8 November 2005

Licence re-testing - ACT road toll reaches 25

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It is reported in the Canberra Times that the ACT government is considering an introduction of licence re-testing every time that you need to renew your licence.

The discussion is prompted after the ACT road toll reached 25 over the weekend with the death of a motorcyclist.

I agree that there are some terrible drives out there in the ACT. I think that most of them could still pass their test on the given day and then go back to their driving habits.

Maybe driver education in the form of skills training is a better long term prospect. Say every 10 years you must complete a day/half day course in advanced driver training or the like. The infrastructure involved in putting this together would be very costly, although what does a life cost?

I also think in situations like this years road toll, governments are inclinded to consider knee jerk reactions.

G

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So far I think Mael has had the best idea – if you get caught doing the wong thing then your fine should pay for an education session to correct your wayward road manners.

I was recently in SE Asia when a cab driver who identified me as an Aussie gave me rundown. He told me that most Aussies jump in his car and ask him if he was a good driver. His answer was “No, but I am law abiding and courteous”. Simple as that really. You don’t have to be Craig Lowndes – merely courteous and law abiding. IMHO that is what is wrong with Canberra motorists.

100% agreed Kramer

‘vehicle control’ (apposed road rules) should be the primary education of any learner driver.

when i was younger on my L’s, i noticed parents and driving instructors cared nothing at all for vehicle control techniques and learning. its not all about accelerating and stopping, indicating and turning. its about appropriate speeds to handle corners. knowing your vehicles limitations, especially with braking.

and when swerving, being AWARE of what is around you at all times is mandatory. if you want to survive.

in addition to this. keeping alert of OTHER drivers.. when im driving, as i go through an intersection late at night, i have made it my habit to glance left and right. to make sure no dickhead is zooming through or about to take the slip lane onto drakeford drive at 80km/h.

i think stopping is the most important. when i brought my SS i took it upon myself to drive the tits off it. never putting anybody in any danger ofcourse. but i learnt how far i could take the car before it would slip out. i learn how quickly i could turn without doing a front wheel slide (which is difficult to be steered out of). and also how quickly my brakes could take effect (i think ABS braking should be fitted to EVERY single vehicle by LAW)

one night this came in handy. as i was zooming up isabella drive.. came to a roundabout. and some dickhead was coming from my right, barely visable because he had his PARK LIGHTS on. i was doing about 80km/h as i went past the keep left sign. and due to the lateness i figured nobody would be out and about.. as i spotted the car out of the corner of my eye. i slammed on the brakes with every ounce of muscle in my right leg. the car came to a complete stop without passing the line, and i avoided a potential accident.

fair enough i was young and stupid. but that isnt whats at debate here. there are hundreds of thousands of young people out there who had similar habits as to what i use to.

if everybody is educated in vehicle control. traction loss, the way steering, tires, brakes all play a part in driving, then we will have a LOT less accidents

thats what i think anyway.

I’ve just been reading through the comments on rider/drivers and re-testing. As a new motorcyclist i also have taken the everyone in a vehicle is out to get me approach and i tell you it has saved me countless times on my bike. i always watch where the car tyres are rolling to and its a very good indicaton as to where the car is going to next (I also do this in the car now) . i think that motorcyclist training is very good although i think that there needs to be something inbetween the L’s and the P’s as many Learner riders/drivers are just not ready to be out on the road alone (especially the ones who have failed 8 times was it?). having got my licence i decided to join a group and if it wasnt for their support i dont think that i would still be riding today. As for riding in the wet on corners. If you are a bike rider you know that as soon as it rains that the oil on the road comes to the surface and if you hit one of these patches on a corner it will probably be the end of you and your bike no matter what speed you are travelling at, i just use more caution when it rains. I’m also not affraid to stop and offer my help if i can see that someone else needs it. Jac

i rode a bike before i owned a car, although i did learn to drive on an old massey ferguson tractor at 8 or 9. it was an xl350, and i did a lot of country miles on it post school. city miles were always fraught with danger. im still afraid of anything with a baby on board sign.

as a former motorcyclist i can recommend it to all as the best way to learn how to survive on the road. the amount of idiot behaviour and plain inattention by motorists is staggering.

and thats one of the reasons i’ll go to my grave saying thats the biggest cause of road accidents in this country. forget speeding, its just the inattention.

i regard everyone else as a threat and keep at least one to two car spaces between me and the next person in front. some lane weaving moron ducks into that space almost all the time.

canberra drivers not only tailgate, but they never use indicators and they never get into the left lane on two lane roads.

instead of sittting in speed camera vans, police should be in unmarked photographic vehicles filming this idiot behaviour as evidence for court action.

