New P-plate laws for young drivers – does it affect you?
By PETER ROWE
Just passed your driving test and picked up your red P-plates?
Then you need to be way of the new laws introduced in Western Australia that will limit you to carrying just one passenger when you are on the road.
Young WA drivers aged 17-19 have the highest KSI (Killed or Seriously Injured) rate at 107 per 100,000 population compared to other age groups (Western Australian Road Fatalities and Serious Injuries 2023 report).
“Every death on our roads is a tragedy, and we know our least experienced drivers are particularly vulnerable when they get behind the wheel,” Premier Roger Cook said.
“P-plater restrictions were a key theme that emerged from last month’s Road Safety Roundtable, which heard from a diverse range of road safety experts, stakeholders and people with lived experience of road trauma.”
Statistics and recent tragedies on our roads have also shown that novice drivers are at higher risk of crashing when they are distracted.
The new one-person passenger restriction aims to alleviate this problem and also bring Western Australia into line with other jurisdictions. A complete curfew on red P-plate driving between midnight and 5am will continue to apply.
Exemptions from the passenger restrictions rule will only apply if:
* The additional passenger(s) is an experienced driver who has held an ordinary C-class licence for at least four years; or
* other passengers are immediate family members; or
* if additional passengers are in the vehicle as a necessary requirement of the driver’s employment. For this to apply, a letter from the driver’s employer must be carried by the red P-plate driver for presentation on request.
The penalty for breaching red P-plate passenger restrictions is a $200 fine and two demerit points, which is the same as for driving during the existing red P-plate curfew.
The new restriction will apply for all existing and future red P-plate drivers from 1 December 2024, following the tragic deaths of young people on WA roads, including passengers Tom Saffioti and Nick Campo.
To encourage safe driving, and instil preventative driving habits early on, the Safe Driver Reward Scheme for P-plate drivers will be expanded to further incentivise safe driving over a longer period of three years.
Currently, if P-plate drivers remain demerit-point-free during their two-year probationary period, they are rewarded with a free full licence for one year.
Under the expanded pilot program, drivers who remain demerit-point-free for a further year (i.e. a total of three consecutive years of demerit-free driving), will be rewarded with up to a $100 discount off their next driver’s licence renewal either as:
* a $100 discount off a 5-year licence (currently $163.50); or
* a one-year licence free (currently $46.85).
Police Minister Paul Papalia said there were more police officers on Western Australia’s roads than ever before, and they will be out in force ensuring young people are complying with the law.
“Serious crashes not only shatter families but also scar our first responders who see the devastation and have the incredibly difficult job of notifying loved ones about tragedies,” he said.