequate period for existing drivers to make alternative arrangements/ sell existing vehicles, purchase compliant vehicles, etc.







g) We also note that one of the aims of the strategy was the Provision of timely, accurate and meaningful information to all road users, which seems not to apply to provisional drivers.







Provisional Drivers are not criminals, and do not deserve this sudden withdrawal of our rights.







Furthermore we support all the signatories of:



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