Ban P Platers over Easter

[AWD Chaser]

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...-1226043814025

WORRIED drivers have turned on young road users, overwhelmingly backing a ban on P-platers getting behind the wheel during the dangerous holiday seasons.
A nationwide survey has found that 58 per cent of Australians would support laws banning P-plate drivers from the road on public holidays.
And drivers, polled by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union, also believe in zero-tolerance when it comes to boozing, saying alcohol should be out of bounds for all road users during holiday season.
With Australians worried about the safety of our roads, 79 per cent of respondents said they would use a dedicated high-speed rail network between Australia's capital cities during holiday periods if one were available.
Rail Tram and Bus Union national secretary Bob Nanva said the P-plate ban result was quite unexpected.

He said the union did not advocate a ban on P-platers, but said the results indicated that Australian road users wanted more transport options for holiday travel to reduce the road toll.

"While these results are surprising, they clearly indicate that the majority of Australians are still concerned about the safety of our roads and want governments to do more to reduce the toll," he said.

NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay said he would not support a move to outlaw P-platers from driving during public holidays.

"Many of the P-platers might be going on holidays ... (or people) who travel to work," a spokesman for Mr Gay said.

But the spokesman said studies suggested that younger drivers were more prone than older drivers to have accidents on public holidays.

A NSW Police spokeswoman said the road toll in NSW so far this year was 98 fatal crashes, which had resulted in 108 deaths.

In 2010 the annual road toll in NSW was 382 crashes resulting in 422 deaths.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said they would not back a ban on P-platers.

"There is no evidence that taking P-platers off the road would make the roads safer," he said

Now using data from http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety...ident-data.pdf:

Year to Date (Mar 2011)
0-4: 0
5-16: 2
17-20: 10
21-25: 10
26-29: 8
30-39: 7
40-49: 15
50-59: 14
60-69: 8
70+: 17
uknown: 0
Total: 91

So given the stats for NSW - THe fatal stats dont agree with the minority bashing (although non-fatal stats may be different)