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Not sure if this should be under "technical", but any words of advice/warning as to how to minimise paintwork damage etc when putting on (and eventually, one hopes, removing) "L" plates? First-born's 17th birthday is approaching.
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We were able to use those with punched holes, which we then used with stretchy "treasury tags" around the bumpers.
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Just lately I've seen the "L's" placed in the corners of the front and rear screen. Not sure if legal or not though.
Don't use the magnetic ones - they just blow off at speed.
Tie on ones are best. If however you want them to be a bit more robust, get the stick on ones and affix them to a thin piece of plastic, such as from a drinks bottle, then make your own holes for tying onto the car bumpers.
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I'm only 18 so still have my old L plates in the garage! They used to stick onto the front and back windscreens on the inside, no paint damage and perfectly legal.
Try your local car parts shop, you should be able to get them there.
Blue
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When SWMBO had a brief flirtation with learning to drive, we had a Citroen ZX. I toddled off to Halfords to get some L-plates and thought that magnetic ones would be a good wheeze (not, of course having DD on hand to dispense advice ;-)!!). So I bought them, got them home and took them out of the packet. And then realised that a Citroen ZX has a plastic tailgate! D'oh!!!!
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L Plates in the window is a No No in my book. The whole point of L plates is to warn other road users that you are under instruction, thus the place for the plates is on the extreme O/S Not the N/S on the inside of the glass. Now before you all start jumping up and down here is the reasoning, If you, the learner, is travelling in traffic and a car comes the other way he or she will see your L plate sooner and afford you extra caution. if you are tuning left following another car, and on coming vehicle can see your L plate they again may afford extra caution in case you cross the centre of the road or what ever. If you are travelling in traffic and a vehicle is overtaking the L plate on the O/S will be seen sooner and alert the overtaking vehicle that you are under instruction. Putting the plate inside, or on the glass, on the O/S of the vehicle is not possible, well it is possible but stupid and you would probably get pulled over, so the self adhesive ones are useful but I would prefer to put a piece of plastic ( a square cut out of a plastic bag in the middle of the adhesive side reducing the contact area to 2 cm around the edges, use a little car polish on the area then stick the plate on.
Instructing someone to drive should not be taken lightly. For instance, the instructor is, as far as the law goes, bound by the same regulations as if they were driving. If the instructor should be seen drinking from a water bottle, or using a mobile phone they can be stopped and fined as if they were the driver. A friend of mine who is an instructor was travelling to a meeting with in younger fellow instructors car. The police spotted the passenger drinking from a can of Coke and pulled them over, they even cautioned him, mind you he did let them go down that route before he told them that the driver was another instructor, ooopps egg on face plod. So if you think that sticking L plates on is your biggest challenge, think again. How about your car insurance ? Did you realise that if you add a Learner to your policy some companies insurance defaults instantly they pass their test because they are no longer a learner and could drive the vehicle without you in it. I am sure that many parents have let their kids drive back from passing the test and the vehicle was not insured. Later that day the youngster probably borrowed the car and it was not insured. Often this does not come to light until the policy renewal or an accident. Do not treat this lightly, check with your insurance company ! Many young drivers have an accident within a month of passing there test and some of them were not insured and subsequently prosecuted. Other than that I wish you the best of luck. Regards Peter
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If you have adhesive plates, smear a really small amount of vaseline on the paintwork first to give it protection.
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Thanks to all of you for your input. It was further-ranging and in greater depth than I could have imagined possible. I like the idea of positioning on the O/S for over-takers to be on notice of lane wandering potential etc., and particular thanks to Peter D for the warnings as to the perils of supervision.
Any police(wo)men out there who will want to refer me to particular bits of Construction & Use Regs as to positioning degree of affixation or required size etc that ordinary mortals will be unaware of?
I suppose my fretting about the paintwork is an underestimate if genes assert themselves; panel-beating training would have been a good investment when I was 17, inadvertently restyling a Morris 1100.
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Stuck where?
Motor Vehicles (Driving Licence) Regs 1999.
Reg 16(2)(b) unless a distinguishing mark in the form set out in Part 1 of Schedule 4 is displayed on the vehicle in such manner as to be clearly visible to other persons using the road from within a reasonable distance from the front and from the back of the vehicle(b) unless a distinguishing mark in the form set out in Part 1 of Schedule 4 is displayed on the vehicle in such manner as to be clearly visible to other persons using the road from within a reasonable distance from the front and from the back of the vehicle.
L for England or a D in Wales.
DVD
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When I was learning to drive in my mum's fiesta it had just had the bonnet, tailgate and arches resprayed. I had a dilemmna as to how to affix the L plates as paint would presumably still be soft. I taped them to the inside of the windscreen (above tax disc) and rear window. Nobody commented until I went to do my test and the examiner said it wasn't on. We removed them and he got some sellotape from the office and taped them onto the bumpers.
And yes, I passed
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If the learner won't be the exclusive driver of the car, I would advise any method that isn't frustating to repeatedly attach and remove the plates.
Plenty of people don't bother and leave them on all the time - you can regularly find 'learners' driving on their own down the motorway. As the L plates get misused, many people ignore them so I don't think it would make an enormous difference as to where they are placed.
If the car to learn in is a hatchback, there would be little difference between having a plate in the rear window and on the bodywork. Putting it in the offside corner would make reverse parking easier.
James
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