Since I’m doing an episode on road safety, I thought I might as well speak to an expert.
Hey Phil!
Hello.
And get a free driving lesson in the meantime.
Are you ready?
Absolutely!
Let’s do it.
I'm actually quite nervous!
Oh you'll be fine!
I probably should give you some keys that’ll work.
Oh yeah that’ll work.
Hot wiring is lesson number two so.
Oh it's not turning on.
What am I doing wrong?
Oh it might be a little tension on the steering wheel.
Oh there we go!
We're off to a very good start.
Okay!
Alright.
I’m in park so I need to go down to drive.
There's something I'd like you to do first though actually Justina.
Handbrake?
No, check if it's safe to move out [Oh yeah, true.] before we get the car ready.
Okay.
And did you know there's a legal requirement to have your indicator on?
Before I even start the car?
Do you remember from your learner days?
How long does the indicator need to be on before we more off from the curb?
Um, is it two seconds?
Five seconds.
Okay.
It’s a long time, so we can try and get that done nice and early to make sure we meet
that requirement.
Oh my gosh, I'm gonna fail.
No, so far so good.
Alright. Ok.
There's a lot to learn when getting behind the wheel for the first time, and a lot of
it has to do with safety, and there's a pretty good reason for that.
[Emergency siren sounds]
Each year around 1,200 people die on Australian roads and about 40,000 are seriously injured.
Although these numbers haven't really changed over the last decade, the number of road deaths
has risen by 10 percent since 2001.
And the government's National Road Safety Strategy, which includes a plan to reduce
annual fatalities by 50 percent by 2030 and zero deaths and serious injuries on our roads
by 2050, is way off course.
Vision Zero is, is an ambitious target.
No one's denying that and to reach Vision Zero we can make all the improvements to roads,
we can ensure vehicles are as safe as they possibly can be on our roads, but we need
drivers to be responsible.
If we look at our targets for 2030, where we want to be, and where we currently are,
there is obviously some points of concern, and particularly in the younger driver cohorts.
So, what can we do about it?
And why are crashes happening in the first place?
I think it's inattention, speed certainly plays a part in regards to the severity.
You might be tired.
Sometimes I'll say, would Justina, would you be happy if I asked you to shut your eyes
for three seconds?
No.
And yet if you look at your phone [yeah I know] that's what you're doing isn't it?
You're taking your eyes off the road for two to three seconds.
I get stressed out when I sneeze.
Exactly!
You don't want your eyes to close!
One in five is due to drink driving.
Another big factor is um, not wearing seatbelts.
If you're unrestrained in a car, you are eight times more likely to be killed in a road crash,
and 20 percent of fatalities in Australia weren't wearing a seatbelt, which is just
unbelievable.
You can make the road safer, and all of that sort of stuff.
But these are behavioural things that people are doing in their cars.
The COVID pandemic is obviously completely unprecedented.
Sometimes looking at the, the repercussions of, of that lockdown in that maybe people
are traveling more, which then results in more crashes because they couldn't travel
previously.
Yep, there could be a lot of reasons and here's another one, age and experience.
You see, 17 to 25-year-olds are over-represented in fatal crashes.
So probationary drivers proportionately get involved in more accidents than regular drivers.
Why do you think that could be?
Well when you're a learner driver you have someone experienced sitting next to you so
there's really two people driving the car or there should be.
So when you're actually on learners you're as safe as you're ever going to be on the
road.
Then you go on your P's and it's all on you [yeah].
You're still a little bit inexperienced because as much as you've had all the training, you've
passed the test, there's still the road to deal with and the traffic is so unpredictable,
so I think p-platers they just sometimes get themselves in situations that they're not
able to deal with and they overreact and have accidents.
I know in my experiences, my friends, they, they have more people in the car than they
should.
With the use of phones, like people like really like to answer messages, or like pick up a
call, even when they're driving.
Peer pressure and showing off they got new cars and just look all cool.
Especially in the country like animals.
Under the influence and yeah.
Speeding as well like, that seems like a big thing in general anyway.
So what are some things that young drivers particularly can do to stay safe on the road?
Take every opportunity to drive, don't just do the minimum 75 hours.
I know from experience, that students who have done more than the 75 hour minimum are
more competent in lane change situations, where they’re managing themselves in traffic,
and that's purely just because of the time they've been on the road, they've experience
more things.
The vehicle age actually has a lot to do with road safety.
We often encourage parents to consider putting your novice drivers into the newer, safer
car.
It might not be a popular option with the parents, but you know it is actually really
the safest option.
What we need to do is, do more to stop those bad decisions from happening in the first
place.
Not driving when we're tired, not driving when we're angry or super excited or in any
other mind state that might impact our decision making.
Making sure we put our seatbelts on, all those sorts of things are where education of road
users has become so important.
Maybe more education, like within schools as well, because like obviously, when you
go through your driver's tests and things like that, it's there, but then it's not really
much after that.
People need to stop going on their phones and stuff as much when they go in their cars.
Don't drink drive.
My Dad has always told me to like every other person in the car is like an idiot, so you
have to be really, really careful and lots of people just aren't careful.
If you don't feel comfortable doing something, don't do it.
Peer pressure is a thing but you can always just say no, like it's not the end of the
world.
They might get mad at you, but you're doing the right thing and you might hurt someone
else in the long run so it's just not worth it.
If you can just pull up at the curb here.
Oh, well thank you so much!
My pleasure.
I really appreciate this.
You did well!
Did I pass?
Of course.
[Laughs] Awesome.
I'll give you back the key.
And I'll give you back your phone and wallet.
Yep, which I didn't look at when I drove. [laughs]
I know, I didn't look at mine either. [laughs]