Young drivers enter new road safety era

The countdown to safer roads for young drivers in Queensland is almost over, with wide-ranging new laws coming into place from this Sunday. (July 1)

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Paul Lucas today joined the RACQ to launch the education materials and raise awareness of the new laws.

“From Sunday, the biggest licence overhaul in Queensland history will go live with the introduction of our new young driver laws,” Mr Lucas said.

“The new graduated licence system and tougher restrictions are all designed to do one thing – save young lives on our roads.

“Last year we lost 108 lives from crashes involving young drivers. Of those killed, 55 were young drivers, 25 were their passengers, and 28 other road users.

"The new laws for young drivers under 25 will ensure our children have more on-road experience, fewer distractions and less risk when they get behind the wheel.

“A longer learner period of one year, 100 hours logbook driving and L and P plates are in; but mobile phones, high-powered vehicles, and carloads of young passengers late at night are out.

“This is the start of tackling young driver fatalities on our roads, not the end. Young drivers, their partners and other road users have a role to play in curbing the toll.”

RACQ President Julie-Anne Schafer said the club supported the State Government's comprehensive reform of the graduated licensing system because it offered a real chance to reduce the disproportionate number of young drivers and their passengers either killed or seriously injured in car crashes.

“It's about better preparing young drivers before obtaining their provisional licences and better protecting them once they do,” Ms Schafer said.

"RACQ lobbied long and hard to achieve these reforms and worked very closely with the State Government in the formulation of the new laws."

Mr Lucas welcomed the RACQ's support and commitment to young drivers, both in supporting the new laws and jointly developing a range of support material.

“To help learners, their supervisors and provisional drivers follow these new requirements and provide advice for gaining their experience safely, we have developed a range of resources in partnership with the RACQ,” Mr Lucas said.

“The new Safe Driving in Queensland suite of resources will be given to Queensland learners, P1 drivers, and P2 drivers when they are issued their licences.”

Learners will receive a multi-media kit containing a Queensland learner logbook, learner driver handbook, supervising driver handbook and a learner driver and supervisor DVD. P1 and P2 drivers will receive a handbook specific to their licence.

“The RACQ not only assisted us in developing the content for these resources, but also contributed half the funding for all of the handbooks, as well as developing additional online resources of their own,” Mr Lucas said.

“The State Government can’t change young driver behaviour on its own. This needs to be a community-wide effort and I thank the RACQ for the leading role it’s taking.”

RACQ President Julie-Anne Schafer said: “The club is offering an extensive suite of online and other resources to support young drivers and their supervisors to meet the new learner licence requirements.”

Information on the laws is available at www.transport.qld.gov.au/youngdrivers or by calling 1300 793 284.

Media inquiries

Minister Lucas’ office: Robert Hoge 3237 1942
RACQ: Gary Fites, 3872 8908 / 0418 743 094

SUMMARY OF NEW YOUNG DRIVER LAWS

• From 1 July, key changes to the licensing system for 17-24 year old drivers include:
• lowering the minimum learner age to 16 and extending the length of time to hold their learner licence to 12 months
• requiring learners to gain 100 hours of supervised on-road driving experience recorded in a logbook
• a two-phased P1 and P2 provisional licence system (a red plate for P1 for one year and green plate for P2 for two years)
• peer passenger restrictions for P1 drivers (can only carry one passenger aged under 21, excluding immediate family members) between 11pm to 5am
• banning all mobile phone use for learners and P1 drivers and loudspeaker function use by their supervisors and passengers
• late night curfews for P1 & P2 drivers returning from suspension between 11pm and 5am
• vehicle power restrictions during P1 and P2
• motorbike learners requiring to hold a car provisional licence for 12 months prior to applying for their motorbike learner licence.