In my short time on the road (~6 years) the majority of people I see doing grossly stupid things are P-Platers in 6cyl Commodores (VC through to VE) or 70's 'fully sick drift pigs'.
My usual gripe with this stuff:
- I was one of the first on the P-Plate laws (Red 1 year, Green 2 years) here in QLD and I know first hand they do bugger all to 'stop' people doing silly things.
- My AU Falcon had more power than the VK 308 I wanted (don't hate
) but I wasn't allowed to drive the latter
- Unfairly targeted although my car was maintained to a standard far higher than most of the Camrys you'd find in a shopping centre carpark. I also obeyed far more road rules than aforementioned drivers.
Do I think they work? To an extent. If I had my F6 at 17 I think it would have been trouble. Not because I drove like an idiot but because I've been caught off guard a number of times when driving e.g. corners, braking, oil on the road which would probably have ended up far worse as I didn't know how to handle the car or myself in those situtations.
Almost every person I've talked to young and old have either said "When I see P-Plates I think 'oh great here's a hero'" or "I speed up to see if the chick is hot". This perception within the community has done nothing but put a label on young drivers, a label that, thanks to numerous 'news' (I am loathed to call them news) programs have now closely associated with another **** and bull term... HOON.
Where does it end? Do they deter people? Do they stop people? Is it a vote grab? Will babies be kissed at the next election? Would they ever lie with statistics?
Power to weight ratio is a step in the right direction but for me until they step up and roll out a comprehensive education program through schools I'll put it down to a vote grab.
Stopping kids killing themselves while driving is a good thing, no arguments, when the law makers actually start to take their own BS seriously I'll start to change my mind on the subject.