The new legislation governing provisional drivers should be enforced proportionately and appropriately without mass checkpoints or any "hysteria," the chief executive of the Road Safety Authority Noel Brett has said.
Mr Brett was speaking this morning ahead of the introduction of new legislation requiring the country's 92,000 learner drivers on a second provisional licence to be accompanied by someone with a full licence.
The legislation comes into force at midnight tonight.
Mr Brett said he expected the legislation to be enforced just like "any other road traffic legislation," saying drivers had had "eight months to prepare."
"The best advice we can give to people is to go to a qualified driving instructor, take lessons, identify a suitable person to accompany and mentor you while driving, get practice in and when your instructor thinks you're ready apply for your test," he said on RTÉ's
Morning Ireland.
However he warned drivers not to apply for their driving test before they are ready, saying that waiting times for test have dropped dramatically.
"Don't apply before you're ready. You will get called much quicker than in the past. The average waiting time around the country is 7.7 weeks and dropping. We are testing in excess of 48,000 people a month," he said.
"We're having people phoning up and cancelling because they're shocked they were called so quickly or turning up wholly underprepared for their test."
He said people were now taking learning to drive seriously and that there had been a 'maturing of attitude' to learning to drive.
"People are not regarding a provisional licence as a licence to drive but rather as a permit to learn. There has been a maturing of attitude to learning to drive," he said.