when i had first got my licence i had a old skool volvo...242gt, 2 doors, lumpy cam, zorst. i had it painted and drove my dads vy ss around for a few days to and from school...but on the 3rd day i put it into a tree and did $15,000 damage to it. i thought i could drive anything. that taught me a big lesson on driving to my ability which i believe young people know nothing about.
attitude is the reason why young people are over-represented in crash statistics (along with limited experience). if there is anything that can improve this statistic then the wa government should look at doing it - increasing the number of hours learner drivers must log is not the answer as they seem to believe - its still supervised driving and how many people are going to act like a knob with their folks in the car??? not many!!
for me, resiticting the power limits of a car is going to go a long way to decreasing the road toll with specific regard to 18-24 yr olds, and it should be coupled to purchasing a car that is a certain number of years old (young) so that they have a greater number of safety features or able to simple protect its occupents better. as has been said, if it takes a car longer to get up to a dangerous speed (over the speed limit or too fast for the conditions) people are not going to be as likely to try and drive it in that manner. i now this may open up the flood gates, but why is it that the government are not able to see this?
someone asked how they would police this sort of plan of action...it works in NSW, however not sure how...but it works, p platers seem not to try and dodge the system for obvious consequences, which need to be harsh in order to deter people from driving a car in which they are not qualified to.
sorry for the long winded post

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[MARZS]
Marcel

Being in the same boat as some of the members on here, I am an 18yr old P Plater who has a wrx. First car was a mazda 323 sh*t box but it still would get up to speed! Advanced driver training would be the best idea even if they were driving sh*t box... Learning how to get out of a spin in the wet would save a lot more lives than banning high powered vehicles imo.

I tend to agree that many inexperienced drivers just wouldnt know what to do if they got into a dangerous situation eg lost traction/control. If driver training on a wet skidpan etc, and training in emergency braking etc was included in learners, I think that fatalities would be reduced.

If only there was a way to get inexperienced drivers to experience crashes without killing themselves or anyone else...

High performance cars are becoming more obtainable these days. Whether it's because they're becoming cheaper or people's parents are buying them cars, the combination of high performance cars with inexperience increases the likelihood of accidents.

Fred
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SuperFun cam

look at nz road statistics. lots of kids die each year due to cheap performance.

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Long live the WRC

Just having a quick read, Most the people that don't support the idea are 'P' plate drivers. The rest have experience and therefore say that they should be made to "learn" to drive first and get experience..

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"Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to there level and beat you with experience."

this is the road i learnt to drive on.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&s...,0.174408&z=13

20 mins of steep windy gravel roads. Last bit of NZ highway system to be sealed. Was also 5 minutes from a road that has sheer cliff on one side and no insurers would insure you on.

this did however teach me attitude and respect. which i dont think can be taught on metro roads.

L drivers today appear to most of their driving to and from school, work or events on the very safe metro roads.

i think it also comes down to driver education. people teach theri kids and/or clients to pass teh driving test, not the skills to drive.


however, will p plate restrictions save lives? yes.

but a 2 minute google says we should be targeting older drivers.

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gah, now ive posted stats....

newer released data

http://www.ors.wa.gov.au/ResearchFac...Australia.aspx

can anybody find population weighted data?

I am absolutely convinced that reducing power to weight for P Plate/ inexperienced drivers is the way to go. You can argue all you want with stats and point to the cases of young drivers who are very competent, but there has to be one rule that fits all. If it's good enough for motorcycles it should also apply to cars.
Advanced driver training is certainly very useful, but it is obvious to me from many years of running and instructing at track days that the number of P plate (or even young drivers) who attend such events is, unfortunately, fairly low. Furthermore, it appears that the support for unstructured events such as cruises is far greater than for driver training type events. I know this is a generalisation, but perception is often close to truth.
To take it a step further, it would be extremely useful to be able to make some sort of "more advanced" driver training mandatory for all people...the current test for getting a drivers licence is sadly lacking in the understanding of driving and vehicle dynamics. I often cringe at some of the
so-called "experienced" drivers we get at MC Motorsport for the V8 drives...and these people are supposed to be "car enthusiasts". Quite a number of these people just can't grasp the absolute basics...eg straight line braking, not driving into corners too fast, being smooth on the steering wheel, etc, etc, etc...it astounds me how some of these people fare on the road..

In, short, there is no simple answer, but power:weight retrictions for inexperienced drivers can only help.

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No Subarus currently owned

I think myself that for once the eastern states have it right. Power to weight restrictions are the way to go rather than a certain size.
Take motorbikes for example. In the east a learner can get on certain 400s without a trouble but then something like an RGV 250 they cant ride, but here they can.

How many RGV's are there left now that are in decent nick? Fuck all. First time I rode one it scared shit out of me as I thought, meh its only a 250. (Note, it was modded as well.)

I have heard the arguement that farmers need their sons to have a license to drive the V8 ute to pull trailers etc. Well you can get more than enough torque from a deisel.