Why is it that – with the glaring exception of Shane Warne – we all accept that training makes you better at things: cricket, swimming, lawyering, you name it?
Everything except driving, apparently.
Some people, politicians included, continue to argue that training people to be better drivers actually makes them worse, and, indeed, more dangerous.
This is patently as logical as suggesting that the more a carnival knife thrower practices, the more likely he is to kill his glamorous assistant.
We can argue about this until we’re puce in the face, but nothing seems to change. So let’s try using facts. Insurance company AAMI has revealed today that driver training reduces the likelihood of crashes by 30 per cent.
That’s right, only 10 per cent of the under-25s (also known as the lunatic fringe) who finished its safe-driving course had crashes in 2008, compared to 14 per cent of those who were taught to drive only by a patient relative. “The drivers who undertake this course are exhibiting greater levels of control of their vehicles and greater levels of responsibility,” AAMI corporate affairs manager Mike Sopinski said. “We would urge state governments to have a look at the positive results out of this study,” Mr Sopinski said.
So would we, even though it probably won’t do any good. AAMI also surveyed 2500 drivers and found that 90 per cent believed safe-driving courses should be compulsory for under-25s.
Are you sensing a theme here? Are you going to get angry and vote out all the stupid politicians – possibly leaving us with none at all? Am I right, or am I right?
You are right. (Yeah, as if I was going to argue on my favourite soap-box issue.)
But because we all can vote, and because so many are stuck in the ‘it-was-good-enough-for-m y-old-man-to-vote-for-the -Sunripened-Tomato-Party- and-so-it’s-good-enough-f or-me’ mindset, it ain’t ever gunna change. Career politicians, and airheaded voters too, do my head in.
Meanwhile, P-platers are killing themselves left, right & centre. Sigh.
Hi guys i’m 20 and i totally agree with this i would love to have a compulsory driving course involved in my licence
This would show who should and shouldn’t have a licence
The best advise I got when I first got my license was to practise my emergency braking. Obviously on very quiet street or industrial area. It got me to know the limits of the car. I think that is a key. Young (all) drivers need to know the limits of their car. So when they do get in trouble (and they will) they at the very least know how they’re car will behave and might ever save a life.
I bet you every driver trainer will tell you that……
Damn right
I have a 16 year old daughter who is already booked in to a defensive course – then im going to send here to advanced car control,same instructors.
I have done 3 of these in my driving/rideing time things i learnt have saved me many times from both minor and major incidents.
I think the 100hr log book is a bit much as i have already read case storys were they are falsly filled in and aparently there is a group set up in the licence dept to check up that the log books are real (brisbane c/mail last tuesday)
But it is good that getting a licence is much harder these days.
The little darlings Already get way to much easy!!
Two things to be said here.
1) There is compulsory riding training for people who want to get a bike licence why not for drivers. It is good, and I think that it has made me a safer driver to.
2) Does driver training work? Yes, and the4 better the training the better the driver, just ask the Finns’.
Being of the two-wheeled persuasion myself, I agree. In fact, the Stay Upright course is one of the best I’ve ever done just in terms of road sense and anticipation etc.
And yep, it’s another interesting question, if it’s so important to have riders trained that it’s enshrined in law, why isn’t it the same for drivers?
Of course everyone should have more training. Australia has one of the most lax training schemes in the world and we wonder why people drive so badly here (especially in Sydney). Look at countries with stricter training regimes and see how much better their drivers are.
I went through an AAMI course after I got my license and Christ did it ever change my attitude towards driving. I followed it up years later with an Ian Luff course and found the skills learned there saved me from serious injury during one incident.
I intend to continue educating myself every so often and keep improving. I just wish incentives to (and the way of thinking that you should) do the same existed for everyone.
The only reason politicians hate driver education is that they feel better drivers drive faster. They do, but only because they know their limits better, ignoring the often ridiculous speed limits posted in most parts of this country. Those same politicians ignore the fact drivers who drive fast and with skills and courtesy on roads where it is safe to do so often drive slower than the speed limit on suburban streets as they know when to slow down.
Until we get some sort of standardised testing procedure (teamed with standardised vehicle inspections) across Australia, we’ll never be able to move forward with advanced training for young drivers.
The fact that Victorians can drive the streets in any old death trap, for example, sends shivers up my spine.
Oh and all Commodores over 15 years old should be crushed immediately. Hae you seen young many young people die in those things? With cheap tyres and worn shocks, they are a bloody menace.
