I think that the same is true with HiPo cars and guns...no training=serious accident or fatality. People need to know of the potentially fatal consequences of devices such as these.
Once I was about 11 or 12 and I was shooting tin cans with a slug gun on someones property, and another kid took off with a mini bike which really ticked off the owner of the mini bike so I promptly raised my gun towards the bike and decided to try to shoot out the tyres of the bike to stop this apparent vagrant on the mini bike....
The owner of the bike and gun was aghast at me even thinking that this was even a viable solution in this instance yet alone raising the gun and ready to fire....
I was then given a 5 minute lecture on how dangerous guns were and how to use them properly. i appreciated the education...as I just did not know what harm could have come to those on the bike.
I think the solution is that you need to be mentored in the proper use of things that are dangerous and told when you have done something right and when you have have done something wrong by someone who is competent at the skill you are trying to acquire.
You cant just let anyone have a gun, you just cant let anyone have a driving licence and expect them to handle a 200kw weapon.
Also I just dont know how kids 19 years old can finance a new VZ SS ute at $55,000. I know of one such guy, his last car was a VS V8 ute which he wrote off BTW, so I feel its only a matter of time for him.
I was lucky to be able to borrow $500 from the bank at that age!!! Maybe theres something there too easy finance....I dont know...Im rambling

Quote:
The sting in the tail will be the insurance. If this legislation comes in, then new drivers will no longer be licenced to drive certain categories of car.
If they are involved in an accident while driving one of these cars, even a fender bender, they may be charged with being an unlicenced driver [for that category of car] & the insurance companies will use that as all the excuse they need to refuse to pay out.
This is when any other agrieved party starts a civil court action. The loser of these actions usually pays for the legal costs of the winner, & if it is me, i will use the best Barrister, or QC [at a zillion dollars per hour] that i can find. The offending driver may live in poverty for many many years.

Think twice,... act smart

i feel old when i say i agree, but i see both sides, i mean i was out crusin (a15tt) with my mate in a 1200 (a14) and his mate in a stock auto vs commodore, my mates girlfriend cracked it and said she wanted to be in the commodore cause she would feel safer, the very next set of lights she was in the commodore now and the guy driving that completely lost it launching off the lights, he had it 90 degrees to the road wheel spinning (in the wet), nearly hit my car too

just an example that no car is really any safer it really is all about the pilot

that said i agree that pilots between 18-21 can never really have the experience to handle high performance cars in sticky situations

Sorry guys i have to disagree. Well to a point anyway. It's got nothing to do with the type of car and age of the driver, it all comes down to driver education and the fact that there is none! Driver education should be a compulsory course during high school, an advanced driving course should also be compulsory before receiving a licence and a special licence should be had for driving a high powered vehicle (and i mean all ages). Lets face it anyone who can drive a car could easily drive a truck, but to be able to drive it well takes training and a seperate icence which should be the same for hipo cars! I think the whole situation at the moment is just a political stunt by the nsw labour government. The fact is that no more young people are dieing today as there were 20 years ago and compared to older people it is a fairly small percentage..... Just like they twist the facts so they can install more speed cameras (like classing a car accident on a wet road at below the signed speed limit as speeding ie: not driving to the conditions!). and just think now that all this has been blown out of proportion it will be another excuse for our insurance premiums to go up next year.

this is a sticky topic i think, because i do belive even as a p plater myself that we as a group need to be slowed down, because it is so easy to be a danger to the public.although i dont entirely agree but it is the minority that is bringing us down and giving us a bad name. but there needs to be a way of letting the people who are doing the right thing in high powered cars etc to keep going , and penalise wrong doers. i think the goverment is going about it all wrong. i think to stop deaths they need to make it like someone else said, so that u need training and a diff licence to drive a high powered car, just like u would need cams licencing for diff cars etc. maybe even go to the lengths to physically slow the cars down, not just put limits like no turbos or 8's, because even in my car i can get it past 100km/h without too much trouble ands could easily kill myself at that speed, i think they need to research it much more thoroughly before imposing these new laws because i dont belive it will do much if anything.

I'm with Datt Matt. I too feel that power / weight ratio is a good idea for bikes and the new bike licensing scheme is a step in the right direction. Should have a similar system for cars. No one or no Gov't program can eradicate the "invincibility" of youth and the hormone fuelled bravado that comes with it. Testing the boundaries starts as a child and accellerates through teenage years (some adults never grow out of it !!!!) so some kind of guideline has to be in place.
My biggest gripe is driver training. Most uninformed adults claim driver training inspires teenagers to drive fast - because they have never done a course. Defensive driving is required, not race craft & heel + toe !!! What I have learnt through two BMW advanced driving courses, Peter Finlays race driving school and a recent Superbike School is that I was about half as good as I thought I was !!!!!!!!!! Learn the skills that will save your life ... collision avoidance, wet braking, planning ahead etc. One of these courses gave my brother the resources to reduce the severity of an accident when a small truck ran a stop sign in front of his 44 foot semi. Police acknowledged that without the manouvres my brother undertook, the passenger in the small truck would have been killed instantly.
In summary,
Basic defensive driving courses mandatory
Ban on high HP cars for under 21
Advanced course certification BEFORE you can purchase high powered cars regardless of age
More police presense on road, not revenue cameras or hiding in bushes.
But will NSW state gov't be able to function without all the extra revenue? Hmmm, I don't think we will see any initiatives that will actually COST the gov't money so I suppose it's just another case of lower speed limits and even more cameras !!!
Cheers

No V8 Turbo or supercharged car sweet a kid in a 350Z has no worries why stop there a V12 FERRARI is niether A V8 Nor Turbo or Supercharged Sweet jump in kid!

I did a defensive driving course back in high school, it was just after I got my P's I think all people should be forced into doing similar courses but cover everything, as the course I wnt to helped so much as it gives you a different perspective on driving. This course mainly dealt with braking and various situations of braking, but afterwards I feel I have the best braking or most of my mates (becuase I've been in their cars). But yeah it's like everyones saying, if daddy didn't buy their cars then they would treat them with a whole lot more respect as they had to work hard to get them.

You need to start small and work up like most of the people here, I started out with an A14 slightly modified, it was fun but unless you were really being stupid then you weren't too dangerous.



Cheers
Damo

R-Fast
Half as good as you thought you were,... nobody likes a braggart. I remember driving around a friends orchard in a paddock basher when i was 17, & it took me a week of practice before i was half as good as i thought. Perhaps i had an even more inflated opinion of my skills than you did, but the exercise was an eye opener for me. I quickly discovered that it's often the ones with the highest opinion of their skills who are most in need of an awakening. It worked for me.
The only motor vehicle collision that i have ever been involved in was when i was badly side swiped by a 17 year old with a 3 week old licence, who thought he could drive. He would be about 40 by now, i wonder if he wories about his children at the wheel these days.

NIS15L
Your point is well made, & i can see that you feel that whatever system is offered up needs to be fair & balanced, but your illustration is perhaps a little bit 'out there.'

I must confess that i have never seen a "kid in a V12 Ferrari," nor do i think i will anytime soon. As 350Z's get older & cheaper, then this situation may actually accur, but these are not the vehicle types that seem to have been featured in the more spectacular collisions recently. They seem to have been more popular makes & models. None the less, your point is a valid one.

We will never drain the excess testosterone from our youth, & maybee we shouldn't want to, but perhaps we can reduce the ability of some to get themselves into situations from which they have no chance of recovery, taking out several innocent lives in the process. Lets hope so.

Im just pointing out that if they do this i hope they do it right and do it so it helps the P platers and stop accidents because thats what counts.