Page 3419 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 22 August 2018
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they graduate to their Ps, and other road safety measures need to be considered, including recommendations from Austroads. That is why I think it is entirely reasonable to give the minister for road safety an opportunity to reflect. I move:
Omit paragraph (3), substitute:
“(3) noting that the Government will take into account the community’s feedback, calls on the Minister for Justice, Consumer Affairs and Road Safety to report back to the Assembly by the last sitting day of 2018 on progress on proposals for road safety reforms for young people.”.
(Time expired)
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (12.25): I am a bit like Ms Cody except that I have trained five young people to drive over the years. My husband I take this very seriously. All of them have turned out to be good drivers, and diligent drivers, although they have had their moments, as we all have had.
As a parent who takes this responsibility very seriously, I welcome the proposal for boosting the minimum hours of driving, but I also think that there should be provision in that for ensuring that young drivers get the widest possible experience of driving, in the widest possible circumstances, while they are still under supervision.
One of the things that I think would be a particularly retrograde step here—I know it is not being suggested—is the speed limits which are in place on L-plated drivers and P-plater drivers in other jurisdictions. That means, for instance, that the first time a driver gets to drive on a freeway at the legal speed limit is probably three or four years into their independent driving, not under the supervision of a responsible driver in the first place.
Over the years of teaching five people to drive, we have always insisted that our children learn to drive in a manual vehicle, although getting experience in driving automatics as well. It is a different driving experience. I am pleased to see that as they get older, our children have opted to drive manual vehicles and buy manual vehicles. It makes you a much more engaged driver, and you have to pay more attention to what is going on on the road rather than having the slightly more set-and-forget approach that you have when driving an automatic vehicle.
We also took the opportunity, at every opportunity, to give them experience in driving in different vehicles on different road terrains, making sure we took them into the country and taught them to drive on dirt roads and the like, and on country roads generally, which are different. You cannot learn to drive just on Canberra’s relatively wide lanes and be an experienced driver.
The issues raised by Miss Burch are very important ones. I do agree up to a point with Mr Steel, Ms Cody and Ms Cheyne that these proposals are a significant infringement on the capacity of young people to go about their lives. It is also a significant infringement upon their parents. If you have a 5 am shift at McDonald’s and there is a curfew, that means mum and dad have to continue to get up and take you to work. If there is a ban on peer passengers, it means that you cannot take your siblings to dance
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