There seems to be an awfully big focus on P-Platers (Provisional Driver) and potential flaws in their driving lately, especially after the crashes on Australian roads recently (4 people under the age of 18 have died in motor accidents) . But is this just a blimp in an otherwise downhill spiral of Road deaths for the young? I thought that with all the various P-Plater regulation, deaths would be going down.
And I was correct. I had a bit of a check through the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s Website (www.atsb.gov.au). This is the government agency that is responsible for tracking deaths that occur through all transportation methods (including Road Deaths)
It actually found that there has been 2% decrease in deaths of drivers 17-25 over the last 5 years. This is not a bad trend. Especially considering the number of cars on the road have increased 10.8 percent in this time. In fact the largest percentage of driver deaths last year was in the age groups of 26-39. But there doesn’t appear to be any focus on those guys in the news.
What is worse, Motor cyclist deaths have actually increased by 18% between 2004 and 2005, but there has been no mention of this at all in the news. This is huge when you consider that Motor Cyclist numbers have only increase 4.7% during this time. Why isn’t there a summit about Motor Cycles? Surely they deserve some attention.
Let’s not mince words. The deaths of P-Platers are a tragedy, but so is any death on the road. All road users need to understand that driving is a dangerous activity and not something to take lightly. While there are people on the roads, there will be deaths and it’s something that we have to acknowledge. To try and educate the road users is not the answer, and is probably a waste of money. There is just no substitute for driving experience. All long-term drivers have made mistakes in the past, and they learn from it and become better drivers. It is just an unfortunate fact of life that some don’t get the chance to learn.
More money should be spent on making roads safe. I don't believe driver competence is the issue here.
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2 comments:
Young drivers will always kill themselves on the road. It's the sense of speed and adrenaline that will always compel a young driver to drive like an "idiot".
It was only dumb luck that allowed myself and my mates to get through the young driving years without killing ourselves or other people on the roads.
I believe if we are really serious about saving young lives on the road, we should let young drivers loose on a race track before giving them their licence. We must pay for them to "get it out of their system" in a controlled, safe environment. Allow them to do burnouts, fishtail, accelerate as quick as possible, go fast down the straight and round corners, only then will they be able to feel the adrenaline without placing themselves or others at risk.
It is true that more money should be spent on making roads safe, but money should also be available for the young drivers so they can be idiots without killing themselves or other people.
Another comment about this is that as P Plater drivers have to keep on their P's for 3 years instead of just one, the number of P-Platers on the roads has increased. This could account for the increase statistically. A better measure of P-Plate driver deaths would be P-Plate deaths as a percentage of P-Plate drivers. TI will try to obtain these figures and report back
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