Harold Scruby is at it again

**bigbugga** · 5th July 2004, 05:28 PM

Australia: Special License for SUV drivers?

Australian four-wheel-drive (SUV) owners should have a special licence and be made to sit off-road driving skill tests before taking to the city streets, a federal parliamentary report recommends, according to the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH).
The report on national road safety, tabled in Parliament yesterday, urges the Federal Government to develop a national licensing system, targeting owners of four-wheel-drives and caravans.

"Driving conditions in these vehicles are sufficiently different from those in standard cars to warrant such an approach," the report says.

One submission, published in the report, says four-wheel driving tests would ensure drivers understood and could competently handle their off-road vehicles in all conditions.

Four-wheel-drives account for about 20 per cent of new car sales, but as the love affair with off-road vehicles grows so too does the number of four-wheel-drives involved in fatal crashes, research has shown.

Analysis published last year by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found that over the nine years to 1998 the number of fatal four-wheel drive crashes rose 85 per cent.

An accredited trainer with the Australian National Four Wheel Drive Council, Norman Bee, said he was supportive of extra training for drivers who used their four-wheel-drives for recreational purposes.

But Mr Bee, head of the council's South Australian driver training unit, said he did not think drivers should have to undergo training if they did not buy their four-wheel-drive to drive off road.

"I don't think you can make the training mandatory for those type of people."

The chief executive of the Pedestrian Council of Australia, Harold Scruby, has been pushing for special licences for all four-wheel-drives over two tonnes for several years.

"What they really are are trucks made to look like cars," Mr Scruby said. "People who drive trucks don't have standard licences, so why should drivers of LandCruisers and Pajeros have standard licenses?"

The chairman of the committee that produced the report, the Queensland MP Paul Neville, said the inquiry identified measures that could reduce the national road toll.

The report called for 50kmh limits on all suburban roads in Australia and a 60kmh limit on urban arterial roads.

Mr Neville said that every year about 1700 people died in road accidents in Australia and many more were seriously injured, Sydney Morning Herald report said.

http://www.aulro.com/index.php
Our news page

http://www.thelandroverchronicle.com/new_page_431.htm

Lets see what you all think too

**one_iota** · 5th July 2004, 05:53 PM

I think that Harold and several standing committees should go off somewhere and explore the idea because there just might be a point.

Meanwhile I'll go exploring somewhere else preferably in low range with the CDL locked.

It's a pity we can't select more than one option.

I'll get stuck into this after dinner as it is not to be tackled on an empty stomach and when the blood sugar is low.

**one_iota** · 5th July 2004, 06:39 PM

Ahhhh thats better (belch)

Point one:

“owner’s should have a special licence and be made to sit off-road driving skill tests before taking to the city streets”.

What does driving off road have to do with driving on city streets apart from teaching you how to judge the conditions, read the road and understand the dynamics of your vehicle. Maybe all drivers should do an off road-driving course.

When you do a driving test and indeed for city dwellers when are you trained to drive at 100km/hr on winding country roads? I wasn’t. I think this training and testing should compulsory for all drivers.

**one_iota** · 5th July 2004, 07:07 PM

This could be a long night. This topic is ripe for debate.

Point two:

"The report on national road safety, tabled in Parliament yesterday, urges the Federal Government to develop a national licensing system, targeting owners of four-wheel-drives and caravans."

I don’t mind being targeted because maybe it will sort out the “wheat from the chaff”. With a special license gained through testing of additional skills will come some respect. Truckies display: "I am a professional driver. My conduct is on display and a phone number"... be proud.

Towing Caravans and Trailers should be taught and tested. What’s the issue there.

**one_iota** · 5th July 2004, 07:12 PM

Come on

six votes!

Where is the debate or will we let Harold take the initiative?

**harry** · 5th July 2004, 07:23 PM

8) as i see it the current drivers licence lets you drive any thing up to three ton,
please correct me if i am wrong,
so what does 4wd have to do with anything,
plumbers,carpenters,white van drivers are almost always running around with more total mass than mrs kafoops delivering her brats to toorak private school in her range rover, or toyota prado or whatever.
a falcon one tonne ute, or those fake utes with the lion, is well over two tonne when grossed out, so what is the reason to pick on 4wd things, p'raps we should look at how many of the 4wd's are subaru wrx go fast die hero buckets?
how are the accidents recorded,
is a 4wd a true 4wd or do they include the little wrx and other like cars,
which in my 'note my' opinion would skew the results.
and how many accidents are by heavily loaded utes/vans, and that sorta jigger.
the analists only get out the results of what they put in,
so if its dud info going in, of course they can make any result they want, so we as users of any vehicle need to help to stem the tide of increasing restrictions on our freedom to use it.
i pay my registration [and a lot more than most vehicle owners] and i am allowed to use exactly the same space as everyone else.
i have to abide by the laws of the land, like everyone else,
so why pick on me because my car is 4wd and is heavier than a hiundi'
they're gunna die dead whether it gets hit by a morris minor or a mack truck.
what about making little cars safer by limiting the minimum weight/strength/size to stop little car owners getting killed because they think they are invincable because the car has a sticker saying the car has a clever crash rating or an airbag.
8)

**bigbugga** · 5th July 2004, 07:30 PM

Originally posted by one_iota
Ahhhh thats better (belch)

Point one:

“owner’s should have a special licence and be made to sit off-road driving skill tests before taking to the city streets”.

What does driving off road have to do with driving on city streets apart from teaching you how to judge the conditions, read the road and understand the dynamics of your vehicle. Maybe all drivers should do an off road-driving course.

When you do a driving test and indeed for city dwellers when are you trained to drive at 100km/hr on winding country roads? I wasn’t. I think this training and testing should compulsory for all drivers.

I am all for 4wd owners learning how to drive in the conditions they will be useing day to day.
For example, a 4wd handles very differant to a normal car, cornering and braking are just two examples of this.
YET a lot of first car owners learn in a small compact car with a licenced instructor and then once they have their licence they jump into something totally differant, be it a V8 race style car or a 4WD.

This is a debate that has gone on for ages in one form or another.

BUT to single out a class of driver (SUV/4WD) for a special licence just because of the car they choose to drive is a bit wrong.

IF it needs to happen then it needs to happen across the whole range of vehicals, and then it needs to happen for the area you are in.

EXAMPLE
If Person A has a 4wd and lives in the capital city of your choosing then Person A will have differant driving conditions to some one who lives in a rural area.
It wont even matter if this example is used for any car you want to pick it still will apply.

**one_iota** · 5th July 2004, 07:32 PM

Harry,

As my braking space is robbed by hot hyundias and hondas I wonder who is responsible....me because of my GVM or them because of their low IQs.

**one_iota** · 5th July 2004, 07:34 PM

BB,

My point exactly

**bigbugga** · 5th July 2004, 07:36 PM

Originally posted by harry

is a 4wd a true 4wd or do they include the little wrx and other like cars,
which in my 'note my' opinion would skew the results.
)

Great point

With the amount of "soft roaders" out there now this is really a good point.
They are called and sold as 4WD's not all wheel drives, the car makers keep this very seperate most times.

So where will the cut off point be, weight alone will be hard to judge it by.

Do they then cut out all those with out a low range shifter?

What about the new 4wd's that come with a switch that selects the gears for you?

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