Thread: 'L' Plates!

Originally Posted by ATH

Very timely this thread as I saw a P plater with her g/dad who is obviously teaching her to drive today in the local shopping centre car park.
Straight in her car cocky as can be and before g/dad had closed his door it was fired up and jumped forward and luckily there was nothing parked in front of her. Obviously no checking for it being in gear or anything other than showing anyone looking how good she was.
How well trained is she going to be?
AlanH.

We'll see how she goes while texting and driving on the highway and whether she knows what the right hand lane is really for.

DL

Originally Posted by JDNSW

You are probably right, although I have not seen statistics on it. But the general perception at least is that flying requires greater skill and knowledge - as well as the operating skills, and knowledge of regulations, the pilot also requires basic aeronautical knowledge, which in turn requires a significant knowledge of physics, plus (admittedly not for the restricted licence) navigational and map reading skills, none of which have equivalents in driving.

You got that right. Below are the study books my son had to learn to get his commercial license.

For those that don't know, the commercial is not a license to fly big jets, this is simply to allow him to earn money flying
and in this case just in a small single engine plane.




And the book for learning to drive.

After what I saw on the roads lately , it seems no one is teaching these new invincibles about reading the the traffic or courtesy towards other road users , including pedestrians on crossings. If it weren't for the costs involved I would like to see a national licence and scheduled reassessments every couple of years. Often I have heard most drivers would fail the German testing.

I think the problem you are seeing is not knowledge in most cases, but attitude. They know the rules, and know what they should do - they just find it more convenient to forget this after they have passed the test. In light of this, I doubt that regular testing would have a significant effect - and as you comment, it would be very expensive. A bit like routine annual roadworthy tests as used by some states but not others - nothing in the statistics suggests it has a detectable effect on road safety.

As for "national" - first you would have to arrange for the states to all agree to harmonise the laws and regulations. That simply is not going to happen. Just to take a simple example - a state with a minimum licencing age of 17 is never going to agree to go to 18 just to conform; too many young people (looking forward to their licence at 17) vote next year, and a state with a licencing age of 18 is never going to agree to drop it to 17; too many voters had to wait until they were 18.

The same sort of thing applies to nearly all the other difference - "they should change, not us". As they say, "Politics is the art of the possible", and this is just not possible.

Originally Posted by trog

I would like to see a national licence

Hi,
Yes please.

Cheers

I'll go on that list too and you can bung rego in for good measure. ACTUALLY: Why not mace all Road and Traffic Legislation and administration NATIONAL?

Originally Posted by cuppabillytea

I'll go on that list too and you can bung rego in for good measure. ACTUALLY: Why not mace all Road and Traffic Legislation and administration NATIONAL?

Because Australia is a federation - and to change this would require a majority in all states at a referendum. Trying to get that passed would be a pretty futile exercise. (Instead of changing the constitution you could get all states and territories to agree to transfer all this to the Commonwealth - only a slightly less futile endeavour!)

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Because Australia is a federation - and to change this would require a majority in all states at a referendum. Trying to get that passed would be a pretty futile exercise. (Instead of changing the constitution you could get all states and territories to agree to transfer all this to the Commonwealth - only a slightly less futile endeavour!)

That's very true John. I'm sad to say I've known that much for a long time but recently I've seen how Political will can be moulded
by a strong public voice.