Page 2675 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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consequence of those things, have been increasing in the last five or so years. You cannot ignore that. We have had the selection of an element of statistics to try and prove that there are no problems. To ignore telling this Assembly what steps and measures the government has put in place to make our roads even safer, particularly for P-plate drivers, is an absolute abrogation of your responsibility. You are ignoring issues which are of deep concern to ACT residents.
If young adult, fully licensed drivers are behaving recklessly, as the anecdotal evidence proves, it begs the question as to whether our driver training and P-plate driving are adequately preparing learner drivers to learn and to accept their responsibilities when they are licensed. The P-plate debate is clearly a sensitive debate and it warrants further deep analysis. Contrary to what Mr Gentleman said here this morning, in quoting me, the opposition has not put out a P-plate driver policy stating that young P-plate drivers cannot drive to work at night because they are P-plate drivers. We have never put that out as a policy. We have asked the government whether it has noticed that other jurisdictions are analysing those possible policy or regulation changes and, if it has, what it thinks of that.
That is what we have always said. We have said: “Have you noticed that the New South Wales and Victorian governments are concerned about the rising rate of accidents, particularly fatal and serious accidents, among youth?” I am referring not only to P-plate drivers but to young adult drivers who have just got off their P plates. We have said: “Have you noticed that other jurisdictions have taken measures and what do you think about those measures? Some of those measures may warrant looking at. Some of those measures may be meritorious. Do you agree with that and what do you think about that? If you don’t think those measures are meritorious, what measures might you put in place to make our roads safer for P-plate drivers and younger drivers?”
The opposition are deeply concerned. We are analysing the issue, and our analysis will involve consultation with P-plate drivers and peak bodies. It is consultation that this government has consistently failed to undertake on a regular basis. Mr Gentleman made the statement that I have said that P-plate drivers are the only drivers who cause accidents in the ACT. What a load of bunkum! We have expressed concern about P-plate drivers because we care that our young people are not properly prepared to drive and to take responsibility to care for their passengers. We care about that, so we have raised the issue. You misinterpret that as the opposition picking on P-plate drivers. You are misleading the public when you say that the opposition is only concerned about P-plate drivers and that they are the only drivers contributing to accidents.
We have never said that; nor have we demonstrated that. We have focused on youth driving and P-plate driving because we are concerned that our drivers are not properly educated, trained and prepared to accept the responsibility to drive as licensed drivers on our roads. That is what we have said. You, Mr Gentleman, have misled the public on what our position is. We will continue to look at the P-plate driver issue.
Let us look at driver training. The recommendation from the NRMA is that it does not support advanced driver training, which you talk about from time to time. It has said that while “it seems logical that more training would help to reduce crash rates of
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