A quick query as I've gone through the website and read and reread the books and can't find the answer.

If a 16/17 year old is learning to drive, in order to get a Manual licence, they have to do 100 hours split into 90 for daytime and 10 for nighttime driving. However, does all that driving have to be done in a Manual car or can some of it be done in an Automatic?

Reason I ask is that although the daughter has her own Manual car, sometimes it would easier if she could drive my Automatic but that's not worth it at the moment if it doesn't count towards the hours. Friends of hers are doing most of their in Automatic cars but reckon they're going for a Manual licence.

Common sense tells me that if she's driving an Automatic, she's not getting Manual experience so it shouldn't count but common sense isn't huge in Queensland Transport

Confused much.

Hi moneypenny

My hubby works as a customer service officer for QT and he says that, as far as he is aware, it doesn't matter whether the hours are done in a manual or automatic - so long as she can pass her test in a manual.

I agree with you - seems completely bonkers

He's in work tomorrow so will check it out for definite for you (if he remembers!)

That would be great if he remembers but I understand he's a guy I guess they assume that if they haven't done enough in a Manual then they will fail the test but it seems bloody silly to me.

My wife has a driving licence for a manual, but she has NEVER driven one, not ever !

How did she get that then?

I am wondering that aswell.....

She took her test in NSW, in an auto. I assume the NSW licence was restricted, but don't have it now so can't check.

She swapped it to a UK one, when we moved back, and then swapped back again on our return to Australia. It must have been that. Unless the change from a NSW licence to a QLD one, a year or so later, wasn't done correctly.

I have her old UK licence somewhere, I shall try to find it and see if that had an auto restriction on it.

Someone cocked up.

Unless they have drastically changed it over the years, if you did the test in an automatic, you licence was endorsed to drive "automatic only". If you get a licence for a manual, you can drive either manual or auto.
I cheated, did the test in both auto and manual cars......, but then again, I didn't have to go through all the BS that now has to be done.

What's the point of that? If you pass your manual driving exam, surely you're qualified to drive an automatic?

JTL

Errr, back then we only had an auto, no manual to learn in (had to borrow from one of the local coppers to do the test), and none of the BS that they have to do now-testing done by the local cops, 100 hours in a liar book.....
When they went to QT testers, it was guaranteed that if you were male, it took at least 2 to 3 goes to pass (female, especially good looking ones, passed 1st time).

I just think if you're going for a Manual licence, ALL your hours should be done in a Manual car. However now I know it doesn't matter, my daughter will be doing more hours in my Automatic as it's more comfortable than her Barina. The more experience she gets in various styles of car the better but I still think the vast majority should be in the Manual whereas some of her friends are using Automatics for most of the hours and then wondering why they fail the Manual test and then go for the Automatic one and pass. What's the point? We want her to be able to drive any car without a problem, are we odd or unusual?

I think there's more to it than just what type of car it is. It's the ability to drive safely etc... which is far more important. Once someone has the hang of both manual and auto, then it's just road sense experience that counts.

When I was learning to drive in the UK my parents had an automatic, so they fronted up for driving lessons for me in a manual. Apart from the driving lessons all my car driving experience was in an automatic - car driving is car driving when it comes to gaining road sense, so long as you get enough manual car experience so you are aware of the role that changing gear has to the car's performance etc.

Obviously that doesn't help you for your Qld question and the 100 hours Is she having professional driving lessons too? The kids had informed me that professional driving lessons count for more hours - can't remember if its 1 hour of driving lesson = 2 hours in the log book or if its some other ratio, but you can only count so many of them.. again, this may be a complete lie, I've managed to stall the boys learning to drive at all so I didn't investigate it fully.

It's 1:3 and yes, you can only count about 10 professional lessons as triple hours. The only reason I'm checking now, she's already done 40 odd but had to take five months out for medical reasons and she's obviously eager to do the rest as quickly as she can fit in.

Thanks all for the help.

There is a third option....... "sensible"