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Mr Hartley has already discussed the plan with the Roads and Traffic Authority, arguing that a curfew and passenger restrictions introduced in 2006 for provisional drivers wasn’t enough.

This latest development aimed at reducing the death toll of young drivers on our roads is yet another hit-and-miss campaign which relies upon consequences rather than action.

It seems the only way officials can envisage safer roads for our younger drivers is by keeping them off it – hardly the makings of more competent and experienced future road users.

Meanwhile vital driver training centres continue to operate without any form of substantial government support, with our new drivers instead proving their worth at parallel parking before being allowed behind the wheel solo.

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In my small ‘town’ of Brisbane, exists what is arguably Australia’s best driving road. Less than 30 minutes from the CBD, less than an hour from most suburbs. Here, you will find the entrance to Mount Nebo and a pathway onto Mt Glorious road, certainly Brisbane’s two best driving roads.

They represent 59.3 kilometres of pure, pothole free, Volvo free, old-lady free, solid tarmac to unwind and enjoy. Winding bends, S bends, hair pin turns, whatever you ask for, it’s all there.

I’ve been meaning to do a story on Mt Nebo and Mt Glorious for some time, but I’d been waiting for the right car. My own car, a ’slightly’ modified Subaru tends to live up the mountain (its only real use apart from the track) and those that know me well, know that I know that mountain like the Stig knows the Top Gear track.

So when Mitsubishi handed me the keys to two Evolution Xs I knew the time was right for this story. You see, Mt Nebo is no fun in an everyday car, although I take nearly every car (minus the people movers and SUVs) that come through the CarAdvice Brisbane office up there for suspension and handling tests.

Once you’ve experienced the mountain in say a Lotus Exige S, nothing else feels as much fun, well, nothing except an Evo X.

The Queensland WRX and Evo clubs/forums tend to run bimonthly mountain runs during the week (to avoid traffic) and it only takes a matter of days to organise a quick drive with a few like-minded individuals.

So then, calls were made, people were informed and a few days later, three STIs, one Evo IX and yours truly, in a Mitsubishi Australia Evo X headed towards the gates to driving heaven.

Before we headed off, the Evo X was filled up, again, marking the fourth complete refuel in one week and a total of six refuels for both Evos in two weeks!

Initial reaction to the Evo X from fellow mountain runners was not exactly positive – “I hear it’s a good 100kg heavier than the IX”; “The front looks great, but what’s with the rear?”; “I thought they fixed the interior?” – it went on and on, but weight, looks and interior apart, the real test was to see if the Evo could cut it around the mountain.

The one thing you need to know about Mt Nebo Road and Mt Glorious Road is that if you want to push it hard, be prepared, be confident and learn and study the road.

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We’ll keep tabs on this one and let you know if we hear about any further developments.

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This is effectively a two pronged approach at cutting the road toll in lieu of any serious Government initiatives, with the 26-39 age category accounting for 23.9 percent of annual road deaths nationally.

This figure is exceeded only by the 17-25 year age bracket which accounts for 25.7 percent of annual road deaths across the country.

“We find that many experienced drivers who were taught by dad still think they have to pump the brakes in an emergency situation, even if the car has ABS,” Mr Stewart said.

Many older drivers have never undergone a defensive driving course, and as a result are passing on bad habits to the next generation of drivers.

Even the most seasoned of motorists still require advanced training in order to adapt to new vehicle safety technologies such as Anti-skid Braking System (ABS), traction control and stability control.

“Experience doesn’t always equate to a sound knowledge base, which is what we try to rectify with our Defensive Driving Course.”

Before your child even gets behind the wheel, experts recommend you as a parent should acquire the skills needed to be able to teach your children safe and economical driving habits.

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Launched by Road Safety Minister Carmel Zollo the $1 million dollar plus advertising campaign is hoped to save the lives of some 14 motorists annually who were killed in an accident where low level speeding was the primary cause.

“People do not understand the consequences of being involved in a crash and the extra impact of travelling just a little bit over the speed limit can have” Motor Accident Commission CEO Andrew Daniels.

The ad which even the SA Government admits is a little confronting is said to highlight the pain and suffering of crash victims by using the tag line “There are creepers among us”.

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What do you think? Will it work? Let us know by leaving a comment.

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Nonetheless, Insp Richard Watkins, of Victoria Police’s major collision investigation unit, still claimed that traffic police strongly supported speed cameras.

“If the cameras are doing their job, then we spend less time at serious collisions and fatalities, members might want to come and spend a day with us to see the impact of speed.” he said.

In Victoria alone, an average of more than 50,000 mobile speed camera fines are issued each month and that figure excludes tickets issued by fixed cameras.

Victoria Police were quick to point out that regardless of what the Police force believe, excessive speed is still the most common cause of road accidents. A spokeswoman for the force noted that there has been a 50 per cent drop in the road toll since the inception of cameras in 1989.

Unfortunately, nor her or the Victorian police force has considered the enormous advancements in vehicle safety since 1989. The inclusion of airbags in nearly all new cars, ESP, ABS, Side airbags, the list goes on, but, according to Victoria Police, the 50% reduction is primarily due to speed cameras…

“The traffic camera program is ultimately designed to reduce the number of vehicle collisions and therefore the incidence of road trauma and death,” she said.

Now that the police officers agree with the majority of us, how can we move forward from here?

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Despite the massive increase (and intensely advertised) number of speed cameras and police on QLD roads, the sunshine state has once again, recorded the worst toll for the nation.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has blamed speeding motorists, saying her government will review its road safety campaign with the potential for tougher penalties. QLD police have also expressed that they are at “wits end” with motorists’ behaviour.

