Plan proposes tougher road to licence

HAVE your say on the laws imposed on young drivers and help save a life.
That’s the message from Cranbourne MP Jude Perera, who has called for community feedback on the proposals outlined in the Young Driver Safety and Graduated Licensing Discussion Paper.
Launched in August, the paper details a range of measures designed to improve safety for young people starting out on the roads.
“Each year 120 people are killed and 2300 seriously injured in crashes involving 1825 year old drivers,” Mr Perera said.
“The cost to the community is more than $1 billion every year.
“This is clearly unacceptable and we need to act now to redress the overrepresentation of young people in road crashes.”
Mr Perera said the discussion paper was currently available for public comment and urged local residents to read the proposals and make a submission.
He said information sessions were being held across the state to enable the community to hear about the proposals and ask questions.
“We want the entire community to take an interest in the issue of young driver safety and hope that not only young people themselves but also parents and carers will read the discussion paper and make a submission,” he said.
Proposed measures in the Young Driver Safety Discussion Paper include:
– Extending the minimum Learner period from 6 months to 12 months.
– Requiring learners to complete a minimum of 120 hours supervised driving practice.
– Introducing a new and more restricted oneyear P1 licence.
– Introducing a threeyear P2 licence.
– Requiring young drivers to have a good driving record in order to progress through licensing stages from P1 to P2 to full licence.
– Banning mobile phone use of any kind for all Learner and P1 drivers.
– Mandatory alcohol ignition locks for drink driving offenders with a BAC of 0.05 or more who are on their P1 licence, P2 licence or are under 25.
Copies of the Young Driver Safety and Graduated Licensing Discussion Paper are available from VicRoads customer service centres or by phoning 13 11 71.
They can also be downloaded from www.arrivealive.vic.gov.au or www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au.
The former site also lists details of the information sessions.
Feedback can be emailed to youngdriversafetyroads.vic.gov.au by 11 November.
Written submissions should be sent to Discussion Paper – Young Driver Safety, VicRoads, Reply Paid 61943, Kew, Victoria, 3101.