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- 20 June 2007
Driver Safety
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Mr ALAN ASHTON (East Hills) [6.03 p.m.]: We are all aware of the terrible loss of life and increase in injuries on our roads affecting young drivers, particularly male drivers, and those on P-plates. We are aware that this disproportionate increase in death and injury may have a variety of causes. To name a few, and this is not an exclusive list, they include faster cars, inexperienced drivers, particularly on expressways and country roads, people using industrial streets inappropriately as speedways, drink driving and driving under the influence of legal and illegal drugs or medicines.
The most obvious cause of the increase in accidents occasioning death and injury is age—or lack of it. For younger people a lack of age usually means a lack of experience, especially experience in many different aspects of driving on the roads. Young people on P-plates, or young inexperienced drivers, are at far greater risk than most other road users. For example, the Daily Telegraph ran a campaign about measures that can be taken in relation to P-plate drivers. I note that the Government will increase the number of required driving hours before young people can go for their P-plates. I support that initiative.
I congratulate two organisations in my electorate that are trying to make a real difference. One is Padstow Rotary Club, which I spoke about a couple of weeks ago in this Chamber. That club has put together a program called the Rotary Youth Driver Awareness Program [RYDA], which takes place at Penrith. This road safety program is designed to reduce the trauma on our roads by encouraging students to take a more responsible attitude to driving. The one-day program is held at Penrith International Regatta Centre and covers topics such as safe celebrating and fatigue. From my experience and the experience of friends, young people tend to go out later than we might have done years ago. They tend to party and then go to an after-party party. They appoint a designated driver and that person will not drink. However, that puts pressure on that person. One or two drinks may be consumed and that presents the problem of how people will get home. The program deals with such circumstances. It deals with other more obvious problems which even older and more experienced drivers could find helpful, including stopping distances, especially in the wet, which we have all experienced in the last week or two. The program deals with the effects of drugs and alcohol on driving ability and hazard perception. Personal stories about trauma and their reaction to it are also told.
Revesby Workers Club, in concert with Padstow Rotary Club, is to be congratulated on its partnership in this program. Both organisations recognise the importance of dealing with the perception among young people about their invincibility on the road. Many members would relate to that. The program is now part of the school-based road safety curriculum in New South Wales. Padstow Rotary Club and Revesby Workers Club are also keen to have other district rotary and registered clubs cooperate in introducing this program into their areas. Revesby Workers Club has contributed $10,000 to this project, and half of that amount has already been spent this year.
Pat Rogan, my predecessor, is the liaison officer for the project at the Revesby Workers Club. I congratulate him and Kerrie Sweet, the youth director from Padstow Rotary Club, on this initiative and the support they have given it. Recently Rotary activist Kevin Boufler advised me that in the last few weeks he has been at Penrith volunteering his time at the Rotary Youth Driver Awareness Program and that 140 students from De La Salle College at Revesby Heights and 145 students from Mount St Joseph at Milperra had also attended. In the next few weeks students from East Hills Girls Technology High School are due to undertake the course. I congratulate those schools and encourage more schools to become involved. I congratulate and thank President Keith Roffey and other members of Padstow Rotary Club. I place on record also my appreciation of BOC, the gas and related products company, the largest company sponsoring the Rotary Youth Driver Awareness Program nationally.
Mr MICHAEL DALEY (Maroubra—Parliamentary Secretary) [6.08 p.m.]: I thank the member for East Hills for his private member's statement. As a former schoolteacher he has an abiding interest in young people, and some of the issues he raised were entirely pertinent. I should place on the record some of the efforts of the Government, and particularly the Minister for Roads, to protect young people on the roads. Last year the New South Wales road toll was at a record low since World War II, but sadly, defying that trend, fatalities involving P-plate drivers increased by almost 30 per cent. In response to this tragic increase, the New South Wales Government convened an expert advisory panel that included the Roads and Traffic Authority, the police, the Motor Accidents Authority, the Staysafe committee of this Parliament, the Commission for Children and Young People, the NRMA and members of the community.
The Government is introducing several measures involving P-plate drivers, including peer passenger restrictions, which restrict red P-plate drivers from carrying passengers between 11.00 p.m. and 5.00 a.m. Of course, there will be sensible exemptions to allow people to get to work and to perform voluntary services such as with the Rural Fire Service, exemptions also for P-plate drivers aged 25 years and over and, of course, in emergencies. Importantly, mobile phone use will be banned for all learners and P1 drivers—in response to a government-funded study which found there is a 400 per cent increased risk of a crash for young drivers when using a mobile phone, regardless of whether it is hands-free. There will also be a zero tolerance approach to speeding. P1 drivers caught speeding will lose their licences for at least three months. Changes to the rules for learner drivers will also mean they have to have 120 hours of supervised driving. The Government is spending about $2.8 million each and every year on road safety, and I hope this will help to keep our young people safe. Once again I thank the member for his private member's statement.
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