Thread: P Plates......are they really needed

Originally Posted by Tombie

And the incentive to behave is huge as well.
Losing a licence there is a very costly exercise.

Well the fines are huge, and 1-3 month suspensions are willingly handed out for DUI or speeding, however outside of towns/cities the fines only start once you are 20 km/h over the speed limit.

I think the real issue is **** drivers passing on their ****ty driving to their students.

IMO- Mandory professional training (like I had almost exclusively)
Professional training in a classroom and practical- including the obligatory video of the bloke who rolled his car 5 times not wearing aseatbelt, the family of 4 hit by a train at a level crossing, and the car wreck, complete with brains splattered over the inside of the windscreen.
And finally put some freaking science into the test protocol for new drivers. Tapping on a screen with a grainy video does SFA for teaching real world accident avoidance.
Or... Substitute all this with 3 hours of russian dashcam videos if the budget can't stretch that far.

I think the US model - Driver Ed - in high school is a fantastic idea..

Maritime certification has been removed from State control and is now national. I think the same should happen with driver/rider licensing or at the very least there should be a national traffic code.
'P' plated are useful as indicators of a driver's experience. Perhaps there should be 'R' plates for rangers 'I' plates for incompetents and 'C' plates for crazies as well.
Restricting any driver speed to las than the speed limit is dangerous and stupid. IMHO of course.

Originally Posted by Tombie

I think the US model - Driver Ed - in high school is a fantastic idea..

I think so too. Although their road toll is twice ours per capita.

Originally Posted by cuppabillytea

I think so too. Although their road toll is twice ours per capita.

Doesn't need to be exactly the same

I think ours is worse when you break it down to population density. They may be double but they're a lot more "crowded" and they generally move at a higher average speed than we do... many of their crashes on Interstates etc take multiple casualties..

Originally Posted by cuppabillytea

Maritime certification has been removed from State control and is now national. I think the same should happen with driver/rider licensing or at the very least there should be a national traffic code.

'P' plated are useful as indicators of a driver's experience. Perhaps there should be 'R' plates for rangers 'I' plates for incompetents and 'C' plates for crazies as well.

Restricting any driver speed to las than the speed limit is dangerous and stupid. IMHO of course.

I think an Amber P plate for ****y Drivers coming off suspension would be a great one!

Originally Posted by Toxic_Avenger

I think the real issue is **** drivers passing on their ****ty driving to their students.

IMO- Mandory professional training (like I had almost exclusively)
Professional training in a classroom and practical- including the obligatory video of the bloke who rolled his car 5 times not wearing aseatbelt, the family of 4 hit by a train at a level crossing, and the car wreck, complete with brains splattered over the inside of the windscreen.
And finally put some freaking science into the test protocol for new drivers. Tapping on a screen with a grainy video does SFA for teaching real world accident avoidance.
Or... Substitute all this with 3 hours of russian dashcam videos if the budget can't stretch that far.

I tried to teach my Wife to drive, but as soon as she got the car rolling, she decided that she was the expert and that any advice from me was intolerable criticism. Eventually she was taught to drive by an instructor who was an ex Ambo. He used to whack her knuckles with a ruler when she made a mistake. No kidding.
She's a fairly good driver now.