I pinched this title from the editorial in the Courier Mail of 14 July.

The editor put it so well that I’ll just quote him directly:

<< Every K over, so the slogan tells us, is a killer. Unless of course you are a learner driver sitting a driving test for your licence.

Under new testing criteria, drivers being tested [in Queensland] were going to be allowed to travel at up to 5kmh over the limit on five occasions during the test and still pass.

After another hasty policy rejig following yesterday’s report in the Courier Mail, this will now be reduced to three strikes and you are out in terms of speeding. But if every K over is indeed a killer, what sort of message does even this lesser degree of leeway send young drivers? >>

<< …stipulating that even low level speeding is acceptable for novice drivers totally undermines the road safety message – particularly when set against the backdrop of the millions of dollars Queensland spends on road safety campaigns each year, and these with a particular emphasis on the dangers of speeding. >>

<< If a young driver is going to speed up to three times during a half hour period when their driving is being scrutinised more closely than it ever will be again, surely some questions are raised as to the suitability to take to the roads without supervision. >>

<< When it comes to road safety there is no scope for cutting corners. It is literally a matter of life and death, and tough rhetoric from the government should not be matched by a soft reality >>

Your thoughts?

absolutes do make a lot of sense.

Thanks Ludwig. Unusually, I agree with both C-M editor and you (I imagine) on this. Allowing a learner driver to exceed the speed limit at all during a 30 minute driving test sends exactly the wrong message, in my book. I think that driver's licences should be harder to get.

Having said that, my son finally got his provisional licence earlier this year (in Qld). I was quite impressed with both the new log book for learner drivers and the fact that they have to pass their theory test prior to being issued with a learner's permit.

However, any breach of the traffic rules at all during the practical test should result in failure, IMHO.

I nearly didn't get my licence years ago because I didn't look over my shoulder when pulling out from the kerb as WELL as use all the mirrors. Now you can speed?. Nuts.

Well, Rachel Nolan (Qld Tpt Minister) is a serial speedster, as is the deputy Lucas, and a few others too... Karen Struthers was it?

The new log book is a bit outrageous, with, I think, 100 hours of driving required with a fully licensed driver alongside.

One of my sons did the Q-Ride motorbike test, which was far more rigorous training and testing than the car test is, and should be adopted for cars.

It is, of course, quite silly to be condoning so many breaches...about 5 stalls too in the first draft of the new test.

Heavens... if you driving for over 100 hours and you still stall the car once, never mind a few times, should you really be on the road at all?

I think that this idea was because the testing authority recognised that it is a damn site more dangerous driving along watching the speedo all the time, than it is to exceed the arbitrarily set speed limits by a couple of Km or so, from time to time.

Anyone who actually believes that "any K over is a killer" is obviously a very poor driver, & should not be on the road.

I defy anyone to drive from the Gold Coast, up the expressway to Brisbane regularly, without either,

1/ Being a mobile chicane, holding up the traffic leading to road rage.

2/ Exceeding the speed limit a little occasionally, even with the best cruise control , & speed alert alarms helping.

Still, I would have thought a person, with 100 hours, or around 5,000 Km experience,should be able to avoid speeding for a short test