It seems there are some young drivers prepared to stand up. There is a forum being held in Sydney today about road safety and the recent proposals to restrict young drivers. The forum is being sponsored by the NRMA (boo! hiss!) which does oppose most of the restrictive proposals.
Some of you may have seen the newspaper headlines in Sydney this morning that were sensationalising the road toll statistics.
The following is part of a script for ABC-TV News in Sydney tonight which is more balanced.
Quote:
No one denies there are too many young people dying on the roads.
The State Government has suggested a curfew for new drivers and restrictions on the numbers of passengers.
But today at a forum, young people spoke out against the proposals.
"why are we focusing on young drivers in terms of passenger restrictions when there are studies that have shown it affects all drivers"
"I've got two children myself how do you suppose I go about doing my day to day activities with my children if you’re going to say I can't drive with my kids in the car"
Official speakers were put on the spot as young driver after young driver blasted the plans.
"these people living out in rural and regional areas who don’t have the means of transport like we do here in metropolitan Sydney and other areas around New South Wales how are they going to get around"
Many of the questions were fired at professor Mark Stevenson who stood by his argument that restrictions on the numbers of passengers was crucial.
Mark:
"oh look I feel like I’m in the lion’s den at the moment but it would be remiss of me as a scientist when we have good evidence not to be disseminating that"
The Roads and Traffic Authority remains adamant the proposals will continue to be considered as the consultation process continues.
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