P Platers and High Performance cars.....

[dellarb]

Yeah people are dying. Call me cold but people have been dying in car accidents since cars were introduced. Driving is inherently dangerous. Its just as easy to wrap a chirade around a tree as it is in a ferrari. Lumping it all on P platers because they are easy targets is to me despicable.

Some people have already said it but P platers are more aware of the road rules then most other drivers (my mother is the perfect example of this). If you restrict P platers power, power/weight ratios, cylinders or times they can drive all you are going to get is a bunch of 19 who get their full licence and have no idea how to handle these conditions.

If there is a problem with young drivers handling of certain cars or conditions then this needs to be addressed as part of the training process NOT after they have passed all the requirements to get their drivers licence.

 

[niggle]

If there is a problem with young drivers handling of certain cars or conditions then this needs to be addressed as part of the training process NOT after they have passed all the requirements to get their drivers licence.

Think you hit the nail on the head with that one

Instead of being tault how to parrell park, we should be learning how to do emerancy breaking or something, i mean looking back on it, getting a driving licence was the biggest breeze, not that i was complaining at the time

but yeah, instead of giving people there licences and tell them to work it out, the goverment should advance its driver training program... ie.. compolsory refresher courses ever 5 years or something

 

[jules]

I dont get why all you people who are off your Ps have a problem with high performance cars. The current regulations were the same or less strict when you went through and how many of you are dead again? The system works dont screw around with it.

like i said before, go out to a car graveyard and look at all the riced up commodores, skylines etc. driven by p-plateres smashed up so you know the driver didn't walk away.

young people have been dying for a long time. just becuase they still are doesn't mean the system works.

whether putting them in slower cars will help much is another question.

 

[jules]

but yeah, instead of giving people there licences and tell them to work it out, the goverment should advance its driver training program... ie.. compolsory refresher courses ever 5 years or something

teaching 18 yr old p-platers performance driving skills is about the worst thing you can do. loads of fun, but very dangerous.

 

[Bax]

Driver training courses aren't even going to get them to wake up to themselves..
How about we drag all these drivers that think their top **** by the nuts along with Paramedics, Fire Brigade officers that have to cut open the cars and peel them off the seats and windscreen.. In the ambulance all the way to the hospital with the Paramedics working on them to keep them alive the whole trip, and then Finally how about we let these kids that think they can drive, explain to their mates parents how fully sick their drag racing was.

No matter how many times its been said or will be said, driver training courses cannot cure hormones. Everyones got them.
Hows an emergency braking procedure going to save you when your in a spin at 160km/h with poles either side of the road? Maybe if your extremely lucky you'll be right.

Yes alot of old people don't know road rules, My grandparents are tragic, they don't indicate at the right places, they may not always look before changing lanes, but they are never doing insane speeds or burnouts and collecting other cars at speed which seems to be the whole point here.. As speed increases the Likelihood of death does too.

You'd be quite suprised at who knows what though, alot of P platers I've chatted to occasionally don't seem to know many road rules, they've read enough for the theory examination (Queensland) and thats all they need. That followed by a drive around the block and a reverse paralell park and your set.

All I can really suggest is stricter enforcement, maybe a new law - similar to the hoon laws, if you are believed to be lappying, or drag racing at the time of offence.. i.e. if you get done speeding in a drag race, Penalties are double the maximum. Minimum of 6 months suspended license.

Sounds fair to me.. At least that way you could get done speeding elsewhere somewhere else, not drag racing just, cruising on the highway and you get done for 20 over, you cop the normal offence, but if drag racing.. BOOM.

Make these no brained assholes pay before they kill themselves and other people.

 

[dellarb]

teaching 18 yr old p-platers performance driving skills is about the worst thing you can do. loads of fun, but very dangerous.

Not really, if they are going to do it they will do it, untrained or not. If they are taught safer ways to go about it then that surely cant hurt.

Yes i never said that young people dont die, they do and its a tradgedy but most of the accidents you refer to involve illegal street racing. Making some new piece of paper which just serves to annoy normal P platers wont stop anything.

 

[jules]

most drivers dont have the skill to 'safely' engage in high performance driving on the road. especially not new drivers.

a one-day course around some witches hats teaches you jack sh*t anyway.

 

[fourstar82]

teaching 18 yr old p-platers performance driving skills is about the worst thing you can do. loads of fun, but very dangerous.

I don't see how teaching new driviers how to emergency brake is dangerous.

 

[jules]

i'm really referring to the courses that teach you how to recover from oversteer, handle your car in the wet. it's not harmful if people just use it for recovering from emergency situations (altho it's useless, what you learnt in the course is far from your mind in such situations), but in truth people think they are mark webber and put themselves in situations where they need those skills.

 

[Tatiana]

This is the front page of the Advertiser today:

YOUNG drivers who commit serious traffic offences will be hit with a night-time curfew as part of a major overhaul of the licensing system.

South Australia could become the first state to introduce a curfew, which in New Zealand has reduced the young driver fatality rate by 40 per cent since 1987.

The State Government's "carrot and stick" approach, announced yesterday, will also include a new two-tier P-plate stage and a computerised program to test skills when confronted by hazards.

The RAA welcomed the proposal, under which provisional drivers who have an incident-free first year will not have to display P-plates in their second year.

"It's another example of South Australia catching up," said RAA traffic and safety manager Chris Thomson. "It's a big improvement on the current system."

The State Opposition is likely to support the legislation but has signalled possible amendments.

Transport Minister Trish White said the changes were aimed at encouraging better driving and penalising the small number of irresponsible young drivers.

"Under the proposed changes, if you do the wrong thing, you will go backwards and receive a penalty," Ms White said.

She hoped to have the new measures – which would maintain the current minimum of two years in the P-plate phase – in place by July next year.

A one-year midnight-to-5am curfew would be applied to those returning to driving after being disqualified for a single serious offence such as reckless driving, extreme speeding or drink-driving.

The curfew would also be imposed on those who committed more than one lesser speeding offence.

Motor Accident Commission data has shown people aged 16 to 19 make up 24 per cent of all people claiming for injuries sustained in crashes between midnight and 5am, yet represent just 5.5 per cent of the population.

"Young people in this state are up to three times more likely than any other age-group to have a serious accident," Ms White said.

"We want to make sure that our novice drivers have the skills they need to be safe on the road, and to be safe for everybody else."

Other changes include a minimum of 50 hours of supervised driving during the learner phase, computerised testing for learners, and the creation of P1 and P2 plate phases.

At the end of the P1 year a driver would have to pass a computerised hazard perception test, which involves responding to high-risk driving situations. The test is already used in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales.