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NSW ~ Night Time Curfew for Young Drivers ~ Your thoughts?

katmeow

katmeow

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Sydney Morning Herald ~ 7/8/04

Link

Night-time curfew plan for teen drivers
August 7, 2004 - 4:46PM

The State Government will consider night curfews for teen drivers in a move welcomed by the NRMA, parents and safety experts.

And while teenage drivers would be disappointed about the prospect of a curfew, it may well save their life, NSW Roads Minister Carl Scully said today.

"When you see the number of kids being hurt in the evenings, particularly on weekends, mums and dads have great cause to be concerned," Mr Scully said.

People aged 16 to 20 represent seven per cent of all drivers but account for 18 per cent of all fatalities, with this number increasing to 25 per cent between 10pm and 2pm.

In an attempt to curb the number of young people killed or injured on NSW roads, the RTA will consider the feasibility of night curfews, passenger limits on drivers aged under 21 and restricting access to high-powered cars.

While the NRMA commended the move, it has some reservations about imposing blanket bans on young drivers and has warned the State Government not to rush the process.

"We want to make sure that it isn't something that is rushed through, that young people and their families have an opportunity to take part in the debate," NRMA road safety specialist Anne Morphett said.

She said the education and employment needs of people had to be taken into account, as well as the transport requirements of teens in regional areas.

The proposed changes were likely to contain some concessions, Mr Scully said.

"A novice being supervised by an experienced driver might be allowed to carry passengers," he said.

"Or in the case of a curfew, it could be waived if the driver was accompanied by a parent or driving to and from work."

Lynne Corrigan, the mother of teenagers Lucy, 19, and Mitchell, 17, said she supported the proposed changes.

"It will give parents more control over their teens at an age when most teens are bucking against doing what their parents say," she said.

"It's only human to worry about your kids when they get behind the wheel of a car and if this makes them safer then I think it's a good idea."

Mr Scully and the RTA will release a discussion paper for community consultation on the changes in September.
Click to expand...


I just don't know how it would be feasible to police this - do they start pulling over every p-plater who is out after 10pm? I know a number of people who are over 21 and still on their Ps. They are talking about exemption notices for people who need to drive to work etc, but again how is the exemption notice viewed unless the driver is pulled over.

In honesty, I just can't see this system working. It seems like punishment/inconvenience for many, over the reckless behaviour of a few.

Thoughts?
 
I thought it was only relevant for P platers in the first 6 months [that's what the news report that I saw was]. But that would prove a logistical nightmare if you ask me.

I'm 22 and a P plater. Yeah it's pathetic but I got my P's late and then renewed my P's rather than doing the hazard perception test and moving forward on the driving licence travelator. If this goes through I will obviously be seriously regretting my laziness.

I think it's a ridiculous idea. As if the police need another pointless law they must enforce which will ultimately waste everyone's time and just further inconvenience people who, chances are, haven't done anything wrong.

Young people are always going to die in car crashes and I really don't think all these stupid little laws are going to change that. The kind of kids who go out and drive 160km down roads at 3am aren't the kind of kids who go 'Whoopsies! It's past 10pm! We better not take the car out.'

edit: Just realised the laws would only be relevant for people under 21. Now I know it won't affect me I think it's a GREAT idea! Kidding.
 
you're 18 now.. we deem you old enough to vote, drink alcohol, fight in battle for your country but not to drive after 10pm.

Absolutely tremendous work there.

'Taking Responsibility for your own actions' is a phrase that comes to mind....
 
simple solution if they are worried about young drivers..

dont do the curfew..


simply limit how powerful a car they can drive.

will solve a lot of the problems...
 
i think it's a ridiculous solution to prevent car accidents... things like this make me so angry.

i don't understand how they could think putting a curfew on 20 year olds is going to help parents have more control over them. haven't most 20 year olds moved out and have a life of their own?
and isn't the age of rebeling against your parents between 14 - 16?

You think the government would have grown some brains by now..
 
muzby said:
simple solution if they are worried about young drivers..

dont do the curfew..


simply limit how powerful a car they can drive.

will solve a lot of the problems...
Click to expand...

I see your point Muzby, but how would you determine what is a powerful car??

My best mate has a Suzuki swift......sounds fairly innocuous doesnt it. Well yes it has a 1.3 litre motor but as its a GTI and we imported a motor with some mods done to it plus a few other bits and peices such as extractors and the like and u have about 120 kws in a car that is as light as a feather.

Its quite capable of keeping up and even beating most WRXs.

What Im more interested in is why are they crashing??

Is it cos they are alcohol fuelled???

Drugs???

Its all very well to say 25% of deaths during those hours are teenagers but WHY??

Do teenagers have eyesight probs at night???

Could it be that they actually represent 25% of the number of people on the roads at that time of night???

Personally I would like to see a much greater ammount of training given to new drivers including advanced driving skills.

I cant believe how some people get licences.........saw a woman the other day who was absolutely petrified to go through roundabouts...........where the hell did she get her licence???
 
^ Rural areas. Seriously, for my driving test I didn't have to go through a roundabout and only had to go through one set of traffic lights.
 
Way too many problems to be feasible, i think up all night commented on the points i would've brought up. The people crashing at this time of nite is usually because of reckless driving and risk taking... the government are foolish if they think that a curfew is going to stop these people going out after 10. They know theyre taking risks by going at high speeds and i think that's part of the attraction, a curfew would just mean that you take off your p plates.

And what about the implications for designated drivers? How can u be responsible and drive your drunk friends home? Maybe we should all just sit home and play monopoly with our parents, at least then we wouldn't get injured....

MazDan made a good point aswell, WHY are the people crashing at this time? Maybe they should answer this instead of thinking "Well, statistics say alot of kids crash during this time, hey, lets ban them all from driving so they don't crash."

Limiting the power to weight ratio of the cars young people drive would be a more effective way of trying to curb the problem. Basically, government... DO SOME MORE RESEARCH and come up with an effective plan. A curfew will NOT work.

Adikkal
 
muzby said:
simple solution if they are worried about young drivers..

dont do the curfew..


simply limit how powerful a car they can drive.

will solve a lot of the problems...
Click to expand...

Not quite that simple. You can still push your 4 cylinder trolly into a poll just as easy or some would argue easier then a sports car that's actually designed to speed and take corners at such speeds. I'd definatley feel safer speeding in my mates skyline then my other mates '88 tx3 shitbox.
 
All my friends are trashed by 10pm, so its probably a good idea that they don't go out driving.

I support the muzby initiative for power restrictions .. NO 20 year old needs a skyline or v8 commodore.

While fundamentally unsound, this suggested curfew doesnt really bother me that much.
 
i work night shifts, so this is practically impossible
we all aren't 9 to 5'ers
 
I pick up on the scent of money here. They're fishing for more money out of young drivers. They'll probably slap a fee on people on their P's who are under 21 just for the fuck of it.

I don't agree with the whole "powerful vehicles" either. It doesn't matter what kind of car you've got, people who speed will do it in any car.

I got no probs with P platers, we were all there at one stage and you just have to be extra careful when you're around them because they're driving skills are slowly advancing. Now, middle aged people who drive old model volvos should be banned off the roads.
 
im a thumbs down too.

pretty much what up all night said... the people that go out driving at ridiculous speeds aren't the ones that will be abiding by those curfew laws anyway...

i just cant see it working.
 
that is fuckin stupid, i follow the road rules, and drive responsibly - i work with bands and go out to shows every week mainly using my car - this will only encourage me not to put my p plates on.

how do you determine a car powerfull or not ?

no way this will happen, its just wrong.

what if you work somewhere till late (a bar, a club, late nite coles) and need to get home after work... maybe you can catch teh busses that arnt running, or the trains that dont exist - hey maybe you can walk the streets and hitch-hike off someone who isn't on their p's.
 
edw1n - I agree with what you are saying about the public transport. If we had a PT system we could count on, at least it would give a viable second option for travel.

I rather see more money going toward things like defensive driving courses and better driver training. Tackle some of the cause of accidents. In my opinion, you stop young people driving at night, you are just sending them out on the roads 3 years later with no experience driving at night.
 
I think the most effective means of lowering the rate of new driver crashes (note I said "new driver" and not simply "young driver") is to actually make a drivers licence hard to get. I know people who have gone and done 6 half hour lessons and then passed their test. There's absolutely no way they're experienced enough to drive.

Drivers should have to do at least 10 mandatory hour long lessons with qualified instructors. As this will be expensive, the government (if it's serious) should either subsidise the cost, or provide tax benefits for driving lessons (ie: make them tax deductable, or even better make them a tax offset). Learner drivers should also have to ideally have 100 hours of driving experience, although this isn't easy to prove and I'm not sure how to make it compulsory.

Driving isn't a right, and people shouldn't be allowed to do it unless they're qualified. And not everyone should be allowed to drive - some people just don't have the skills required, and all the training in the world won't change that. It's sort of like if you want to be a fighter pilot - you go in and do a couple of aptitude tests, and then most of the time they tell you to piss off. If that also happened with drivers (obviously not at the same rate though) then the roads would be far safer.

Maybe that's too harsh, but the plain and simple fact is that if people had to really work to earn a licence then it would solve a lot of the problems.
 
^Good point. A lot of people these days feel that driving is a right... and it definately shouldn't be.
 
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