Personally I’d like to see those found guilt of reckless or negligent driving sent to a drivers ed school.

of course we’d need to see traffic police on the road to secure those convictions.

speed cameras are a safety joke. Speed enforcement matters, but so do any number of any number of safe driving techniques, and getting pulled over and asked to explain your understanding of the road rules to a person in uniform can do things a camera can never.

Canberra drivers suck. They spend more time tailgating then any other drivers in Aus.

I think this years road toll is just more indicative. Instead of wiping out on NSW roads and ending up on their road toll figures. ACT drivers have just been doing more of it at home this year.

As to the comments re motorcycle riders. My father always told me that they should be referred to as temporary Australians. Your body constitutes the crumple zone when you fall off a bike.

Bodhichitta, if you were to properly read my previous post you’d see that i was identfying the flaws of both Motorcyclists, and Car drivers. I was not singling out anyone.

And no, I didn’t stop to see if he was alive. I thought’ I’d take the “No one matters but me” approach that I learnt on here, and went home and made myself a cup of milo. And if all riders hate motorists as you say, he would not have appreciated one administering first aid to him.

Steady on Bodhichitta. I wasn’t having a go at all riders. No, I haven’t ridden myself (except pillion) but come from a long line of riders, and would not bag them all out.

And I have a fair idea what is too fast, because of the dickhead I saw come off his going at a fast pace around a corner in the wet. Don’t know what happened to him actually……

But my point was SOME. Just as SOME drivers of cars terrify me with the speed they go in the wet. I guess I just worry more about the riders because there is nothing between them and whatever they hit.

Only 2 rules to remember (apart from the obvious ones):
1. keep a good distance behind the bloke in front;
2. assume absolutely everyone else could do something stupid and plan your survival accordingly.
38 years driving, never an accident yet (apart from the one who reversed into me because she saw a friend walking down the pavement and wanted to talk to her…)

Spot the wog3:12 pm 08 Nov 05

it would be very interesting and make numbnuts realise and appreciate that people who want to ride a motorbike want to do it safely

Lurker Girl and Jay Wayward. Its very obvious you two dont ride and until you do, stop making observations on a topic of which you know nothing. LG, if you dont ride, then how do you know how fast you can safely corner on a bike in the wet?
Jay, if you dont ride, then how do you know just how observant and careful those bikes are when they are lane splitting?

Being motorcycle aware? LOL thats a joke, any bike rider will tell you that they ride with the assumption that EVERY other driver out there is out to kill them, its the only way to survive because there are so many idiots out there.

I normally ride a sports bike, its a big bike and I have the occaisonal idiot swerve into me, pull out in front of me, change lanes directly in front of me then brake….you know, all the normal stuff. On my big bike this may happen only a couple of times a week.
But I also ride a small bike occaisonally and I can tell you, people on a small bike are targets. For some reason car drivers think “oh, he is on a small bike, must be a learner/ idiot” or “hmm he is on a small bike, my crap car may beat him, lets try”….I almost get run off the road everytime I ride the small bike.

This tells me that I am better off riding the big bike, even though many of you great ignorants think “oh look, boy racer, I wonder why he isnt dead yet”.

Studies show that 80% of motorcycle accidents are caused by cars….so quit laying shit on the bike riders and start concentrating on the real issues.

Ohhhhh and before we start on motorcycle licensing issues. I got my licence in the “bad old days” when all I had to do was show up. If licensing needed such stringent testing to make safe riders, then why am I not dead?
I think the testing is pretty good at the moment. I think there would be a helluva lot less accidents if EVERYONE was required to spend a year on a motorbike before getting thier car licence.

How about this for a suggestion:

For every point you lose off your licence, you don’t get it back until you have done the time – AND done an appropriate course in driving skills, differing levels of courses give different amounts of points ?

I regularily see motorcyclists weaving carelessly between cars and travelling between stationary cars towards peak hour intersections.

I’m surprised that more of them don’t run into opening car doors as an occasional car pooler exits the vehicle at a red light.

I guess that other road users have come to expect such bad habits from that of this particular portion of the Motorcyclist population. Is that what being “Motorcycle Aware” is apparently about ?

Having said that, (at least from what i’ve seen)Motorcyclists seem to take more care in the rain. Unlike some of the tail gating and speeding idiots in cars.

