Rob, I suggest you do some road stat, and law reseach before begin your argument aganst the new P Plate legislation.
If you give an unresearched, biased self centered opinion as a newbie driver you might end up getting an F
I was born and bred in NZ, as a young drivers we didnt have "P Plates" but had a similar stage of acquiring our drivers license called "Restricted" which was after the "Learner" period.
While on your restricted (which I think was for about 12 months), the driver could only use a vehicle between the hours of 6 am and 10pm, and were not allowed to carry "ANY" passagners unless they were at or older than the age of 21 and whom have had their full license for over two years. This person had to sit in the passanger seat and was basically responsible for all occupants in the car.
As far as vehicle power restrictions, increasing and limits are concerned Im not 100% and they may have changed, but when I was on restricted any power increase of 10% or more needed to be certified. This Cert. made sure your bakes could handle the new power etc etc.
Other than that you could driver what ever you liked as far as know.
Why I have responded in this forum is because the NZ road toll for this age group of drivers is not even comparable to Australia, and this is why Aust has begun a change to its legislation. We all need to learn to drive in society, and I agree some advance quicker and have better street smarts than others.
But by having friends in the car even "ONE" to distract you while driving is proven to have deadly or life changing consequences.
As far as all your arguments about partys etc, well they have no relevance on the bigger picture. Take a bus or walk or drive "yourself" and go home alive.
You might think I'm an old buggar and to some of you I might be, but I love my cars as much as the next skyline fan.
This isn't an attack on P Platers just something to consider, so take some advise from someone whos been there and done that and had a few close calls along the way, use your brain and drive to the conditions and stop your whining, you got it pretty good.
Cheers
Roj