I reckon I could kill myself in a Hyundai Getz just as easily as I could in my WRX. Just might take me a little longer to get to the 'dangerous speeds' but I'll get there, don't you worry! Something needs to be done, this is not the right way to go about it. Invest in bettering the roads, driver training and harsher punishments for those morons who do break the rules time and time again

Its a game as is - any new laws will just increase the 'game factor' and degrease the sense of reality for thoses involved - the laws are so strict at the moment, that when i p plater loses 3 points in a speed trap (ie canning hwy on ramp doing say 70 just before the 100 sign) and loses their licence for 12 months. Are they just going to park up their $$,$$$ Car, quit uni, quit job, lose mates and spiral into depression?
No they are more than likely just going to keep on like normal. and if they see red and blue lights in their mirror - the game just continues
and it will continue
and it will kill off more people, inoccent people, before the government relises what they are doing.

and for those that do park up their car and are forced to quit jobs/uni etc because distances in this sprawled out state are too large to walk and their is fuck all puplic transport - they will more than likely be going downhill, and could be be another statistic in the already over represented under 25 suicide bracket...

Or when they do hop in their car after a period of not driving, they dont really value it, and get done again or kill someone else
I know/known people in all the above situations. The world is changing and goverments /departments are approching it thinking like they would've twenty years Ago and are too caught up in rasing funds to see the costs.

[QUOTE=Patch;671192]I can't believe that they have hard evidence stating that it's really not necessary to target high powered vehicles, and yet they're still carrying on as if it accounts for 99% of road deaths. If people are going to be dickheads on the road, they'll do it in anything. This sort of stuff just wrecks it for the majority who play it safe.

The passenger restriction laws they're juggling with too are a joke... all it's going to do is increase the number of people illegally driving, or it's going to result in mobs of people roaming the streets causing trouble. Taxis and public transport aren't an option for most like the government seem to think they are.[/QUOTE]

Very true... both points.
:)

Some very good points made in this thread already.
My 2c.
Should 'P' Platers have a power to weight restriction? Yes
Should the restriction exist until someone is 25? No

Why not have another class of driver’s license?
Motorbikes already have it, why not for cars?

When you get your P's you are restricted to a kilowatt limit + all the other conditions. After you are off your P's, apply for a license upgrade to drive more powerful and/or larger vehicles if you wish. If not, keep driving your Hyundai Getz around.

The new license class should not just apply to high powered cars, include 4WD's as well.
When the application for a license upgrade is received, driving history should be taken into account. Got too many traffic infringements or had at fault accidents? Wait another prescribed time period before re-applying to upgrade. Keep driving at your current class, pick up more experience and hopefully better driving habits.
The test should be both written and practical and not an easy pass.

Cross link it to the vehicle rego system and if you don't have the right type of license class, you can't register the vehicle in your name.
At least it may filter out a few people who shouldn't drive those types of vehicles or provide better understanding of what is required. After all, everyone can site many examples of people who shouldn't drive at all.


There are just so many gaps with the current license system, mostly down to education.
I doubt many people are taught or informed what ABS does and what its limitations are, what all the acronyms for systems in modern cars mean, that air bags are not fluffy pillows (actually equivalent to a shot gun blast), that larger vehicles/4WD's are heavier, handle differently and reduce the vision of other drivers at intersections or even how to tow a trailer.

Sure, some people will cry foul and say well limiting the KW's is crap as we only have one family car and Mum/Dad owns a WRX/Landcruiser/Porsche GT3.
If the family vehicle was a 6T truck with a road ranger gearbox, would the argument be the same?

No system is fool proof.

Is it likely that the Govt is going to really apply the nouse required to sort it out or make significant improvements? Doubtful.

As with every policy it will get watered down as it goes through all the red tape until it becomes irrelevant.

Reading through the comments is funny, how many of those holier-than-thou keyboard warriors still have a clean record? I'm 25, drive a performance vehicle and have a completely clean record, never been pulled over etc etc. Go figure.

[QUOTE]IF 18 is old enough to go to war then it's old enough to drive a V8 car. Premier Colin Barnett told PerthNow readers today during a live Q and A[/QUOTE]

This

You can kill yourself in anything.

[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/290_24493251943_506066943_1051895_4739_n.jpg[/IMG]

Hyundai Getz on the road to Canberra.

Its about the attitudes, not the car you are in.

weak tj, you still got atleast 1900 rpm to keep going till it hits limiter in 5th...

That was flat for 3 minutes... didnt have much left to give.

This experiance stuff is crap.
Why cant i argue it in the other directon.
Iv been driving since before i turned 4 years old
could drive the s-line (6x4 rigid) when i was 5 (bottom half of the road ranger)
Could fully operate it, reverse b-double into shed and unload 60t of urea in the shed, And have driven 100+ different cars/trucks/tractors/bikes of all different sizes and configurations, from $500 to $3.6million, 50cc to 36,000cc, 28kg to 100t by 6 years old. Used to drive to town (2hours) from then on. Even used to and still take a truck full of wheat to CBH and unload it - even tho im still technacilly 7+ years away from leagally being able to do that. Also used to love testing things - push things off their speedo's and to their limits, play with them, upgrade them, fix them do 24h shifts in them. Huge mix of driving on different road conditions in weather from snow and ice to mud, through floods and fire, from townsvile to geraldton and everywhere inbetween.
Do i get a special class? Any acknolagement?
Nope dosent mean jack shit, might as well have just been playing grandtheft auto.
I'm still put in the class with people who have never sat in the drivers seat!!!

[QUOTE=squid;671321]This experiance stuff is crap.
Why cant i argue it in the other directon.
Iv been driving since before i turned 4 years old
could drive the s-line (6x4 rigid) when i was 5 (bottom half of the road ranger)
Could fully operate it, reverse b-double into shed and unload 60t of urea in the shed, And have driven 100+ different cars/trucks/tractors/bikes of all different sizes and configurations, from $500 to $3.6million, 50cc to 36,000cc, 28kg to 100t by 6 years old. Used to drive to town (2hours) from then on. Even used to and still take a truck full of wheat to CBH and unload it - even tho im still technacilly 7+ years away from leagally being able to do that. Also used to love testing things - push things off their speedo's and to their limits, play with them, upgrade them, fix them do 24h shifts in them. Huge mix of driving on different road conditions in weather from snow and ice to mud, through floods and fire, from townsvile to geraldton and everywhere inbetween.
Do i get a special class? Any acknolagement?
Nope dosent mean jack shit, might as well have just been playing grandtheft auto.
I'm still put in the class with people who have never sat in the drivers seat!!![/QUOTE]

If everyone had this amount of experience, roads probably wouldn't be nearly as dangerous and rules wouldn't be as tough. Probably many on here that were driving (and in some cases competing in Motorsport) well before they were legally old enough to drive and still had to go onto P plates and abide by the restrictions put in place at the time.

Unfortunately most laws are a "one size fits all" and they have to account for the lowest common denominator.