Page 2701 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 26 September 2007
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speeding, lack of care and driver distraction, single vehicle crashes, rear-end crashes, right-angle crashes and motorcyclists.
The ACT is fortunate in having a very good road safety record in comparison with other parts of Australia and, indeed, the world. The ACT currently has an average annual road fatality rate of 5.2 deaths per 100,000 population, significantly lower than the national rate of 7.7 deaths per 100,000 population as at June of 2007. Nevertheless, there is still work to be done, particularly as in a national context young drivers are over-represented in the crash data by a ratio of at least three to one.
In 2005 about 37 per cent of all casualties in the ACT involved people younger than 30 years of age. The largest number appears to be between the ages of 20 and 24, accounting for 16 per cent of total casualties. In terms of vehicle controllers—that is, drivers and riders—those aged under 25 accounted for 27 per cent of casualties. Accordingly, learner and provisional drivers are key national and ACT-specific road safety issues.
Importantly, the ACT already has a number of interventions for novice drivers, including the mandatory road ready program delivered through the ACT Education system, a competency based training and assessment option for learner drivers, and a voluntary road ready plus program for provisional drivers. Over 1,100 provisional drivers undertook the road ready plus program in the last 12 months to the end of April of this year. Road ready and road ready plus were introduced in 2000 and 2001 respectively. The programs were formally evaluated in 2004, showing positive outcomes for both programs. The road ready evaluation found that those people who take the course are likely to receive fewer infringements compared to people who have not. The road ready plus evaluation also found that the program is of high value to the community, and the trends reported in the study were encouraging.
The demerit points system is a national program that allocates penalty points—that is, demerit points—for a range of driving offences. The scheme is designed to encourage safe and responsible driving. In conjunction with financial penalties, demerit points provide a very strong incentive to drive within the law. Different offences incur a different number of demerit points. Here in the ACT, provisional licence holders are restricted to a limit of four demerit points. The limit is increased to eight points following attendance at the road ready plus course. This is in keeping with Mr Gentleman’s suggestion of rewarding those who undertake driver education courses.
Of course, Mr Speaker, the road safety measures in the ACT are not just restricted to those who are licensed to drive motor vehicles. I should also mention motorcycle safety. Motorcyclists can be the most vulnerable on any roads, including well-designed roads such as we have here in the ACT. The ACT system of motorcycle rider training requires the learner to hold either a current drivers licence or complete the road ready course and pass the road rules knowledge test. A nine-hour learner rider course must be completed before a learner motorcycle licence is issued. The provisional licence assessment can be undertaken after holding a learner licence for at least three months. If the applicant fails the provisional licence test, they are required to undertake a seven-hour pre-provisional licence training course—a course supported
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