What does your Plate say about you?

As I mentioned in my last post, Victoria has gone to a graduated licensing system which requires new driver's to display their license status in their front and back windscreens. What does that mean on the roads?

Well, here's my experience. If you see a car with a bright yellow L plate in the front or back window, then steer clear. This person is just learning to drive. They stop suddenly, they change lanes at a snail's pace and do all the random things that new drivers do. I find it extremely helpful to see the bright L plate in the window. This gives me a fair idea why the road has been clear for 3 minutes and they have still not entered traffic despite the line of cars waiting behind them. I feel less road rage towards these drivers because I can understand their plight--the bright yellow L explains it all to me. I think it's easier for other drivers on the road to watch out for the learners because of the special plate they must display and this, in my humble opinion, makes for safer roads. Let's face it, the kids have gotta learn, but that doesn't mean we don't need to know about it.

Now the more controversial group of drivers...the P Platers. This is the plate you have to display in your front and back windows when you pass the driving tests and are allowed to drive on your own. As I described in my last post, new drivers are put on provisional licenses here and they have to go through two stages of P plates. While the red colour indicates the first year of a provisional license, and the green colour indicates the subsequent three years, I don't discriminate between the two. A P Plater to me is still a P Plater no matter the colour of their plate. Here is a warning to my readers: what is about to follow is a list of gross generalisations about P Platers--I'm sure there are responsible, cautious and capable P Platers out there, I've just never met them.

When I see a P Plater on the road, I feel the need to be more aware than I do with even an L Plater. What the P Plater usually has that the L Plater doesn't is speed. P Platers are still relatively inexperienced drivers who don't have their parents or driving instructor sitting next to them and they are making the most of their new found freedom on the roads. We live on a long straight street here in Melbourne. We went through a patch where various cars were peeling out and speeding down our street late at night. We could never get outside fast enough to get their number plates, but you could see their glowing P plates in the distance as they sped off.

On the road, if someone is following too closely--especially at a high rate of speed, I'll often look back in my rear vision mirror and see the P Plate staring back at me. Then I change lanes and get the heck out of their way. I figure if they are feeling a need for speed, I don't need to be collected on their way through, thank you very much. Loud music coming from the car next to you, P Plater strikes again.

Now, I'm not saying I'm the most experienced best driver in the world, in fact the Handsome Australian would laugh me out of the room if he heard me making such a statement. I'm also not saying that I wasn't the same as these P Platers when I was the same age--always in a hurry, carelessly taking risks, playing my music too loud, etc.What I am saying is there is something to be said for experience and I'm really happy with the P Plate system here in Australia. I like the warning it gives me as a fellow driver on the road. I like the rigors it puts new drivers through and the high expectations it holds them to. I like the fact that you have to be 18 before you can even get a license. When I look back at my days as a learner driver at 15 years of age, and then a fully licensed driver at 16 back in Texas, I shudder. Who honestly thought that was a good idea?

As a parent now, I can truly appreciate the Australian approach.

The rules of the road...

The day was going chaotically to begin with. Herding two children through a busy shopping mall, dealing with somewhat incompetent customer service people, convincing a two year old that coffee really is for adults only were just the beginning of a list of hurdles we seemed to be coming across. In the late afternoon, we were making our way to visit some family members in another part of the city. Along the way we had an unfortunate impromptu meeting with a P-plater. The meeting came in the form of a car accident--a result of the P-plater not yielding when making a right hand turn at a busy intersection. Fortunately, no one was injured, but for the rest of the day, the green P plate displayed prominently on the other driver's car windscreen (that's Aussie for windshield) was burned into my consciousness as I replayed the vision of said driver's SUV hurling towards our mid size car and my small children in the backseat.

What's a P-plater? For those non-Australian among you, a P-plater is a driver who is driving on a probationary license. They are called "P-platers" because they must display a "P plate" in both their front and back windscreens. This allows other drivers on the road to be aware of their probationary status and presumably to take care when driving around them on the road.

Which driver's have a probationary license? Generally the people who are driving on a probationary license are new drivers. The system here in Victoria is the following: You are eligible to apply for your learner's permit when you are 16 years of age. Once you obtain the learner's permit, you must complete 120 hours of supervised driving practice. If you are under age 21, you must have your learner's permit for 12 months before applying for a probationary license. You must also display your yellow L plates in the front and back windscreens of your car.

There are other restrictions that apply to L-platers, as learning drivers are called, and these include having a licensed driver in the car with you at all times (interestingly, the licensed driver must have a BAC--that's blood alcohol count--of less than .05), having a BAC of zero themselves, not being able to use a mobile phone in any capacity (hands free or otherwise) and the list goes on.

Once an L-plater reaches 18 years of age and they've met the requirements for practice hours, etc they can then apply for a probationary license. This means they get to trade their L-plate for a P-plate.

In the past, the probationary period has varied. When the Handsome Australian's brother number 4 applied for his license sometime at the beginning of this decade, the probationary period had just been changed from 2 years to 3 years.

Now Victoria has gone to a graduated licensing system in which P platers have to go through two stages of P plates. The first stage is the red P plate which the probationary driver must be on for a full 12 months. If they have a good driving record after 12 months, they will graduate to the green P plate which they must be on for 3 years. Both of these P plates have similar restrictions: you must have a BAC of zero any time you are driving the car, you mustn't use mobile phones while driving, etc. Any alcohol related infractions while you have your probationary license, and you will most likely have your probationary license suspended and your probationary period extended by six months for each infraction.

What's the point of all of this? The idea is to protect young drivers (who unfortunately make up a disproportionate percentage of the road toll) by placing strict rules upon them until they've matured a bit and have had several years of driving experience.

Does it work? I don't know how the statistics have played out since they've implemented the program. What I find intriguing though is the fact that these drivers must display their status in their windscreen making other drivers on the road aware of their relative inexperience as drivers. What kind of dynamics does this knowledge lead to on the roads?

Stay tuned to find out...

Learn the Lingo

windscreen = windshield

P plater = probationary driver

L plater = learner driver

BAC = Blood Alcohol Count