A horrific crash in New South Wales has prodded some safety experts in that Australian state to suggest the issue of dangerous young drivers – predominantly male ones – could best be addressed by simply refusing to licence them at all.
On 8:00 p.m. on September 6, an 18-year-old male drive slammed his Nissan Navara into a tree. The crash instantly killed all five of his teenage passengers. The driver was remanded into custody, charged with “five counts of dangerous driving occasioning death — driving in a manner dangerous.” In the aftermath of the crash, efforts to get a handle on young males behind the wheel have resulted in some suggesting men under 21 should be banned from getting a licence.
“The proposal is one of several being made by road safety experts, who say more needs to be done to reduce road fatalities by focusing on young drivers — and particularly young men,” writes The Guardian. The fatalities in NSW are arresting: “So far this year there have been 155 male and 48 female road fatalities across the state, according to Transport for NSW. Between 2011 and 2021, almost three times the number of men died in road accidents when compared with women.”
NSW has a graduated licence system similar to Canada’s. Learners can only drive between certain hours on certain roadways, and at the first level they must be accompanied by a licenced driver, maintain a zero-blood-alchohol level, and follow other similar restrictions. Even with all of these guardrails in place, the same scenario tragically plays out everywhere, including in Ontario, most recently in Brampton and Barrie.
Initial news reports on the Australian teen in jail, however, missed out on a key factor. The driver was refused bail “after a magistrate was told that Mr. Edwards (the driver) had a history of speeding and multiple licence suspensions.” An hour before the crash, he had videoed himself behind the wheel, driving aggressively as his male passengers yelled and laughed.
Tragedy always results in the proposal of laws that overreach, when often the required tools are already in place. Anyone who has ‘multiple’ suspensions and tickets at 18 should have never have retained their licence at all. Let responsible youth be licenced, and implement a single-strike rule at the onset. The problem isn’t letting young people get their licences. The problem is letting young people who demonstrate they can’t handle the task keep their licences.
“Police said witnesses at the scene after the crash reported hearing Mr. Edwards say, ‘I f***ed up, I’m going to jail.’”
Yup.
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