View Full Version : My answer to: 'The Real Reason Why So Many Young Drivers Die’
Gary Shadforth
4 Nov 2006, 20:44
There is a thread running on the ‘Society, Religion and Politics’ board titled ‘The Real Reason Why So Many Young Drivers Die’.
I posted:
While kids (and older ones who should be beyond adolescence) are inspired by their heroes at hoon-fests, such as the Gold Coast Indi, Bathurst and many other huge fuel wasting venues, road-offenders’ and innocent victims’ blood will continue to spill onto the nation’s roads.
On the Gold Coast, when the annual hoon-fest interferes with and upsets normal citizenry, it is best for one to keep the car locked in the garage. It is advised to stay in the safety of home (although hoons have been known to crash through walls, not even take a cab either as there is every possibility that an inspired d i ckhead is just as liable to take it out as well.
Until big money goes into driver education, rather than hoon inspiring events, no one is safe out there on roads, footpaths and crashed through lounges or bedrooms.
Your thoughts?
philhawk
4 Nov 2006, 20:51
While kids (and older ones who should be beyond adolescence) are inspired by their heroes at hoon-fests, such as the Gold Coast Indi, Bathurst and many other huge fuel wasting venues, road-offenders’ and innocent victims’ blood will continue to spill onto the nation’s roads.
On the Gold Coast, when the annual hoon-fest interferes with and upsets normal citizenry, it is best for one to keep the car locked in the garage. It is advised to stay in the safety of home (although hoons have been known to crash through walls, not even take a cab either as there is every possibility that an inspired d i ckhead is just as liable to take it out as well.
Until big money goes into driver education, rather than hoon inspiring events, no one is safe out there on roads, footpaths and crashed through lounges or bedrooms.
Your thoughts?
Interesting comments, Gary. Being a young driver myself, i'd actually say in my opinion the problem does lie in education, but rather the way young drivers in Australia aren't made to continually hone their driving skills whilst in schools.
Whilst I know of a couple of schools in Sydney who teach 'driving ed', I think it should be a mandatory study in most schools (as other human awareness subjects like Sex Ed are :o).
I'd actually go so far to say that the L Plate for young drivers should be lowered to 14, with those drivers only allowed to drive on low-traffic roads at the age of 16. The earlier that kids are taught how to drive, just like anything else in life, it'll soon become more of a second nature to them and we'll see less accidents on the road IMO.
Hawk Dork
4 Nov 2006, 21:09
Not enough Monorails
hyperswivel
4 Nov 2006, 21:09
My first car was a Honda Accord. Sensible I think.
What I see a lot of is kids going to driving lessons and getting around in a little Corrolla or similar, then getting their license and their parents buying them the cheapest Commodore of Falcon they can. Usually from the 80s when safety features weren't so commonplace.
This step from a smooth handling, responsive, lesser-powered vehicle, to a big, metal brick is a big shift in requirements as far as driving skills are concerned.
It'd be interesting to see the stats of what kind of cars kids are stacking.
Gold Coast is pretty bad - especially around Schoolies and the Indy where anything goes on the streets, but nothing compares to the Territory - their roads are physico
Not enough Monorails
They installed them in Brockway, Odgenville and North Havenbrooke and it put them on the map
KingRich
8 Nov 2006, 13:19
Generally I would say that accidents involving young drivers are due to inexperience. A half trained monkey can pass their driving test and get their license. There needs to be stricter controls over the hours of driving that an L Plater does as well as a clamp down of powerful cars driven by P Platers. These measures are half in place now but need to be tightened up and enforced.
Skippy_14
11 Nov 2006, 15:47
I think the driving age should be moved up form 16 to 18. 2 years makes a lot of difference in peoples' alertness and vision- driving instructors will confirm this. I waited until I was 18 to go for the theory test and now I'm driving, I feel a lot more confident than I would have done had I gone for it as soon as I turned 16.
hyperswivel
13 Nov 2006, 03:28
I disagree. I think 16 is an appropriate time to be heading out with an instructor.
Does anyone else think that we have a strange culture of handing over the right to drive and the right to drink on the same day a little odd?
I think the Europeans have it right in this respect. Younger legal drinking age and a culture of responsible drinking means young people learn about and respect the dangers of drinking.
ralphwiggum
13 Nov 2006, 17:13
They installed them in Brockway, Odgenville and North Havenbrooke and it put them on the map
The ring came off my pudding can :(
Hawkers
14 Nov 2006, 11:40
The ring came off my pudding can :(
How's your Wookie holding up? Still bent?
The current levels of education are adequate. Licenses are too cheap. If there were a mandatory cost of procuring a license of say $10,000.00, people may treat it with more respect.
If it were a sport killing all of these people each year and not driving, there would be an outcry and the sport would be immediately banned.
deano the hawka
20 Nov 2006, 15:27
Or maybe these drivers drink ;)
#7#Matt#7#
23 Nov 2006, 19:54
I'm pretty passionate about defending the youths on this topic as i believe they are again being used as a scapgoat. Now I'm 21 (a youth suprise suprise), so you may say I am bias, but I have looked at some stats for the past year in melbourne (im not sure about the rest of the country) and it shows that from the age group of 18-20, 21-25, 26-29 account for less deaths on our roads then in any age group above them. I will deffinately agree with you that there are SOME hoons out there and i really do question how they get there licences, but i also believe that, apart from these few hoons, young drivers are the best on the road. We may not have the amount of experiance that some older drivers have but we have a far better understanding of the road rules and laws. Now I am sure Im going to get torn to shreds for saying what I have said but the stats speak for themselves. BTW the link to where i got the stats from is http://www.tacsafety.com.au/jsp/statistics/roadtollcurrent.do?tierID=100