97. Luke Its funny how the people trying to implement the restrictions faced less stringent licensing tests than what we do now. How about you put mandatory defensive driving courses in place for EVERYONE so we become better drivers? Wait, no, scrap that, it would actually cost the government something... Oh and hows this idea - why dont we ban driving all together so the road toll is zero? According to the 'ban P platers and reduce the teen road toll' mentality you have adopted, this is an effective solution. Not only that, if you increased police numbers especially on the roads at night then the road toll would no doubt be significantly reduced - but again, we wouldnt want the government to actually spend money on something worth while now would we?
stop this .....>>>>>>>>>http://www.petitiononline.com/drive/petition.html <<<<<<<<<<<

pass this on to every one....

Once read a hypothesis something like this:
If reducing the speed limit from 50 to 40 reduces the road toll by 20%, then surely reducing it from 50 to 30 reduces it by 40%. If we keep reducing the speed limit to 0 then there will be no deaths on the road. And if we make the speed limit negative, maybe we will start bringing people back to life. This is the logic behind the speed nazis.

I agree that proper driver training is the answer. it works for motorcycle licensing, so why not cars? If you get a motorcycle licence these days it means that you have a reasonable amount of training on what keeps you alive on the road, rather than learning how to do a reverse park (not much evdence of that really) and a U-turn. The training works for me every day i ride to work and home again. The power to weight restrictions also work for motorcyclists. You don't hear many complaints that you have to get a 250cc bike to learn on and ride for the first 2 years. The manufacturers like it too because it gives them a guaranteed market for a particular class of bike. Of course that would be against the interest of Ford and Holden who make all their money from oversized, overpowered rear wheel drives, which are not ideal for the inexperienced or untrained driver.

Curfews are not the answer.

_________________
the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

Yeah I agree. Technically I'm a P plater (well a provisional drivers licence at any rate) and I came within a bees-dick of being run off the road today by a riced-up Lancer - he wasn't a P plater! So why is the prejudice against us? If it wasn't for my driving skills (not trying to sound arrogant btw) I'd have crunched him - all he did was speed off real quick to save face.

NSW now has zero tolerance BAC requirements for P plates and I've heard of curfews etc. If they did that, who would deliver the pizzas??

It's all crap, but in less than a year I get my full licence and get some demerit points back!

Anto.

i think any young driver who has a cam's licence and regularly dose motorsport khana speed event should get brownie points in regards to licence's and every driver should have to be retested every 8 to 10 years
and as a profesional driver i see the stupidity of drivers weather on p's or not and this is young and old alike so there is no use people blaming p platers . also i feel no p plater should be aloud to drive any car over 2 litre no turbo's no performance cars and no rotor's just nice standard shoping trollys
makka

_________________
Anonymous moderation means the agro that is built up towards the mods isn't aimed at an individual (fewer "Makk" attacks). Less stress for mods means less moderator "retirements".

yeah but you can still get into trouble riding a shopping trolley.....

If they are picking on P platers then they are leaving me alone!

And the government can subsidise our motorsport to train the kiddies

_________________
the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

A few weeks ago i got a disqualification notice in the mail because i got pulled over and fined $130 because my rear P plate had fallen down. I'd only driven a few hundred meters and did nothing else to warrant any sort of police attention (as the police themselves agreed).

I appeal on friday so the chances are i'll get to keep my licence, but i'll be on my P's for at least another 6 months and will have to do all my rider safe stuff again to get my bike licence back....this has already cost me about $300 and it'll cost me more in the near future.

