Every day of the week about two hundred P plate drivers are stripped of their driving licenses for breaking road rules or failing to pay traffic fines. There are 450,600 road users in New South Wales who drive under the provisions of either P1 or P2 provisional driving licenses - and they make up sixteen percent of all drivers in the 17 - 25 age group. Unfortunately, they also represent twenty-six percent of those who cause or suffer injuries in road accidents.
The law is very strict on P1 license holders because they are in their first year of driving and it takes time to become proficient and gain good driving skills. A driver caught speeding in this category automatically has his or her license suspended for three months to drive home the safety message.
P2 drivers are allowed a little more leniency. They lose their license if they accrue seven demerit points, as opposed to the thirteen demerit points allowed fully licensed drivers, and with double demerit points applying over holiday periods, carrying passengers with unbuckled seat belts or a small speeding lapse can have major consequences by way of license loss.
As a consequence, we are seeing a steady increase in the number of drivers who are behind the wheel unlicensed - and in the number of cars on our roads lacking both green slip insurance cover and valid registration. It seems to be a combination of bravado, lack of an alternative way of getting to work and the aftermath of the recession that leaves most people short of money.
It seems that few seem to fully understand the financial risk they take when they drive a car without holding a valid license, or when that vehicle is lacking registration and green slip cover. Lack of either - or both - negates the protection covered by general insurance and the cover by specific insurance policies.
The fact that the driver is driving a worthless " bomb " has no impact on the liability that may bring him or her financial ruin. It seems inevitable that political pressure will result in the penalty for unlicensed and unregistered driving to become more severe - and the steady increase in technology is making detection inevitable. Police patrol cars now have devices that can scan multiple lanes of traffic, read number plates and in cyber time - check the registration and insurance status of each vehicle. This same technology is capable of matching the vehicle plate with the name of the owner - and checking this against driving license status. The " law of probability " is now not in the offenders favour.
The age of the automobile brought with it the freedom of movement that made if a " must have " in this modern world. It also delivers the risk of inflicting a financial blight on the rest of our lives, if we ignore the responsibilities and legal obligations that go with it's use - and that is a risk that we take each time we travel on the road and share it with others. Both the innocent victim and those driving unlicensed and uninsured face peril in equal measure !
No comments:
Post a Comment