P-plate Laws

[dineth]

Why dont they make P platers do advanced driving course or courses and also make the actual getting the P plate itself a bit tougher? that would make more sense to me, so once they hit the road they have some sort of skill. I think 'one strike and your out' idea is just stupid, it doesnt achieve anything. They should try andstop accidents before they happen. At the moment there is just as chance of a P plater being done for not having a light working or hitting a tree at full tilt, sometimes you dont get a second chance. I also think it comes down to attitude changes.

And while im at it, This whole, speed kills campiagn, yes speed does kill, but its more bad drivers that kill. The best example is Germany. Where they have 1. skilled drivers, 2. better roads 3. Autobharns and 4. less road deaths. This is no co incidence, and the sooner our pollies realise this instead of trying to figure out quick fixes because they feel like they have to, the better it is for everyone.

I also dont understand why they have speed cameras on like a 5 lane freeway with dead straight road (like the west gate freeway near millers road), to stop people speeding? for what a whole 20 seconds? its all a lot of crap most of the speed cameras ive seen are located not in dangerous spots of road but on areas where they can get the most people. so clearly its not there to stop people from having accidents (or slowing down for that matter) its all about the revenue. while every year more than 10 people die on the calder freeway because they try and cross the freeway to get to the otherside. Maybe they should invest some of those millions they earn on, exit ramps so people dont have to play russian roullte trying to cross a freaking freeway, rather then cut the speed of the 'freeway' to 80 km'h a hour now cos all that has done is make the usual heavy traffic on there even heavier.

what ever happend to common sense?

[lingeringsoul]

Advanced driving lessons + early age education + no speed limit motorway will solve all problems

why won't they learn from the europeeans....

but since we are already so set in our ways.......it makes sense what they are proposing.

[123456]

Me and my mate saw this on the news yesterday and just sat there open mouthed for like 10 minutes. It wouldn't apply to either of us but, its absolutely retarded. Lets say (like me) u get pulled over coz your back p-plate has dropped down, and (like me) get a 3 point fine. Then what.. you get -3 points and wont be seeing your licence for 9 months?wtf honestly

I've never had a p-plater cause me any trouble, in any situation before, thats always the 25-30 year old male group or the never check lanes suddenly braking angry driving average women group.. restrict there points..

Edited January 9, 2007 by 123456

[PhilGTR]

At the end of the day its the certain population of stupid irresponsible p platers on the road that are causing the responsible p plate drivers this problem. As long as there are idiots on the road(there always will be) no matter what the government does, it wont change anything. I have seen so many P plate drivers do really crazy things on the road that has endangered everyones lives (running red lights, burnouts around the corners, speeding, changing lanes in front of u with minimal space at high speeds), and i think advaned driving course may just promote this sort of behaviour as they may feel they are very good at it. Maybe they are, but even the best of them make mistakes sometiems if you do it on a daily basis. But the government will have to keep trying to do something though to reduce it.

[GMan]

man this suks.....lucky i only got 3months left on my first year

[gts-4 dreamer]

hmmm, 2 waysw to go eh, restrict the licence's so far that it will be so difficult to keep a licence and ban any vehicle capable of certain speeds, forget accell, possible intervention of speed govenors ? or resort to natural selection like the germans have, increase the possiblity of the lower common denominators killnig themselves etc, this will happen for a short time until people wisen up ?

preventing people from driving legally is probably the best way to force compliance, plenty of revenue in fines to be had and when a person is driving illegally they tend to drive a hole lot more cautiously to avoid attention. would apply heavily to the typical p plater age backet ?

[ignuz]

It's a bit too extreme..

[siksII]

You only just worked that out?

The guy is a complete idiot. I've seen bags of cement less dense than that crank.

I worked it out a long time ago, but his new plan like all his others just reminded me of why he shouldn't exist.

Hate is a strong word, but I think I hate Harold Scruby, and although it feels so wrong, I sometimes wish he would just get run over and his stupid Pedestrian Council of Australia permanently destroyed.

[hobzta]

Then what.. you get -3 points and wont be seeing your licence for 9 months?

they did actually say that in the first instance you would only lose your licence for 3months, so I would say that would be regardless of how many points are obtained from the fine (depending on the nature of the incident of course). But in order for that to even be feasible I think they need to re-evaluate the demerit point and fines system for p-platers, as by taking p-platers off the road for petty things like having a blown lights, or a p-plate that fell off would be a bit rediculous.

They were saying on the news this morning however that they are likely to be going to ban p-platers from carrying anymore than 1 passenger under 25 in the vehicle at night, and will be making the tests longer and more difficult....finally a step in the right direction I guess.

[scathing]

If they make it "one strike and you're out", then in terms of how it affects your license there's no longer any difference between doing 0-15km/hr over the limit, or doing 30-45km/hr over the limit.

There's an old saying that there's no-one more dangerous than someone who has nothing to lose.

[scathing]

THE State Government will ban P-plate drivers from carrying more than one peer at night and make driving tests more difficult in a dramatic push for safety.

The Roads Minister, Eric Roozendaal, told the Herald the Driving Ability Road Test, which qualifies drivers for a provisional licence, would be overhauled.

Source

And, because its not that gutter trash tabloid know as the Daily Telegraph, the SMH has contacted a "young driver" for a balanced perspective on it:

AARRON RIDOLFI thinks the proposed passenger restrictions for P-plate drivers are pointless.

The 18-year-old red (first-year) P-plate driver is also against the idea of suspending the licences of provisional drivers caught speeding.

"I think it [the passenger limit] is a bad thing because that way you do have more P-platers on the road … I know there are a lot of P-plate accidents, but there are a lot of full-[licence] driver accidents, too," he said.

