Power NOT a factor with young drivers

[ossie_21]

Hi, this is an article printed in the Sunday Times here in the west, from a survey conducted by the Uni of WA. Can't find it on the internet, so I have typed the whole thing here. Quite interesting:

Young drivers are no more likely to have a fatal or serious crash in a powerful car than in other vehicles, research has revealed.

The University of WA study-the first of it's type in the world-dismissed the myththat vehicle performance is a major cause of crashes for young, novice drivers.

Road Safety Council chairman Grant Dorrington said the study showed that most fatal and serious crashes among drivers in their first two years of holding a license did not involve powerful vehicles.

And reprt author Peter Palamara said less powerful, smaller & lighter cars could be more dangerous in crashes because they could offer less protection.

"Smaller cars with low power-to-weight ratios can also offer very poor protection against injury because of their low vehicle mass" he said. "About 20-30% of risk of being killed in a crash can be attributed to vehicle mass - the greater the mass of the car, the greater chance of surviving the crash".

He said that restricting young drivers from having more powerful cars could also deny them the safety of bigger cars. The UWA inquiry research centre study, commissioned by the safety council, called for the proposed restrictions on high powered vehicles for novice drivers to be dismissed. Victoria already has such restrictions and NSW likely to follow.

But Mr Dorrington said the research centre recommended that the speeding behaviour of young novice drivers be targeted through changes to the licensing & penalty system, not through access to certain types of vehicles. He said it also reccommended that educational materials be developed and give to both novice drivers & parents highlighting safety features & the need for such drivers to use vehicles that provided them with greater safety & protection.

The study examined 662 serious-injury crashes in 1999 & 2000 in WA, and drivers which had not crashed.

The power to weight ratio of the crashed vehicles was calculated & compared with the power-to weight ratio of vehicles driven by novice drivers who did not crash in the same period. Only 3% of crashed vehicles had a power-to-weight ratio of more than 100kw a tonne.

And only 2 vehicles had power-to-weight ratios above 125kw a tonne, which was the exclusion point under Victorian legislation. Mr Dorrington said the study highlighted speeding as a cause of most serious crashes involving novice drivers & it was common knowledge that speed was the cause of death in 33% of fatalities. But Mr Palamara said people did not have to drive powerful cars to speed. Mr Dorrington said young, inexperienced drivers aged 17-24 were grossly over-represented in the road statistics. They comprised 30% of all fatalities, even though they represented only 14% of WA licence holders.

"Consequently, we beleive the proposals for novice drivers which are currently up for public discussion could save up to 28 young lives a year on WA roads".

Those proposals revealed by the Sunday Times earlier this month included a night curfew & a total alcohol ban for young drivers.

[Suspense]

here here

[Husky33]

Too bad the government doesnt heed to real life facts and situations otherwise the whole P plate system would have been reformed many many years ago

[pentae]

Its funny how common sense aint so common anymore...

And it takes research/studies like this to keep the braindead public and government from banning pretty much everything that doesnt somehow feed money to some large corporation.

[OKBANANA]

Excellent post! It's a shame that most of the public is braindead and will belive anything that is on ACA or programs such as this.

[benm]

It's not on the internet because it won't sell magazines/newspapers.

[4door_Sleeper]

If a link to the source of this document could be found to verify its comments, it would be worth members sending a copy of the report to their local members of parliment allong with their own reasons why such legislation shouldnt be passed.

[benl1981]

I think the P plate restrictions in NSW are a good start. But they only apply to those that don't have P plates as yet. They include no driving of v8s or turbos etc. The fast cars are worth the wait. I know some of the things I did on P plates I wouldnt have got away with in a much quicker car. It takes a few years to become fully aware of the consequences etc. Some people may be ok at 17 but I don't think by banning such cars for a few years is going to hurt anyone..

You should have another 50 to 70 years to drive cars. If you want performance go gokarting or get into racing. Having all these powerful cars on the street is a bit ridiculous, though I do like driving the skyline. Driving is a privelidge not a right!

Common sense: Faster car = higher speed crash and more temptation, less time for reflexes etc

[midnight]

its good that someone else thinks the restrictions are a good idea.

when I was 17 I had a monaro and yes I did crash, it wasnt too major, but it could have been.

It was due to inexperience, not me not being able to handle the car.

the time the restriction applies is so short anyway.

