P-plate Laws

[legend01]

I may be showing my age here ,but this is not a new law its just turning back the clock 20 or 30 years.When I first got my license at 17 this was the law then no points first offence 3 months loss of license next 6 months and so forth .made sure u did the rite thing .In fack wasn't till 2 years ago when my son was booked on P's that I found out there was a point system for P platers so ask ya fathers how they survived as rat's in there youth and you might get a clue .Biggest reason is there's a time and place for everything and its not on the roads to be stupid or ignorant of other cars do it on a track

Cheers Peter

[gun32gtr]

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.

i can see what ya mean.but when those not worth saving hit a women with a pram thats the lifes im talking bout.not so much the wanker driving like a tool...

[GTR32GUS]

scathing 4 PM , well i vote for ya

I think when a teenager goes 4 their P`s their mum or dad must sigh something saying that that their son or daughter is a safe driver. I don`t think this will save 1 life but it would stop all these parents bitchin about how it the government fault

[mokompri]

You only just worked that out?

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

this was harolds idea ???

[siksII]

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

"I think it [the passenger limit] is a bad thing because that way you do have more P-platers on the road"

This guy has a good point... Instead of just me being egged on by mates in my car, we will take all 3 of our cars together and have street racing on the way!!! Awesome!!!

[Chris_R33GTSt]

As long as you are good at need for speed underground you'll be fine bro

Edited January 10, 2007 by Chris_R33GTSt

[zebra]

As long as you are good at need for speed underground you'll be fine bro

lol do some sick dorifting in a GL Lancer Bro.

I have to say when i watch the news and there is a car crash. What do I mainly see....civics, lancers 4WD's!!!

the odd commodore and falcons...NOT GTRs 300ZXs Silvias etc.....it seems that the guys and gals that own performance cars drive more responsibly than some 17yo in a fully sic Exel wif da awsome neon windscreen washers that give 25rwkw.

Hmm yes lets promote drink driving because no-one can carry a passenger anymore so instead of grabbing a lift with a mate you have to take your own car because your mate will lose his licence because he has a passenger WTF!

[dead32]

i feel sorry for the 1 car family's, i have a relo that has to drive her family around on her red p's thats 2 parents and her brother and sister... whats she meant to do come christmas day driving home after a longday of driving to and from other relatives houses? take one at a time?

[GTR32GUS]

i feel sorry for the 1 car family's, i have a relo that has to drive her family around on her red p's thats 2 parents and her brother and sister... whats she meant to do come christmas day driving home after a longday of driving to and from other relatives houses? take one at a time?

I think they can still transport family members

[dead32]

good to hear^^... just on a lil side note, ive stopped taking my car anywhere near the city or "known" places period!.. if you get pulled over in nsw and are a P plater then your not getting off lightly..

[Sl!m]

yeh on nova news today they said

p platers cant have

more than 1 person in the car under 25 at night

unless its family

and you only lose your licence on the spot if you get done for speeding..

same rules applied where I lived in america for a few years as well

[siksII]

this was harolds idea ???

No, this plan was not Harold's idea, his plan that i made reference to was in relation to having unsigned speed cameras. Thats just stupid since they are apparently there to slow people down in known dangerous spots.

This one strike rule was put forward by the NRMA, i would have thought they were smarter than THIS!

[scathing]

i can see what ya mean.but when those not worth saving hit a women with a pram thats the lifes im talking bout.not so much the wanker driving like a tool...

Yeah, I understand. That woman and child didn't choose to do something stupid. And I'm all for personal choice (obviously).

But most of these "hoons" tend to wipe themselves out. And if you can put them all in one car, instead of killing 2 people with one car you can kill 4-5. And John Howard is always telling us to be more productive and labour efficient......

[scathing]

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

It would seem that I may be right on this one. From this article on SMH:

KEY members of a panel appointed to advise the State Government on P-plater safety have criticised the introduction of passenger restrictions, saying they will leave young people stranded.

Road safety experts supported passenger restrictions, but panel members, including the NRMA and the NSW Commission for Children and Young People, raised concerns at Tuesday's meeting.

Given how much attention Robert Wells' son attracted, I'm sure the newspaper would have mentioned him specifically if he didn't agree with some of the recommendations (after all, they made specific mention of him in formulating and being invited onto the panel despite is dubious qualifications).

