Great News for Parents and Young Drivers

Member for Davidson, Jonathan O’Dea has applauded the roll out of a raft of changes by the NSW Government covering Learner licences. Amongst the reforms, young drivers will be offered the chance to reduce their logbook driving hours from 120 to 80.

“This is another common sense policy that shows the NSW Liberals and Nationals Government is committed to improving road safety,” Mr O’Dea said.

“It is also another election commitment delivered by the NSW Government for young drivers and their families in Davidson and across the state.

“Young drivers and their parents can struggle to log 120 hours behind the wheel while on their L-plates. Now, by taking part in the new Safer Drivers Course and having professional lessons, they can reduce their compulsory supervised driving hours to 80.

“The Safer Drivers Course will be rolled out between July this year and January 2014.

“It makes sense that leaners also need more supervised driving experience on higher speed roads and the raising of the limit from 80km/h to 90km/h will help in the transition to P-Plates,” Mr O’Dea said.

“Young drivers are tragically over-represented in the NSW road toll and we want to ensure they are all given the opportunity to learn about road safety while they are still learning the basics of driving. Statistics show that in the first few months of driving alone on P-Plates, a young driver is at almost nine times more risk of being injured in a crash than a driver on their L-Plates.

“These changes are about improving the training given to beginner drivers so they are in the best possible position to graduate to driving without supervision,” Mr O’Dea said.

* This is in addition to the 10 hours spent driving during the lessons. Professional lessons more than ten hours will not provide additional credit. 

For more information visit http: http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/less-more-new-course-young-drivers