swingonthespiral
Very Well-Known Member
Morning all.
As im sitting here this morning doing up a Staff Memo in regards to the new laws for young drivers that have been put in place in QLD I got thinking (scarey i know)....
These laws are being put in place in QLD to aid in bringing the road toll of young drivers down. But these laws are exactly the same as NSW and to my knowledge hasn't been working for years.
Why is that??
I'm only 20 and now on my Open Licence. I learned to drive in NSW and obtained my P licence there as well.
I think that these new laws in QLD will have little if any effect on young drivers.
The power restrictions I can understand where they are coming from. But in reality you still do 120km in a 60km zone in a Corolla.
The passenger restrictions again I can understand where they are coming from, but when they turn 21 they will be allowed to have as many passengers as they want and will still surcumb (sp?) to 'peer pressure'.
The 50hrs of documented learner driving is total BULL...... you can easily fake the book its very easy as I'm sure most of us know.
IMHO alot of the responsibility has to come down to the parents (yes i know its very cliche but hey)..... we all seem too busy in our lives to take the time out to instill some life saving attitudes into our kids.
When i was learning to drive my parents wouldn't let me go for my P's until I had completed 250hrs of driving which had to include at least 50hrs of night driving, 5hrs of fog and rain driving, 50hrs of highway driving and 10hrs of peak hour traffic driving. After that my father who has been a policemen for over 20yrs put me through an advance driving course which I can honestly say helped me more so than ever paying for a driving instructor.
Now i was exceptionally lucky that my parents were this hard on me and I really did enjoy the challenge rather than seeing it as a burden. I feel very confident and safe in ANY vehicle which I also think is important. You shoudl be able to jump from a classic to a brand new car with no troubles which young drivers do not get to the chance to do nor realise the importance. Mind you I still can't reverse park to save my life :lol:
I want to know at what point do young drivers feel its ok to show off in front of thier mates and put thier lives at risk??? This over confidence needs to be stamped out and the only way I can think of to do this is more education.
I hate even driving with my other half who has an RX7...... for some reason he thinks its ok to do 130km down the motorway and weave in and out of the traffic for no apparent reason and then sit up the rear end of other cars. Where does this attitude come from?????
I know its horrible to admit and I can't believe I am saying it but perhaps take a leaf out of the Americans book to some extent. IMO teaching driving as a complusary subject at school would do wonders with professional teachers and real life situations and safety needs to be drummed into some people.
IMO restrictions and laws will do nothing unless the education is there to begin with.
So I would like to hear your opinions on how to make younger drivers better drivers????
(by the way im not saying all young drivers are bad before someone has a go :lol:...... I feel soooo old right now)
As im sitting here this morning doing up a Staff Memo in regards to the new laws for young drivers that have been put in place in QLD I got thinking (scarey i know)....
These laws are being put in place in QLD to aid in bringing the road toll of young drivers down. But these laws are exactly the same as NSW and to my knowledge hasn't been working for years.
Why is that??
I'm only 20 and now on my Open Licence. I learned to drive in NSW and obtained my P licence there as well.
I think that these new laws in QLD will have little if any effect on young drivers.
The power restrictions I can understand where they are coming from. But in reality you still do 120km in a 60km zone in a Corolla.
The passenger restrictions again I can understand where they are coming from, but when they turn 21 they will be allowed to have as many passengers as they want and will still surcumb (sp?) to 'peer pressure'.
The 50hrs of documented learner driving is total BULL...... you can easily fake the book its very easy as I'm sure most of us know.
IMHO alot of the responsibility has to come down to the parents (yes i know its very cliche but hey)..... we all seem too busy in our lives to take the time out to instill some life saving attitudes into our kids.
When i was learning to drive my parents wouldn't let me go for my P's until I had completed 250hrs of driving which had to include at least 50hrs of night driving, 5hrs of fog and rain driving, 50hrs of highway driving and 10hrs of peak hour traffic driving. After that my father who has been a policemen for over 20yrs put me through an advance driving course which I can honestly say helped me more so than ever paying for a driving instructor.
Now i was exceptionally lucky that my parents were this hard on me and I really did enjoy the challenge rather than seeing it as a burden. I feel very confident and safe in ANY vehicle which I also think is important. You shoudl be able to jump from a classic to a brand new car with no troubles which young drivers do not get to the chance to do nor realise the importance. Mind you I still can't reverse park to save my life :lol:
I want to know at what point do young drivers feel its ok to show off in front of thier mates and put thier lives at risk??? This over confidence needs to be stamped out and the only way I can think of to do this is more education.
I hate even driving with my other half who has an RX7...... for some reason he thinks its ok to do 130km down the motorway and weave in and out of the traffic for no apparent reason and then sit up the rear end of other cars. Where does this attitude come from?????
I know its horrible to admit and I can't believe I am saying it but perhaps take a leaf out of the Americans book to some extent. IMO teaching driving as a complusary subject at school would do wonders with professional teachers and real life situations and safety needs to be drummed into some people.
IMO restrictions and laws will do nothing unless the education is there to begin with.
So I would like to hear your opinions on how to make younger drivers better drivers????
(by the way im not saying all young drivers are bad before someone has a go :lol:...... I feel soooo old right now)