By LAILA DYCE*
DANGEROUS or practical? The ongoing debate of lowering Victoria’s legal probationary driving age to 17.
A Nationals-sponsored petition to lower the probationary driving age to 17 has come before state Parliament, which would bring Victoria in line with the rest of Australia.
There are some strongly passionate parents and youth in favour of the change. Their reasons supporting the petition include how it is impacting young people’s career paths, with some stating it would have “advanced my career by a year”.
Other reasons people favour the change are the lack of public transport in rural areas, educational opportunities, and the significant toll it can take on parents taking their young adults to their work obligations.
On the opposing side are concerned parents, who value driving “experience rather than age”, maturity, and say that drivers need to learn to be conscious of everyone’s safety on the road.
Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Melina Bath said lowering the age was consistent with recommendations from the findings of a 2017 parliamentary inquiry.
“Seventeen-year-olds with an interstate probationary licence can legally drive on our (Victorian) roads unsupervised if they stick to their licence conditions, but our locals cannot?” Ms Bath posed.
However, Ms Bath said the state government was unwilling to consider the matter further.
A Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) spokesperson told the Express, “We’re not currently considering lowering the minimum driver licensing age as all available evidence shows reducing the age to 17 years would lead to an increase in road trauma.”
Victoria is the only state or territory in Australia that still requires P-plate drivers to be aged 18 or over. Other states have made the change to 17, or younger in the Northern Territory.
Safety is what’s behind the state government’s reasoning to dismiss changing the age. DTP road crash data shows that between January and September last year, incidents injured 64 people aged 18-to-22 in Gippsland, many of them drivers. While young drivers (aged 18-to-25 years) represent 11.8 per cent of Victoria’s licenced drivers, they unfortunately accounted for 20.5 per cent of drivers involved in fatal crashes in Victoria last year.
“Young drivers continue to have more crashes resulting in death and serious injury than any other group on the road and that’s why there is a driving age of 18 in place in Victoria,” a DTP spokesperson said.
The petition is open until October 1, and is available at: www.parliament.vic.gov.au/get-involved/petitions/reduce-probationary-driving-age/
*Laila Dyce recently took part in work experience at the Express’ sister publication Gippsland Times.
