General Might be getting a Panda

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General Might be getting a Panda

Yes, you may use the motorway with R plates, however it might be a bit daunting with most others driving at around the 70 mark.

There's a few Pandas in the club - a mix of Mark 2 Classics, this era and the new Panda. There's usually some Pandas at each meeting. We have quite a mix of cars from little Fiat's to Ferraris, both new and classic. Something for everyone really.

I'm usually at most meetings with my little yellow one, Dez. He's a 2005 with just turned 90K miles on the clock (today! :)).
I had no idea you couldn't drive faster than 45 when you've just passed your test in NI. Seems a bit restrictive as it'll only affect those who are willing to stick to the speed limit anyway (aka the sensible drivers). How long are you limited for?

Then again, it makes more sense than being banned from the motorway as a learner but permitted to drive on the motorway the day you pass here in England (no idea if it's the same for NI)...absolute madness that one :confused:. As if any new driver with no motorway training is fit to tackle the M1 or M25 on a Friday afternoon :eek:!
 
Learners aren't allowed on the motorway in Northern Ireland either. It's the same here that way. Learners are only allowed to do 45. New drivers are restricted to 45 for a year from passing their test and must display R plates.

Admittedly I never had R plates as I passed my test when I was still at school. My parents weren't the type to buy a car for anyone and my father drove Saab 900 Turbos which weren't exactly the type you'd put a learner / newly qualified driver in. My lessons were therefore only with the instructor and after passing my test I never drove again till I was able to save up and buy my own car after I finished Uni. So by that time, I didn't need the R plates although I almost felt that I should have been displaying them.
 
permitted to drive on the motorway the day you pass here in England (no idea if it's the same for NI)...absolute madness that one :confused:. As if any new driver with no motorway training is fit to tackle the M1 or M25 on a Friday afternoon :eek:!

It is crazy, they need to have another test or include at least the rules of the motorway in the normal car test.
Or like HGV and bike tests make car tests modular.

I recently was rear ended on a motorway on my motorcycle by a new driver and it was his first time using a motorway.
Not saying all new drivers would follow to close as that is just a basic rule of the road but people need more understanding of what the lanes are for!(y)
 
If I pass in GB, wonder if I'm obliged to stick to 45 still when I go back to NI :p hmm... haha
As a general rule, you must stick to the laws of the country you're in, whether or not you're from there. If you didn't have to, everyone would go to Germany to get their licence so they could drive however fast they wanted to on UK motorways, arguing that 70 here is the equivalent to unrestricted over there.

More scarily, we'd have people in the UK with valid concealed carry permits from the US...I'm very glad they keep that madness on the other side of a rather large pond :eek:!

That said, NI not being an entirely different country to England (well, not in the same way the UK and Germany are different countries), there could be some kind of weird exception.
 
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