[pentae]

benl: Why is it a good start? The Article has proven that performance of your car has nothing to do with it.

People at a young age with performance cars fall into the following stereotypes:

- Saved up whole life to afford car of dreams

- Built the car themselves or with help

- Worked their ass off or have a huge bank loan to get car

- Mummy and Daddy bought it

The last one is an exception because if the parents have the buying power what parent would want to buy their son/daughter a 'deathtrap'.. in most cases of parents buying cars that i've seen, they have usually forced the son/daughter to drive a close-to-new 4 cyl buzzbox.

I fell into the worked hard and had a loan category back when I was on my P's, as i'm sure many others do. I was one of the only people I knew my age who had a turbo car, let alone fast car. I'm SICK of hearing the following line:

"Back when I was on my P's, I sure am glad I didnt have a fast car, the CRAZY stuff I used to do..."

MOST of the time the person saying this was driving an old crapbox they had no respect or value for, did not built with their own hands, probably a parents hand-me-down car and consequently drove the ringer out of it.

The craziest driving i've ever seen has been in these buzzbox shopping trolleys, or old crap cars, because they aint getting no satisfcation otherwise.

Young people with expensive performance cars are enthusiasts, they are more skilled and generally have respect for what they are driving. They also have a hell of a lot more to lose.

Its despiccably stupid to look at some low life 17 year old with a trashed old commodore doing burnouts in the car park, then deciding therefore all other 17 year olds most not be allowed newer, more high performance cars.

The fact the P Plater banned cars list even exists is unfathomable, and it's fantastic to see Research to back up how stupid our government really is.

[pentae]

There is too much of a focus on new high performance cars and not enough focus on unsafe old cars. (Their drivers tend to have less money to pay fines)

[Ruffels]

benl: Why is it a good start? The Article has proven that performance of your car has nothing to do with it.

People at a young age with performance cars fall into the following stereotypes:

- Saved up whole life to afford car of dreams

- Built the car themselves or with help

- Worked their ass off or have a huge bank loan to get car

- Mummy and Daddy bought it

The last one is an exception because if the parents have the buying power what parent would want to buy their son/daughter a 'deathtrap'.. in most cases of parents buying cars that i've seen, they have usually forced the son/daughter to drive a close-to-new 4 cyl buzzbox.

I fell into the worked hard and had a loan category back when I was on my P's, as i'm sure many others do. I was one of the only people I knew my age who had a turbo car, let alone fast car. I'm SICK of hearing the following line:

"Back when I was on my P's, I sure am glad I didnt have a fast car, the CRAZY stuff I used to do..."

MOST of the time the person saying this was driving an old crapbox they had no respect or value for, did not built with their own hands, probably a parents hand-me-down car and consequently drove the ringer out of it.

The craziest driving i've ever seen has been in these buzzbox shopping trolleys, or old crap cars, because they aint getting no satisfcation otherwise.

Young people with expensive performance cars are enthusiasts, they are more skilled and generally have respect for what they are driving. They also have a hell of a lot more to lose.

Its despiccably stupid to look at some low life 17 year old with a trashed old commodore doing burnouts in the car park, then deciding therefore all other 17 year olds most not be allowed newer, more high performance cars.

The fact the P Plater banned cars list even exists is unfathomable, and it's fantastic to see Research to back up how stupid our government really is.

Here Here

i totally agree with you there pentae, i am 17 with an r33, i worked 2 jobs since i was 14 to afford my baby (read: car) , i sacrificed many a weeknight and almost every friday and saturday night by not going out and instead doing hard labour til early hours in the morning cooking at kfc and stacking shelves at coles to be able to afford my car.... sure its powerfull,, but im not going to abuse the power by either being totally stupid or showing off to my mates and throwing away many years of hard work and saving ,,,, it purely isnt worth it, and not what i bought a skyline for... /start rant: i am sick and tired of people stereotyping me because im young and i have a nice car... because mummy and daddy certainly didnt pay for this one

/end rant

-Ruffels

[ossie_21]

This was in the Sunday Times in WA, I will try to scan it probably tomorrow & I'll post it up.

[IOWNU]

Mummy and Daddy all the way!!!

[SuAvE-1]

preach it again my brother. Pentae, you are 100% on the money and I couldn't have said it any better myself. More studies such as this one are required for anyone in the government to listen.