Basically the various road safety legislation in almost every state of Australia is a mess, draconian and completely lacking in any common sense. I'm a full time student working untill all hours of the night just to get by and then the Rann Government slaps something as petty and useless as this on me. It is of no benefit to anyone for me to not have a licence and would in many ways have a negative impact on more people that just myself. My parents would have to support me as i wouldn't be able to continue at my current job, my employers would have to train a new staff member, i wouldnt have any money to buy the things i need and hence contribute to the economy as a consumer......the list goes on. I know that we in SA have it easier than a lot of other people, such as those in Vic, where succesive governments from both sides of politics have used the speed kills message to boost their coffers to the tune of something in the region of 500 million dollars anually (and rising!). There is evidence to suggest that speed doesnt kill. A good example is the increase in the South Australian road death toll since the introduction of the lower 50km/h speed limits. When will it end! The quality of the roads, the quality of the driver training, the mentality of our society......not speed or out of controll P plates are the cause of our problems.

Sorry guys, just realised im raving here......my apologies

Better driver training and a national campain to reduce the testosterone level in young men is the answer

Its mildly interesting that this is on a Mini forum.. I mean it isnt the safest car on the road.

What scares me is when i look out my window and am at head height to a bullbar on the pajero "EXCEED" next to me - (Exceed what? this driver is EXCEEDingly stupid?).. if one of them T-bones me (which one will one day because they cant see minis or dirve properly) its my head that gets it. And thats not just minis, thats anything smaller than say, a CR-V.

THis government has got to stop giving 4wd owners a free ride with the Comm vehicle tax system. the fact you can buy most 4wds up to 25% cheaper than the equivalent road car is just asking for trouble. Now i hear Ford and Holden will drop wagon versions of Falc and Commo in favour of jacked up shizboxes, Territory and Adventra. Meanwhile Toyota probably sell more Cruisers than Camrys and Avalons put together.


I dont believe you can really whinge too much about 0 BAC, some girls are cadburys - remember girls drive too.. and i wouldnt wanna see an 18y/o tipsy off her vodka cruiser go and drive. I wouldnt really mind if 0 BAC was introduced all over - only prob is if you're not concentrating usually, then having 0 BAC wont help. I think part of the problem is our general automotive/societal culture... take it easy mate, she'll be right - but driving is a skilled activity requiring concentration and some degree of seriousness everytime you get behind the wheel. change that and maybe we'll see something change.

Curfews are rubbish by the way, fight it hard NSW boys..

_________________

dude they have to keep 4wds cheaper so that farmers and country folk can afford them and continue to provide us with exports to keep the current account defecit in check (not that a defecit is always a bad thing)

dont get me wrong....i hate the bloody things! (my step-dad's old rangie is the worst of them all )

yeah the curfew idea is a joke....like i said before,.....driver training, more moeny raised from speed camers/road violations back into the system rather than being used to prop up other sectors, that sorta thing, everyone knows it will work a lot better than the current system, just no-one's standing up to it yet.....

thommo: I understand the need for it - but perhaps it should work on a rebate system rather than the purchase price gets lowered. I.e you have to be a farmer/producer/commercial dude to get the rebate... i mean it wouldnt be hard - you'd just need an ABN or something.

re putting the money back in - i was in sydney during the weekend - your roads are shocking! If they need something to spend the money on it needs to go on those concrete roads in the inner west and south. Narrow, bumpy, potholed and parked cars everywhere.

_________________

good point on the rebate, but surely the manufacturers are in the ears of all the pollies (you know....dodgy donations and all )

if you wanna see some bad roads come to adelaide....there's this one road i take into uni every day that has had repairs going on for a while.....the problems is the repairs seem to have been abandoned...massive potholes about 40cm deep all down the road and just filled with sand...cos yeah that works really well hey?!?!

i own a 4wd and well i drive to road condition's and yes the tarrif's are wrong and a gutterhopping latte drinking inercity living ceaser salad eating perria drinking soccermum's should be driveing freaking falcadore wagons and crap like that ...........
the tarrif should be given to primary producers and company's that really need em not just some gm who wants the latest lexas or cyanne
makka

_________________
Anonymous moderation means the agro that is built up towards the mods isn't aimed at an individual (fewer "Makk" attacks). Less stress for mods means less moderator "retirements".