The president of NRMA Motoring and Services, Alan Evans, said the decision was not unanimous, and he feared it would end years of hard work to encourage young people to use designated drivers.

I fail to see how that's unreasonable. How are people going to get home if their mates can't legally drive them? They can try pay for a cab (unlikely) or do a runner after catching one, or they can drink drive. Pretty much all the options you leave the kids, short of stopping them from going out, puts them in a situation where they have to decide if they'll break the law or severely inconvenience themselves. Now which one do you think your young, dumb, and full of c....booze teenagers is going to pick?

Then, assuming that you can pile 4 guys into a car, these passenger restrictions means that you'll double the number of P platers on the road. Probability says that the number of accidents that will occur must increase, especially if you do nothing to mitigate the other contributing factors to accidents.

And, lets face it, these cock heads are doing nothing else aside from these band-aid solutions targetting a politically disenfranchised (and therefore relatively powerless) subsection of the community.

Then again, the Wells kid did die in a car pooling situation. So since it happened to one bunch of kids, and nobody knows that pain quite like Robert Wells, the entire system must be flawed right?

[predator]

"if it saves somebody's life its worth it"..

Well by that attitude.. all sharp implements should be banned, all pools should be banned, all alcohol should be banned.. actually, you'd have to ban everything, and prevent everybody from doing everything. Nice. Now do we live in a free society, or Nazi Germany here?

f**king stupidist phrase I ever see thrown around and I'm sick of hearing it in the media.

There is reasonable steps, and then there is just taking things too far to protect the stupid few, and the suffering of 99% of the population who for the most part do the right thing, or do make small mistakes now and then. I just don't think that attitude is right, and that is where Australian's running the country have lost the plot.

[dori34]

^ thats why the govnerment is bloody ridiculus

[Donnan]

I have been driving for about 10 years now and it took a while for me to get ito cars after that. When I did get into cars, my mates and I did the usual stupid stuff and all survived. We had no where to do our thing but on the streets. What would have been better if we had access to a track or off street area to have our fun.

In Canberra there are some limited facilities available. But these are restricted in their usage by the noise complaints of 'nearby' residents. We were also promised a 1/8 dragway which has been canned again! (money and noise reasons)

I did not really know how to drive unlit I got involved in motor club events. Nothing really exciting, just learning how a car actually handles and reacts in different conditions.

What really worries me though, is that my cousin (sensible fella, going for his P's on tomorrow) is now going to be targeted for everything and anything; while my father-in-law speeds every where while drinking his coffee, playing whith his PDA and listening to John Laws does not have any dramas. He has had several accidents each year that I have known him and yet there are no add campaigns against the baby boomer generation!

There is nowhere locally (yes I know Wakefield is just an hour away) that you can just jump in your car and go for a drive without having to look over your shoulder for cops or speed cameras. If there was it would become my second home!!

P.S. If any of my info is incorrect please feel free to let me know.

[predator]

That's the thing that needs to change from the government perspective. There is constant "don't do it on the streets" and yet when the opportunities arise to encourage people to do it in a legal fashion, undertake extra training, the incentive is just not there.

[Ten Four]

Thats utterly stupid. If you are concentrating on your speedo you cannot concentrate on driving thus creating more accidents! This has been proven with speed cameras, less cameras had fewer accidents than an area with more cameras.

[GoldZilla]

I think proper driver training is the most reasonable and effective option, but who knows if the Govt will ever consider this - it means they'll have to spend money instead of filling their pockets with ridiculous pay rises and post-political career Super schemes.

Maybe the driver training should also include some attitude awareness and training, with someone (a psychologist, maybe?) aboard to help steer the attitudes of the trainees so they can realise the consequences of their actions if they do something dangerous and/or stupid.

Harold Scruby may be full of good intention, but he is in ABSOLUTELY NO WAY qualified to comment on probably 99% of the issues he gets himself tangled up in, nor is he going about it the right way to get people (except the super-conservatives and do-gooders and know-it-alls) on side.

Oh, and IIRC, NRMA stands for National Roads and Motorists Association, which should mean they'd be looking out for us. Instead they seem to be politically grand-standing, and buckling under the pressure of the opinions of their shareholders (and, therefore, trying to dig deeper into their pockets and make more money).