Print Interview Assesment

L-Plate Laws cause Financial Strain

A dramatic increase from 50 to 120 hours of mandatory driving for L-platers is causing a financial strain on parents paying rising petrol prices or for driving lessons that can cost up to $100.

Elizabeth Green a 17 year old school student recently completed her 120 hours and said that the extra hours “helped but were too much and it just isn’t practical.”

Full time working parents have difficulty finding time to take their children driving but are reluctant to pay for driving lessons.

Green had a few lessons because she felt it was “necessary to know the road rules to pass the test but too expensive to get all the time but my parents have no time to take me driving, they work, I work and I got to school.”

There are new plans to again increase the mandatory hours to as much as 250 hours in order to reduce death tolls on the road. The aim is to build up experience and develop skilful driving for P-plates drivers that undertake high risk driving with 45% of injury crashes occurring in the first year of driving.

Green didn’t feel the new laws were necessary “if they really wanted to be safer they should have another driving test between P-plates and it would take to long to do more hours, uni students can’t be on their L-plates.”