I've said it before, and i'll say it again - almost any piece of crap can speed dangerously (say 120km/h in a 50 zone) and almost any driver can drive dangerously whether it is overtaking someone on a hill or rippin a burnout in a narrow space. High powered vehicles generally have bigger brakes and more protection, and as pentae said, generally more respect for their cars.

[Topaz]

Nicely put Pentae....people who spend more on their cars do respect them a hellova lot more

Don't get me wrong I totally agree with the article......but driving too slow, too fast or not knowing how to put the left indicator on and pull over is inexperienced road driving and badly mannered I think

Kimi Raikkenon was the youngest ever F1 race driver at 22 (I think he was). I know thats racing and should be off the streets, but he would "classed" as inexperienced on the roads along with the rest of us

[saff_cossie]

I think the P plate restrictions in NSW are a good start. But they only apply to those that don't have P plates as yet. They include no driving of v8s or turbos etc. The fast cars are worth the wait. I know some of the things I did on P plates I wouldnt have got away with in a much quicker car. It takes a few years to become fully aware of the consequences etc. Some people may be ok at 17 but I don't think by banning such cars for a few years is going to hurt anyone..

You should have another 50 to 70 years to drive cars. If you want performance go gokarting or get into racing. Having all these powerful cars on the street is a bit ridiculous, though I do like driving the skyline. Driving is a privelidge not a right!

Common sense: Faster car = higher speed crash and more temptation, less time for reflexes etc

Excellent Post.

It doesnt hurt to wait and build experience, these cars are not being banned altogether, just the ownership being delayed.

If I had a turbo at 17/18 I may well not be here. We all have dome some crazy things and some of us are here because we didnt have a turbo at that age.

[benl1981]

There are some valid points in what you say, you may respect your car and drive it within limits but there are many young ones that don't. On the weekend I had a rexy with P plates going past me doing about 130 in a 90 zone. Most drivers doing something stupid are Ps I have to say. True you can do it in a crapppy car. But it's not hard to see how a fast car can be a loaded weapon in the wrong hands. Moreso than an old sh.tter. Wait a few years till a bit of the initial buzz has gone.

P.s. Don't believe all articles. Figures can be used to show what is wanted to be shown.

Common sense should prevail sometimes. I can not see the argument for letting P platers have turbos etc..

[Links]

Alot of this comes down to common sense.. You can't teach someone the limits of what they are doing. You can't teach them that "when your doing 130 in a 60 zone.. that's 2 fast"..

A huge problem is driver education.. someone who has been properly taught how to drive, tends to respect their cars and themselves alot more..

Until recently I had never driven a turbo perfiormance car, plenty of others, but not a turbo..

You need to respect the power that these cars have, and at the age of 18 - that is very hard to do when you have 3/4 mates in the back egging you on..

I don't neccessarily agree with the limitations on engine size - that doesn't fix shit, all it means is the age bracket moves up 3 years to 21.. - this doesn't suddenly make people a better driver..

what needs to happen - is people need education.. I think they should have compulsory Driving courses before you get your license.. believe me it doesn't hurt and it's saved me a number of times.. one when I was being completely stupid and another when something unexpected happened..

if not compulsory - give people an incentive to do them..

the sad fact is, you can't teach someone common sense.. it's just not possible.. after losing a very close friend in a car accident recently (last month) i feel stronger about this than before.. common sense - it'll get you a long way in life..

[scottman]

i wood have to be one of the prime Targets

I had a skyline R33 GTS-t for a few weeks on L's and now i am on P's

I know what the car can do for the first few days i tested it out wanted to feel the power

Didn't Do it near anyppl

know after i week i don't boost it everywere the whole week its been raining and i only found it a pain when u hit a little boost off round abouts but if u ain't putting ya foot down boost doesn't build

Its a alsome cars stops fast handles better then anything i been in

Now i am Over the boosting hear and there and am just happy with the car I have mates that Drift there skylines and silvia and want me to but i respect how much it took me to get it

and how my mum and dad let me after all the bullshit on the news

I am one of the Luckest P platers round cause i just got my P's b4 the law and get to drive the cars i love

Most of my mates that do dumb shit r older just off there P's

Lots of P platers just don't have the money for fast cars u have to have a Full time job or rich Mummy and dady

Dam y can't i be Rich lol back to work