The young, the old and the vulnerable over-represented in Canberra road crashes

It’s a bit pointless trying to have a “Vision Zero” when it only “means that no fatality is acceptable”. Surely it would be better to have a Vision Zero that means that no injury (whether fatal or otherwise) is acceptable.

I get the impression that it’s considered appropriate (perhaps even considered ‘normal’ for many) to have collisions, as long as they are not fatal, forgetting that other injuries have a huge cost to the community as well. I fear there is a focus only on the lives that are ended, not those that are forever ruined.

And even collisions that don’t result in injury have costs to the community that are in most cases avoidable. Why does our government continue to permit people to drive vehicles that they quite obviously can’t control (it’s far too common to see signs flattened by drivers out of control – each of these could just as easily be a pedestrian, cyclist, motorcyclist).

Ghettosmurf87 said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

Hardly surprising when you consider the fact you can get your P plates without passing a driving test, as long as you have a fully licensed driver willing to sign off your log book even if you haven’t mastered any basic skills. This is a flaw in the system, when you place the responsibility of testing in the hands of people whose skills are unknown and leave it open to to be abused without any scrutiny. Everybody should be assessed against a benchmark standard, not by individuals who may not themselves be competent. Now I see why P platers are the worst offenders on our roads.

Just to clarify here, a Learner driver cannot obtain their licence by being assessed by a full-licence holder. They may be able to log hours of driving experience to demonstrate a minimum practice level, but all Learner drivers must be passed by an ACT accredited driving instructor, either through the one-off test, or by the completion of continual assessment with said accredited instructor.

Link https://www.accesscanberra.act.gov.au/app/answers/detail/a_id/1581#!tabs-3

Absolutely agree that re-assessment should be done at regular intervals. Obviously this is quite onerous and would have a high administrative overhead in cost and regulation, but it’s a bit of a farce that a 50-60 year old that obtained a licence over 30-40years ago, under what are likely to be much less regulated conditions, have never been re-assessed for competency or comprehension of any road rule changes that may have occurred in the intervening time.

We used to annual vehicle road-worthiness checks for registration. Even if the vehicle was in tip-top condition (which it had to be) if an idiot was behind the wheel it’s condition would have been academic.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Hardly surprising when you consider the fact you can get your P plates without passing a driving test, as long as you have a fully licensed driver willing to sign off your log book even if you haven’t mastered any basic skills. This is a flaw in the system, when you place the responsibility of testing in the hands of people whose skills are unknown and leave it open to to be abused without any scrutiny. Everybody should be assessed against a benchmark standard, not by individuals who may not themselves be competent. Now I see why P platers are the worst offenders on our roads.

Just to clarify here, a Learner driver cannot obtain their licence by being assessed by a full-licence holder. They may be able to log hours of driving experience to demonstrate a minimum practice level, but all Learner drivers must be passed by an ACT accredited driving instructor, either through the one-off test, or by the completion of continual assessment with said accredited instructor.

Link https://www.accesscanberra.act.gov.au/app/answers/detail/a_id/1581#!tabs-3

Absolutely agree that re-assessment should be done at regular intervals. Obviously this is quite onerous and would have a high administrative overhead in cost and regulation, but it’s a bit of a farce that a 50-60 year old that obtained a licence over 30-40years ago, under what are likely to be much less regulated conditions, have never been re-assessed for competency or comprehension of any road rule changes that may have occurred in the intervening time.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Hardly surprising when you consider the fact you can get your P plates without passing a driving test, as long as you have a fully licensed driver willing to sign off your log book even if you haven’t mastered any basic skills. This is a flaw in the system, when you place the responsibility of testing in the hands of people whose skills are unknown and leave it open to to be abused without any scrutiny. Everybody should be assessed against a benchmark standard, not by individuals who may not themselves be competent. Now I see why P platers are the worst offenders on our roads.
As for over 75s, it comes down to depth perception and reflex speed. I am aghast at some elderly who putt around doing 30km/h below the speed limit, who stop two car lengths back from stop lines and take so long to react to traffic signal changes they barely make it through before turning red again. Re-assessment needs to be done at a certain age or even at regular intervals to sort out those who are unsafe. Our family intervened with my grandfather, when we discovered his dangerous road habits. The RTA almost wouldn’t let us, without getting medical intervention. It would have been easier to get the police to follow him around to have his license revoked, than to be proactive about community safety.

That’s not how the logbook system works. You complete a required number of competencies with a qualified instructor, the final test being demonstration of all the competencies in a single journey. The final lesson is the equivalent of the standard Ps test – failing any one competency will result in a failure.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Hardly surprising when you consider the fact you can get your P plates without passing a driving test, as long as you have a fully licensed driver willing to sign off your log book even if you haven’t mastered any basic skills. This is a flaw in the system, when you place the responsibility of testing in the hands of people whose skills are unknown and leave it open to to be abused without any scrutiny. Everybody should be assessed against a benchmark standard, not by individuals who may not themselves be competent. Now I see why P platers are the worst offenders on our roads.
As for over 75s, it comes down to depth perception and reflex speed. I am aghast at some elderly who putt around doing 30km/h below the speed limit, who stop two car lengths back from stop lines and take so long to react to traffic signal changes they barely make it through before turning red again. Re-assessment needs to be done at a certain age or even at regular intervals to sort out those who are unsafe. Our family intervened with my grandfather, when we discovered his dangerous road habits. The RTA almost wouldn’t let us, without getting medical intervention. It would have been easier to get the police to follow him around to have his license revoked, than to be proactive about community safety.

I am surprised that a lot of Canberra families will spend a fortune on educating their children but when it comes to teaching the same children the skills and etiquette of driving a motor vehicle they are happy to outsource the task to driving schools and friends.
I suppose a lot of them exploit the flaw in the system you have pointed out and this needs to be closed, immediately.
I taught my son to drive (in a manual) and constantly reminded him to obey the speed limits, red lights and stop signs no matter where he was or the time of the day or night. The outcome of that is that after driving for 15 years he has only incurred 1 parking infringement yet most of his peers have lost their licences at least once on the demerit points plan.
Why can’t the community police get involved with testing like they used to?
Sure, their are some problems with the elderly but I find that a bit of tolerance goes a long way. I am tolerant of learner drivers and errant cyclists in the same way.

Hardly surprising when you consider the fact you can get your P plates without passing a driving test, as long as you have a fully licensed driver willing to sign off your log book even if you haven’t mastered any basic skills. This is a flaw in the system, when you place the responsibility of testing in the hands of people whose skills are unknown and leave it open to to be abused without any scrutiny. Everybody should be assessed against a benchmark standard, not by individuals who may not themselves be competent. Now I see why P platers are the worst offenders on our roads.
As for over 75s, it comes down to depth perception and reflex speed. I am aghast at some elderly who putt around doing 30km/h below the speed limit, who stop two car lengths back from stop lines and take so long to react to traffic signal changes they barely make it through before turning red again. Re-assessment needs to be done at a certain age or even at regular intervals to sort out those who are unsafe. Our family intervened with my grandfather, when we discovered his dangerous road habits. The RTA almost wouldn’t let us, without getting medical intervention. It would have been easier to get the police to follow him around to have his license revoked, than to be proactive about community safety.