What the hell is wrong with you people? Driver training is nothing but a farce. Driver training is just so prepubescent kids can get their jollies driving their fully sick excels fast on a skid pan somewhere. It does nothing to save lives and everything to rip more dollars from your pocket. I’d rather teach my kids to drive any day. Besides, since when have we started taking guidance from insurance companies? These are the same people who will search for a way to screw you out of your payout.
i’m an 18 year old and got my licence when i turned seventeen, and i strongly agree that advanced driving courses should be a compulsory component to getting a drivers licence, but not just compulsory but it should be a part of your licence test, similar to the TG episode on the Finnish Driver Training. I grew up racing Go-Karts at state level and the most important thing i learnt was to know the limits of your vehicle and if you don’t know the limits don’t try to find them! It is downright dangeous driving on the public roads and if you want to push you vehicle, find the limits and find out how good you are (most drivers aren’t as good as they think) , do it in a safe and controlled environment i.e a RACE TRACK!!!!
i also learnt to drive (on the road) in an old Mini which is by no means an easy car to drive. you have to learn to read the traffic better in order to compensate for the increased stopping distances and you are naturally more cautious negotiating intersections due to the lower safety levels of the car.
Young drivers learning in newer, modern cars and owning newer modern cars i believe just consolidates that stupid “i can’t be hurt so i can drive faster and be more stupid” thought process a numbeer of young drivers have.
all in all, if all drivers had to pass a compulsory advanced driving test, i believe you get far fewer lunating drivers on the raod and those that do pass will have a high respect for the weapon they are steering and be a hell of a lot more sensible.
I think it’s mad that there’s no government-funded driver training in this country. You can spend a thousand hours driving with a parent in the passenger seat and still not learn anything about how to handle the car in a difficult situation. And what are you supposed to do if you don’t have a licensed driver around to teach you? 100 hours of profession lessons is neither cheap nor practical, and you’re going to struggle to get any night driving in.
Proper driver training and education is a far better way to ensure young drivers are driving safely than hundreds of hours of “practice”. And it’d certainly be a better solution than forcing L and P platers to adhere to a slower speed limit than the rest of the drivers on the road. L platers FORCED to do 80 in 110 zones aren’t any safer for it. Have you tried to merge into steady traffic doing 110 when you’re doing 80? It’s terrifying!
The governmental reluctance to educate drivers properly seems to stem from a concern that, if you teach young people how to push a car to the limit, they’re more likely to keep doing it. But really, there are kids out there who just want to drive hard and fast. They’re not going to hold off on trying just because they haven’t been trained. At least if they know what they’re doing and they’re not just experimenting, they have a better chance of surviving the “young and reckless” phase, and growing up to be safer adult drivers.
I’ve never taken driver training. It hasn’t been recommended to me from any of the people I know who have taken it. I think it gives people a false sense of security because they believe that they are better drivers on the roads. To me the only way to improve your driving is by experience.
For me the additional driver training that I’ve done has been worth every cent. I’ve taken something valuable away from each one; safety, defensive and performance courses.
It can be a confronting experience for those who will rightly have their skills and equipment put to the test in a controlled environment.
I also thank the day my parents insisted on professional instruction for my basic skills & test.
For those saying they can gain the required experience on the road, including the RTA, what other ‘life or death skill’ are you not tested for regularly and asked to keep up with latest qualifications.
I agree with Daniel (post #12) – Driver training can in fact give you an inflated sense of your skills behind the wheel. My boyfriend has done a driver training course and I still fear for my life every time he’s the one in the driver’s seat. Perhaps driver training is something that should come once you have some experience driving solo on the roads and have a better sense of your abilities, rather than while you’re learning to drive and don’t have that experience on the road.
From Alisso: “Have you tried to merge into steady traffic doing 110 when you’re doing 80? It’s terrifying!”
It strikes me that no, thank God, I haven’t. And it’s a point we’ve made before. Making learners and P-ers drive more slowly than the prevailing traffic is not just stupid, it’s dangerous. Not to mention annoying.
And:
The governmental reluctance to educate drivers properly seems to stem from a concern that, if you teach young people how to push a car to the limit, they’re more likely to keep doing it.
I just don’t get this, nor the attitude of others who say it makes people more dangerous. Perhaps I’ve done the wrong courses but in the Murcotts one, for example, you never get above 60km/h and the only way you push your vehicle to its limits is by emergency braking.
