Parents Driven Mad by Teen Licence Requirements
Posted by Amber Robinson at 10:15 AM on May 20, 2009
Spare a thought for Merryn and Brent Laverack. The parents of five 16-year-old quintuplets face 600 hours of driving practice in order for their children to qualify for their provisional licence plates in NSW.
That’s the equivalent of driving from Sydney to Melbourne - and back again – 30 times.
The tough new P-plate rules, introduced in 2007, have seen a huge increase in falsified logbooks and delayed driving tests, as teenagers struggle to meet the 120 hour driving practice requirement.
As reported in the SMH, research by the driving association NRMA reveals 40 per cent of young drivers have either lied about their hours behind the wheel, are thinking about lying, or know someone who has since licensing requirements changed from 50 to 120 practice hours in 2007.
There is evidence the tough new measures are working though, with preliminary data showing that P-plater road deaths have falled from 67 to 46 over the 18 months since the new regime was introduced.
Kids whose own parents don’t drive face bigger hurdles. They face a staggering $6000 bill for driving lessons if they were to do all their hours through a standard driving school.
The Australian Driver Training Association is calling for a change that would make an hour of professional instruction count as three hours in the logbook. The concept, in place in Queensland, would have a cap of 10 one-hour lessons.
“We want to see a reward for parents who can use the professional driving instructor, particularly early in the process, so that once [the school] gets the driver up to a reasonable level of competence they can feel more confident about taking them out for the necessary practice,” the president of the association, Jeff McDougall, said.
I know in Europe they have a shorter logbook requirement but are required to do a defensive driving course to advance their skills.
So glad I don’t have a teenager right now. AsMrs Laverack said, “I understand the laws are out there, I understand the reason why we’re doing this but far out, it’s just a lot, a lot of hours.”
Why mad at Teen Licence Requirements?
The madness should be directed at the unnecessary killings and injuries on our roads and not at the rules which secure them.
I do understand the dilemma of “spending” time and money on the driver education of our youngsters, but what choice or alternative do we have?
Are we willing to send the youngsters out onto the roads without the needed qualification they need? If this is what we choose, who is then to blame if the young one is killed or paralysed? The parents? The Authorities?
Should it be a reason to quit this practice of 120 hours learning because the learners are falsifying their logbook. If this is a reason what would be the next? Do we lower the education elsewhere, within other education as well, because some “silly bugger” is falsifying documents?
Remember the background of the existing demands.
There are no shortcuts achieving driving knowledge and skills, and there are surveys proving this and one of these are the one the Australian Driver Education is based on.
In one of these it is stated that the needed knowledge and skills are at least 50 driver lessons, with an authorized driving school. This would cost the private learner or parents some considerable amount of cash, and I would presume this is the reason why the Australian Road Authorities has made it possible for the parents to participate.
When he Australian Driver Training Association calls for a change of tripling the value of the authorized driving lesson (instructor) it might be right regarding the facts of efficiency of instructing (contend of 60 minutes), but it bears “no weight” regarding and achieving experience.
As far as Europe is concerned, we can’t compare them to the Australian model and I would argue that the Australian model is one of the best in the world. Why?
Because there is not any country in the world (to my knowledge) who can document a better record of reducing the killing and paralyzing amongst the beginner on the roads.
Do I believe that there could be some improvements?
Absolutely because there are lacking some basic understanding of achieving goals and targets.
As far as the $ 6000 is concerned, look at it as an investment, not only monetary but for the life itself. The life of our children.
Sincerely
Olaf Mong