Source

[LBR33]

P platers dont have the same level of experance as older drivers and never will so they will always have more accidents. how about the government focuses on other factors that kill many more Australians per year like cancer.

[scathing]

There is, however, one thing I don't get:

However, Mr Roozendaal was later moved to establish a panel to look at restrictions as an option after an appeal by Robert Wells, whose 17-year-old son Bryce was one of four teenagers killed in a P-plate crash near Byron Bay.

Mr Wells was appointed to the panel, along with representatives from the NRMA and other road interest groups.

I don't understand why Robert Wells was appointed to the panel. Is he a road safety expert? An automotive engineer? The only car-related qualifications I can see is that he raised a son who failed to survive in a car. And now he's responsible for ensuring that other people's sons and daughters survive in cars.

The fact that failing at doing something means you should be able to advise the government on it just goes to show how stupid the modern world is. Next thing you know the government will put Jayant Patel on the Medical Review Board.

Robert Wells has got no business on that panel, aside from political grandstanding. The man can't bring an objective and reasoned view to discussions. He's (justifiably) biased by his own loss, but all he's going to do is bring emotion, ignorance and paternal guilt to a topic that requires things he doesn't have: cognitivity and knowledge in the area. He's no better an advisor than the similarly-unqualified Howard Scruby.

[Syphon]

It's getting to a point where these kids "learning" to drive will have spent the most of their time on the road watching everything BUT the road, living in fear and paranoia. That or catching public transport because of some lame fine which resulted in a loss of licence. And of course some who don't give a shit and do get busted hanging burnouts, driving sideways, doing 20km/h + over the speed limit.

It doesn't seem all that hard to work out which one's should be losing their licence and which ones shouldn't be. Taking someone's licence for anything other than some form of careless/dangerous driving or drink driving is ridiculous.

New law comes in, bit of an upcry. Law get's passed. Some have a cry. Soon gets forgotten when media start covering some other crap. Everyone forgets (except the poor buggers new law affects), this goes on and on for a few years, new election comes around, same party gets voted back in, and the cycle continues.

Not that I think a change of political party would do much, but when you sit back and look at the big picture, we the people really do nothing other than sit by and bitch like old farts, but the people never really unite as one and tell the politicians the way it is.

Sad thing is, not even a rally of people get listened to rofl. So basically, were all screwed. Sit back and enjoy the show. You can't change the channel cause the remote control is broken

[Chris_R33GTSt]

I worked it out a long time ago, but his new plan like all his others just reminded me of why he shouldn't exist.

Hate is a strong word, but I think I hate Harold Scruby, and although it feels so wrong, I sometimes wish he would just get run over and his stupid Pedestrian Council of Australia permanently destroyed.

Yeah its a bit of a joke. Pedestrians have more rights on the road than cars. Harold Scrubby is a bigger joke than Ronald McDonald. Do you see me driving on the footpath? Yeah I don't think so. Absolute waste of oxygen.

This is utter madness where unqualified people are making decisions that DIRECTLY affect the lives of many law abiding people.

[gun32gtr]

bloody oath its extreme. but if it saves lifes maybe its worth it...

[Chris_R33GTSt]

I'm all for saving lives, but at the end of the day all of this propagander crap is doing is generating statistics to help this incompetent useless waste of oxygen government get re-elected.

Why don't we actually do some research instead of putting band aids on a system that has failed the population and is actually affecting the civil liberties of the tax paying pubilc.

[Angus Smart]

Driving up the main road yesterday with my old man, we encounted two dickheads both on green p's in fwd hair dresser's cars with cannon exhausts weaving in and out of two lanes passing cars and cutting back in when there were parked cars. only to be stopped up by a red light in the end anyway. i can see why the public cant stand idiots driving like this and i am all for it.

[Chris_R33GTSt]

And i think that 99% of the public agree with you myself included. Im on the last year of my green p's so none of this is going to affect me anyway. I think the issue is with HOW the authorities are going about regulating and stopping this sort of anti social behavior. Do they even look at existing legislation before adding new laws or are they just on a never ending quest with the media for ratings and statistics.

Here is a simple solution. DRIVER EDUCATION. Its pretty simple. You EDUCATE young drivers and TEACH them how to drive. Put them on a skidpan and show then how shit their Hairdresser wang cars actually are then they wont feel the need to live life a quater mile at a time.

Sure it wont be free, but on a cost to benefit ratio it would definitely break even.

[scathing]

bloody oath its extreme. but if it saves lifes maybe its worth it...

Time to play devil's advocate....

What makes those lives worth saving? In the past the "four horsemen" (disease, famine, war, death) were nature's way of controlling the population. Just like when any animal species over-breeds into plague proportions, eventually they strive for resources and end up killing each other or dying out.

However, humans succeed in every living creatures' quest to extend their life. We have medicine against disease, we generally improve yields from our food sources above what nature generally offers, we're not killing each other as much as we used to, and the average lifespan is increasing.

And, of course, we're legislating people against themselves. Natural selection could be a fifth horseman (or perhaps divide "Death" into "Old age / accidental" and "self inflicted"), and we're starting to fight against that too. We evidently can't make them any smarter, so we're just wrapping them in cotton wool and babying them instead.

Does humanity, as a species, need the propagation of the traits that don't tell people that doing 200km/hr down a residential street that happens to have dips and crests, and telegraph poles nearby, is a dangerous thing?

I'm not saying that someone should decide whether certain people are worthy of living or not, and then starting a progrom against "lesser races". All I'm saying is that maybe we should let people decide for themselves if they possess the intelligence or desire to not kill themselves, and letting probability take care of the rest.