I just saw an advertisement that had a police officer saying “The way I see it, I stop a P-plater for speeding – I stop a P-plater from dying.”
This made me want to look up some NSW road statistics. I found some of the arguments for the crashes involving young drivers entirely unconvincing.
Young drivers with a P licence are six times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash between 10pm and 5am than other drivers.
I’m sure that statistic has nothing to do with the likelihood of far more young people going out late at night, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. They say “Calculated on a per licence holder basis.” That’s the licence holders that crashed right? Otherwise what did they do, count the number of P-plates on the road?
Supposedly during 1999-2003 36% of fatalities were under 26-year-olds. In a similar time period about 14% (2005, 11% 2003) of drivers held a learner or provisional licence. What does that say? It could mean that restricted licence holders made up a high proportion of fatalities, or it could mean that young drivers made up a proportional number of those involved in accidents because it’s possible to get an unrestricted licence by 20-years-old.
It’s quite likely that inexperienced drivers are more vulnerable to crashes since they have less experience with unexpected situations on the road. So what, the government should pass laws that prevent someone from taking couch medicine containing alcohol and driving, prevent P-platers driving more than one of their peers between 11pm and 5am, take away licences for speeding? Will the government also provide a non-alcoholic cure for colds and flus, free taxis for young people going to parties, penalise the butt-heads that tail-gate and intimidate other drivers into speeding?
The Telegraph claims:
The Government will also put a renewed focus on driver training. The new P-plate test will be extended from 30 minutes to 45 minutes and include more than 30 minutes of driving time instead of the existing 18.
And instead of being taken on quiet local roads, learners will be required to drive on more demanding and busy main roads before they get their licence.
There will also be an increased focus on safety and hazard perception instead of simply the more technical aspects of driving.
Is that the only way they’re going to improve driver training, by making the test more difficult? They’re not going to provide subsidies for proper driver training? Parents teach their children to drive, they also teach them all their bad habits and techniques that they’ve picked up in the 30 years since they did a driving test. Driving schools teach students how to accelerate, change gears, check mirrors, reverse park. They don’t impress on them the importance of the law, they don’t teach them what to do in unexpected situations. If something untoward happens while you’re having a lesson with and instructor thy take over the car with the passenger-side pedals.
I’m also concerned that this campaign will make the few police officers that are on the road look harder at P-platers and not at full-licensed drivers, who may have more experience, and may be in fewer accidents, but who drive like damned fools possibly the same amount as young drivers.