Bring on the 5 year test for frequent offenders. Don’t make us innocent people pay.

I saw one yesterday riding along Gungahlin Dr (heading towards Palmerston as we passed Mitchell (on the part where actual road has no bike lane).

I’d have not thought too much of it, had there not have been an actual bike track running within 2 metres of, and parrallel to, the road.

Its mind boggling really. A perfectly good track in far better condition than that of the road. He must have been high on gatorade – either that or irrational principle.

Unfortunately, most (not all)bicyle riders suffer from an identity crisis where they are unable to decide if they are a vehicle or a pedestrian. They seem to switch randomly from one to the other.

Whoops, i’ve kinda veered a little from the general topic.

ahh damn that button

as i was saying…

i saw one last week riding DOWN TEH WRONG SIDE of college st. his stupid little safety flag bobbing around.

oh yeah, and then once we know who the recumbent cyclists are they can be rounded up for reeducation.

im for it.

i saw one last week riding down teh

A colleague of mine who admittedly was using one of those silver metallic lethal foot-power thingies that I thought was only for teens and CBD-Sydney was knocked off it by a bike rider on the ramp at the Adelaide Ave/Empire Circuit turnoff. He needed stitches to his chin and the biker didn’t stop. I’m beginning to wonder if bikes (they’re no longer friendly push bikes now) shouldn’t be registered and some form a rego paid.

Spot the wog12:04 pm 08 Nov 05

a friend of mine had 33 lessons and passed his test quite well, if that’s how many lessons a kid needs to pass his test there you have it. Victoria has a quite good system you might have to look into it but it is quite well organised for their livings

Everyone knows it isnt a statistically valid sample until there are at least 30 fatalities.

yeah but i knew a girl who got hers on the 8th time round. I can happily say that she is still as shit as she always was. should that be allowed? I think the first time failure rate may be more about revenue than safety.

If natural selection worked we wouldn’t have such a useless system. Taking natural selection into your own terms is technically classed as murder.

damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Thumper: That’s why I said “not all”. I know some are very careful. But I see some in the wet flying around corners and am very glad I am not their mother, because riding like that it is only a matter of time before the police knock at your door to tell you of the bad news.

Let’s get back to basics – it’s clearly too easy to pass the driving test in the first place. In the UK it’s almost obligatory to fail the first time: if you don’t, you’re doing extremely well. Also, one has to wonder how good some of the driving schools are…

Thyumper – you have a point. REward safe driving/continued training with reduced registration/licence renewal fees and offset this with increases for those who drive like shit and don’t upgrade their skills. Thus promoting skill safe drivers on the roads.

The roo comment is because I hit a roo on my bike about 4 months ago and I remember reading on this site somewhere that NRMA quoted that the mojority of insurance claims are for driver v roo. The roo came off second best as I stayed on and it didn’t.

G

Bloodnut1, that’s because the system, just like the scholatory system in this country isn’t designed for you to fail…

I’ve seen some numpties on the roads, and do my best to avoid them. Unfortunately not everybody on the roads have the skills to properly control their route through a tense time, such as trying to avoid a child while driving through a school area on the mobile phone in your 4WD doing around 80-100.

Natural Selection.

Whta I don’t understand is how ‘eveyone’ can obtain a license. It’s not like having kids where the authorities have no say. Bike/car licenses should be as hard to obtain as gun licenses and not just handed out to any idiot who after five tests, finally passes.

Of course, if we had a functional lightrail system… (ducks for cover)

A lot of comes down to observation. A large proportion of the motorcycle deaths this year are because a car has pulled out in front of them. There is no question as to who is at fault – a car driver with bad observation skills. They were probably talking on their mobile phone.

Thumper – there have been numerous discussions on this site about ACT’s lenient Court system. I don’t think we are getting through to them.

Maybe discounts on your Compulsary Third Party insurance if you have completed advanced driving courses. This would mean yearly discounts to people who update their skills.

G

Sounds to me like its the motor cyclists that should be retested. The way so many of them (not all, don’t flame me) ride, I am surprised more of them don’t die, and horrified that they haven’t learnt by all those who have gone before them.

K man, I totally agree with you. The current format of bith motorcycle testing and car testing does not help when you need it most. In a situation that involves speed. This is where people panic, crash and end up dead.

Mor roo culling while we are at it.

G

This sounds good, but driver testing shouldn’t be about parallel parking and hill starts – it should be testing emergency stopping, high speed vehicle handling, and sliding / skid control.

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