Up-skill learner supervisors
DANGEROUS DRIVING
I HAVE been in the driver training industry for more than 15 years. In September we welcomed the long-awaited announcement of the Department of State Growth to authorise some instructors to do P1 driving assessments as part of the P1 pilot. Since then I have done more than 500 assessments and sadly observed many applicants come very poorly prepared. This is not their fault as they are the learners, nor is it their supervisors’ fault who are usually mums and dads who got their licence 20plus years ago. Supervisors are given little assistance with their all-important task of teaching the next generation of drivers.
Roads are busier than ever and this places more stress on young drivers. Learning defensive skills would help ensure maximum safety for everyone on the road. Unfortunately most supervisor drivers are not assisted with teaching such skills or incentives to keep up with road rule knowledge. Being a competent supervisor driver doesn’t automatically ensure you are competent at passing on your knowledge. It is expensive to the parent and stressful to learner when having to re-sit assessments. Doing that, learners are only learning to pass instead of safe habits.
There is a Commonwealth government initiative called Keys2Drive free lesson for learners and supervisors. This could be complemented by an online refresher knowledge test for supervisors. Perhaps a knowledge test and a free lesson just for supervisors could be included. We all need to get behind supervisor drivers because safe driving is such an important skill. Laszlo Faludi
Ulverstone the drivers feel safe or the limits require adjusting. Formula One great Mark Webber called for limits to be increased at least 15 per cent on some Australian roads to improve concentration (Mercury, March 16). He said limits are so low people are not engaged with their vehicle and our road users were some of the worst in the world. While we refuse to follow other states with annual vehicle checks and eyesight tests the situation will worsen.
Practical and theory testing should be done at licence renewal. A licence for life is a recipe for disaster. If inattention is a major cause of incidents surely there should be 12-month loss of licence for phone use. The tired old argument that fails to make an indent is to slow down. They will have us revert to a person walking in front of a car with a red flag rather than address obvious issues.
Glen Pears Geilston Bay