The main skills you get from these courses are mental things, the stuff with the traffic cones etc is useful but it’s the smallest part.
Learning to lift your eyes and look ahead – rather than just reacting when the set of brake lights in front of you goes on – is one of the smallest, simplest life-saving skills, and it’s something that, clearly, 80 per cent of drivers don’t do.
im 15 going for my licence hopefully later this year, but im sick of all the politicians changing the rules, my sister only had to do 50 hours of supervised driving, i now have to do 120 possibly even 150. Will this make me a better driver then my sister?, i think not. The government is also considering changing the driving age to 16 9 months, they are absolute IDIOTS if they do that. One, all young people leaving school, seeking an apprentaship wont get taken on, because in many cases, employers only take people with licences, so that is going to be 9 months with probably half the amount of apprentases, 9 months of half the amount of registrations etc. i really hope that they dont put up the age.
Firstly, I’d like to say idiots will be idiots, whether you teach them to drive or not. You might as well show them what to do so they have more chance of escaping killing themselves or some innocent family in the process. No-one who is sensible will turn into an idiot just because someone has taught them correct car control and driving techniques.
I’m a big believer that driver education is a necessity, although admittedly I have not yet undertaken a course myself. I do, however, compete in grass roots motorsport – both tar and dirt – so I have a fair handle on the behaviour of my cars (far from perfect though). If I can learn more in one Sunday at a motorkhana than I did in my entire 110 hours on my Ls and a few months on my Ps I’d love to know how much I’d learn with an instructor…
It might help if they actually eased up the P plater laws a little too, you get so sh*t scared of getting caught that you end up concentrating on your speedo and looking for cops instead of actually driving. I have lost my licence from forgetting to put P plates on twice, as well as getting caught doing 6km/h over at 8:30pm on a Sunday with no traffic at all – a little harsh, no?
Just comes back to the whole revenue-raising thing… Driver training costs them money, why would they do that when they can make money fining people? Maybe they should put the money from those stupid pinky ads and ‘Fixing the Pacfic Highway’ signs into teaching us to drive?
6km/h over? Do you live in Victoria, by any chance?
These posts reveal the real problem,
everybody lokks at the problem from a self centric position.
As the recent Federsl Government moves prove, nothing succeeds like bribery.
So Insurance Companies and Government, if they are for real with their claims that they have our interests at heart should give premium and rego discounts and for drivers with defensive/advanced driver training.
Now the bit people my age normally start these missives with: I’ve been driving for 150years and never had an accident. Well thats bullshit, but I have been driving for a while and yes I’ve a couple of accidents. After the last one about 30 years ago I attended a defensive Driving course a truly believe that is why I am still alive. So endeth the sermon.
I’ve just sat here in disbelief reading some of the comments here (dunno why though, given my faith in the fact that most humans are for the best part stupid)
Daniel, is the best way to learn maths or english “going out and getting experience” Or does it help to have some lessons first?
Melbournian, seems to me like you have some sense, have you told your boyfriend he’s a maniac and scares you?
Stanza_nate, 6k’s? what else did you do buddy? are we hearing all the story, have you not seen the ads about “wipe off 5″?
Just because there is nobody on the road (that you can see – like the cop that got you for instance), doesn’t mean someone won’t randomly step out in front of you in the dark… (I’ve seen it happen)
In these days of road safety awareness it strikes me mad that, in addition to the required log hours, some formal training is not required. Boo Hoo “my sister only had to do 50 hours” you admit that this won’t make you a better driver. Why? Because your parents are crap teachers. Before you go off tap, Of course they are. Because they have not been trained to give professional advice.
We will never see the end of this arguement, because NOT ONE politician has a child that is learning to drive and has been seriously injured/died. That and the fact that they remember what it was like to learn, “back then” not NOW.
I’d like to see THEM retake their tests and then, only then, we might see a review on the yearly death toll.
Right. Im like holdenman, 15 going on 16 to get my license this year. In Queensland, They are going to change it from 100hours of supervised driving, to 200, about a monthe before my birthday. Why not put driver training courses in instead of doubling the time? At the end of the year, my school is setting up a trip to Willowbank Raceway for a driver training course, which I will gladly pay the $150 odd for a whole days worth of training. For once, my school does something cool. And where is the government on this, nowhere, the lazy shits.