Page 2673 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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A report titled Has road ready made a difference? by Steer Davies Gleave from South Australia is an independent evaluation of the ACT novice drivers safety program. The report shows that there has been a steady reduction in the number of infringements by provisional drivers licence holders since the implementation of the program in 2000.
Between August 1998 and July 1999, prior to the implementation of the road ready course, 5,375 provisional drivers licences were issued in the ACT. During that time, 5,735 infringement notices were issued to provisional drivers. That is the equivalent of 1.07 notices per licence. Between August 2002 and July 2003, 5,905 provisional licences were issued. In the same period, 1,728 infringement notices were issued to provisional licence holders. That is a 75 per cent reduction since the implementation of the road ready course. These figures speak for themselves.
I will admit that reckless driving does happen. There are reckless drivers out there. But the point I wish to make is that they are not only P-plate drivers. There are other drivers on the road. In fact, provisional drivers in the ACT make up approximately 15 per cent of all drivers. When Mr Pratt critiques so heavily provisional licence holders, is he implying that older drivers are okay, that older drivers do not drive recklessly and that they do not break the law?
Mr Pratt paints the picture that provisional drivers licence holders in the ACT are the only people on the roads that cause problems. Perhaps Mr Pratt should listen to his colleague Mrs Dunne, who in a press statement was quite clear in her position that we should not be taking a punitive mentality towards young drivers.
What about young drivers with children? What about drivers that work the late shift at the supermarket or the fast food outlet? Are you saying that they cannot drive after dark because you think they are reckless, Mr Pratt? Do you want the ACT government to tell them that, even though they have proved that they can drive a car at a competent and safe level, even though they have gone through a competence based driver training program and achieved the glorious feat of obtaining a provisional licence, the rest of society does not think they are fit to drive on the roads with the rest of us? Mr Pratt would like the ACT government to penalise young drivers even before they have a chance.
The ACT has a sensible approach to driver education. The territory has moved forward to competency based training. As mentioned before, the road ready course, which has been running for seven years, has been yielding good results. The ACT government’s road ready plus course—more commonly called the P-off course—is also a positive step in furthering driver education for our provisional drivers.
I would like to refer back to the report of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. I quoted figures earlier showing the vast percentage of reduction in road deaths by younger drivers. From the same report, I inform the Assembly that during the period of August 2005 and July 2006 and August 2006 and July 2007, the same period mentioned before, there was a decrease of 0.5 per cent in road deaths of 26 to
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