I watched a news item on the ABC's 7.30 Report tonight, which covered teenage road accidents. It interviewed a couple of teenagers who had been in accidents, or had friends who had been in accidents, and had friends killed. One of the interviewees mentioned that his friends used to road race at 120- 140 km/h, while another said that he would drive around a roundabout the wrong way (at high speeds) to get in front of his friends driving in other cars… I think it's this kind of behaviour that needs to be stopped.
One important point brought up was that teenagers and people on their provisional license don't seem to realise the power over life and death that they have behind the wheel of a car, and don't seem to treasure life itself, because they are young and feel invincible.
The report also mentioned how further refinements had been given to the planned curfews, and it could be amended so that P-platers, or alternatively people who have only had their license for 6 - 12 months, would be required to drive with a supervising driver (i.e. one that has an unrestricted license) in "high risk situations". For example, driving with lots of people in the car, or late at night. I think this is a step in the right direction, and a lot less severe than the other plan I talked about previously, but still not quite there. John Anderson (the Transport Minister) is said to have suggested compulsory defensive driving courses for P-platers, which I think is an excellent idea.
0 Responses to “More on the driver curfews…”
Leave a Reply