Bad drivers to recommend their own punishment
19 Jul, 2008
12 Comments 
Victoria, the state with the harshest penalties towards speeding and disqualified driving has, in an unusual move, requested the help of disqualified and lawless drivers to come up with new punishments against themselves.
The Victoria’s Sentencing Advisory Council (SAC) has asked drivers who have shown a disregard to the traffic laws to share with them why they drive while disqualified or suspended, and what the government can do to prevent them.
To qualify for the focus groups, you must have either lost your licence through demerit points or driving under the influence. Not everyday that criteria can be useful for anything except jail!
SAC will begin with newspaper advertisements to recruit the ‘bad drivers’. All costs will be paid by SAC, who is expected to recommended new punishments to the State Government within the next 12 months.
If you’re interested, you will have more luck if you’re a young male, aged between 20-24 as that age bracket forms the highest risk group among disqualified drivers.
Statistics show that disqualified drivers tend to break other driving laws as well, partially due to their “nothing-to-lose-attitude” whilst also being involved in a proportionately higher number of road crashes than licensed drivers.
“We want to know what motivates them, what might deter them and what they think of the fairness of driving laws, if people think the laws are unfair, they are more likely to disobey them.” SAC chairman Arie Freiberg said
Victoria is currently the only state that imposes a mandatory jail sentence of one month for repeat disqualified or suspended drivers, a law which SAC has already recommended abolishing due to potential explosion in Victoria’s jail population.
SAC now recommends impounding more vehicles, licence restrictions and compulsory rehabilitation courses instead of jail terms.
If you have driven with a disqualified or suspended license, what were your reasons?
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July 19th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
This is just nuts. Why do they drive without licence? Well, because they’re lawbreakers and will continue to be such. And there’s the obvious reason, which is of course the need to get from A to B. Public transport sucks yet is expensive.
Are they expecting answers like, “Oh go ahead, sentence me for life, I’m a bad driver that’s why?” It’s like asking a drug addict what they should do to them.
Let’s face it, there will always be speeders and drunk driving no matter how harsh the punishment is. German autobahns are there to answer the adrenalin rush, which makes us human in the first place. And up until alternative modes of transport are hugely improved and made more affordable, people will keep bringing their cars to parties and drive home drunk.
Again, they’re missing the point. With a pursuit to stop these things, they are only tracking down those who do it and not the reason why. These questions should be answered accordingly if they really want results.
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July 19th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I think they seriously think consulting with acknowledged morons will give them a clue as to what will stop a moron being a moron.
This shows how deeply those in authority have lost the plot.
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July 20th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Force them to ride around in 50cc-125cc mopeds/scooters to give them a good dose of humility and see what it feels when someone else speeds and drives like a reckless idiot around them.
The scooters are cheap to buy and run and they can’t carry other passengers that just normally add to the peer pressure.
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July 20th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I think to an extent its useful. Obviously consulting people who drive when disqualified is useless, but finding the motivation as to why someone speeds or drives drunk could be helpful… although not sure how they can implement any changes. For eg someone may go over the limit because they believe the limits are to low. So are they going to increase speed limits? Hell no. Personally I think limits are to low, we place to much emphasis on cars having to watch out for people which creates a culture that people can do whatever they want on the road… instead of creating a culture that YOU watch out for cars. Its alot easier for someone without a pillar in their way to see a car with its shining lights at night then the other way round.
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July 20th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
As the media/courts very rarely name these offenders…. How about introducing a system which publicly humiliates them and lets the law abiding motorists know who the morons are on our roads such as:
Tattooing them so their faces/hands are bright blue - like the guys on the old Pentium ads
Making them drive a really old [and ugly] car which is only capable of 30Km/h and painted in a really unique day-glo colour [and a plastic apendage on the roof]
I was thinking of a car with the amount of power equal to their IQ but I cant think of a car with less than 20 Kws
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July 20th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I realise my suggestions maybe extreme but male drivers who speed and do burnouts like to think that they are untouchable; unstoppable unbreakable they like to show off and be the centre of attention as if to say look what I can do.
Therefore embarrassing them or publicly humiliatingthem is a more logical solution as it lets people know how much of an idiot they really are.
I men to ask the offenders what they think their punishment should be is like putting inmates in charge of the mental assylum
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July 20th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
How about we strips off all the traffic lights, signs, warning signs and harsh P plate laws?
They will finally realise that they’re too stupid to go fast and nothing will happens. Being cautious is better than breaking the laws.
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July 20th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
P-platers, ironically, are the most abusive on the road. It certainly defeats the Probationary definition of the licence. Many of them just change lanes whenever they want to, and a lot of Eastlink speeders are these guys. There should be more police monitoring for reckless driving, not just sitting ducks pulling the triggers of those speed detectors or breath-testing.
As for bad drivers, their cars must be equipped with speed limiters that will allow them no more than 60 km/h. Perhaps a P should be re-issued to them (well if the P itself serves its real purpose again) for a couple of years. Anymore violation should result to long jail sentences.
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July 21st, 2008 at 5:15 am
Boy talk about stereo typing people…..did you know that 100 people PER DAY are losing their license in NSW (let alone victoria), does this make them all morans. Don’t succumb to the BS governments put out in regard to speeding and the draconian laws they have made. Its much easier and more cost effective for them to fine the hell out of people than it is to fix our roads and educate our drivers. Most speed limits on freeways in Europe are 130kmh or more and you can do this perfectly safely yet in Australia if you travel at over 90kmh on some sections of 3 lane freeway then you are a danger to youreslf and the community at large….give me a break…..Governments doctor speed/accident statistics to make speeding seem like the culprit in the majority of accidents….they put speed down as a factor if you are 1kmh over the limit…..the real cause of the accident may be something completely unrelated to the speed being travelled at yet speed is the statistic that counts on their revenue raising campaign.
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July 21st, 2008 at 10:42 am
People speed and commit traffic breaches because they’re pretty sure they’ll get away with it. It aint rocket science!
If you were certain of getting caught each time, very few would break the law. Advertising speed camera sites, white vans with cameras and marked cop cars is crazy. The threat of speed guns with hidden cops and unmarked cas scares the hell out of most of us and if we think they’re about we slow down and drive sensibly.
The trade off however is spending some of the fine revenue on legal racing facilities and making them available to ‘joe average’ so that he can legally burn off the adrenalin in a controlled environment.
Also the realisic speed zone suggestions of Adrian has merit.
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July 22nd, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Agree with both of you , Adrian and Steve V, but another thing that really gets me is that around 20% of camera’s are in accident “Black Spots” with the other’s lurking on straght stretches of multi lane roads where revenue is excellent, how dare we want to enjoy driving a bit faster and enjoying what is perfectly safe in cars that are 100’s of times safer and more capable than 30 year old falcons and kingswoods could ever cope with when the same speed limits applied back then.Drive to the conditions using skills,ability and common sense when it is safe to do so on the 1000’s of kilometers of quiet roads in our country but adhere and respect speed limits in built up areas
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July 22nd, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Spending money (less as mentioned) on education and skill improvement is definately a more effective answer, i agree.
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