“As a result of the continued speeding on our roads, and as a result of the continued drink driving on our roads, I’ll be talking with the Queensland Police Service and the minister for transport (John Mickel) about what else we can look at.” Premier Bligh said.

Unfortunately for Premier Bligh, she has missed the point. Last year QLD launched campaign 300, aimed at reducing the road toll below 300 for 2007. The operation involved substantially more speed cameras and RBTs.

The result? Not only did it fail, the road toll actually increased by almost 7 per cent (337 in 2006). The extra speed cameras have so far proven to be nothing more than a successful revenue-raising scheme.

What tends to concern us though, is that Premier Bligh has not even bothered to account for how the seven deaths occurred, opting to instead blame speeding without hesitation or merit.

Saturday saw a male pedestrian hit and killed by a vehicle at Craignish, north-west of Hervey Bay. That was followed by the deaths of a six-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy when the car they were in left the road, rolled and hit a tree at Murphys Creek, north of Toowoomba.

A teenager died when his motorcycle left the road and slammed into a tree. An elderly man died after a two car collision in the Brisbane suburb of Mansfield while a man in his 50s died when his motorbike collided with a cow about 10km outside Boulia, in the state’s west.

So, two motorcycle deaths, one caused by a cow, one pedestrian, two deaths in one car due to driver error and dark roads (Police did not blame speed as the primary cause), but it gets better, because according to QLD police the elderly man’s death could have been caused by a pre-existing medical condition!

What gets the blame? Speeding! Remember folks, if you can’t blame anyone else, blame speeding! At least that makes money.

When we said massive increase in speed cameras, we weren’t exaggerating, 14,731 QLD drivers were issued with speeding tickets during this holiday period, nearly twice as many as Easter in 2007. Almost 500 were caught drink driving.

What more can we say? Twice as many speeders caught, yet the road toll is higher? Perhaps, just perhaps, it’s not speeding?

Perhaps Premier Bligh should look into advanced driver training for all, compulsory re-licensing for older drivers, separate licenses for 4WD and high performance cars and focus the speed cameras on blackspots, not on straight roads.

Moving on from QLD, NSW Police issued just under 5000 speeding tickets, about 1/3 of QLD’s count, despite the state having a higher number of registered drivers. The number of speeding tickets also didn’t affect the state’s roads remaining fatality free.

It’s worth noting, however, that despite the minimal speeding tickets, 6780 NSW motorists were charged with other driving offence ranging from reckless driving, using a mobile phone while driving and not wearing a seatbelt.

The motorist which topped the state’s idiot list was a 23-year-old disqualified driver, who passed a speed camera at 160km/h coming off the Anzac Bridge.

Moving to Victoria, a mother and daughter were killed when their car slammed into the side of a passenger train today in yet another level crossing disaster for the state.

Police have confirmed that the vehicle was a four-wheel drive and the incident occurred at an unprotected country level crossing at Moriac, near Winchelsea (picture below).

The second worst state was Western Australia with 5 deaths. An eight-year-old and a 21-year-old died when the Holden Commodore sedan they were in turned in front of a Holden Rodeo – the Rodeo had right of way.

Despite wearing seatbelts, the 21-year-old woman and the eight-year-old boy were thrown from the Commodore and died of their injuries.

On Friday a woman was killed when her car slammed into a tree on the South-West Highway, 30km north of Walpole. Another women died in the State’s north, after she was thrown from her car as it rolled on a bend. Police believe she was not wearing a seatbelt at the time.

Going by the WA Police’s own press releases, excessive speed was not the primary factor in these deaths.

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These unfortunate souls that have perished on Australian roads this Easter period, have perished in vain. The State governments continue to deny the need for better driver training, while insisting, without merit, that excessive speed is the primary and root cause of the majority of accidents.

All we can ask is that you consider the facts and figures before blindly swallowing the Speed Kills propaganda. Sticking to 60km/h in a 60 zone does not guarantee your safety. If you want to improve your driving ability and lower your chances of being in a car accident, book yourself into an advanced driving course, it may just save your life.

Alborz Fallah

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The three minute ad will premiere at 8.27pm this evening with shorter ads appearing over coming weeks.

The TAC hopes the true stories will get through to speeding motorists though many cynics of the campaign believe the money could have been better spent in educational programs and improvements to our roads.

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The first guinea pigs will be Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon, a  former Victorian coroner plus other Victorian Government ministers and an estimated 45 other participants.

According to the Herald Sun, all state and territory governments as well as New Zealand have been in talks to introduce the system for some time. Depending on results, the project will move to NSW and Western Australia later this year.

The system will cost anywhere between $700 and $2000 per vehicle to install and it is expected to find its way into government fleet cars first.

So how does it work? It’s not that different to your every satellite navigation – only that it interfaces with your car’s electronic systems. It knows where you are and it has a database of all speed limits on Australia roads.

Firstly it works out how fast you’re going by taking an average reading of your changing position divided by time -it then runs the speed past the database to see if you’re breaking the speed limit – then begins the pain.

There are three levels of operation:

• Level one will simply give you an annoying audible warning when you go over the speed limit,
• Level two starts to cut power to the engine to slow you down by force – but can be overridden or ignored,
• Level three is like level two only that the system now overrules you, and won’t allow the car to speed regardless of what colourful words you will use against it.

Queensland transport, which despite a massive surge in speed cameras failed miserably in reducing the state’s road toll last year, has already come out and said the system can reduce serious accidents by an enormous 20 per cent.

But wait, it gets better. The Herald Sun also quoted in its original report that an unnamed Victorian government website has gone even one step further, suggesting that almost 60 per cent of road fatalities can be cut if the system was fitted to all cars.

Previously we would say that the state governments are looking for the cheap way out to fix the road toll epidemic, but this is no cheap option. With the estimated cost of $700-$2000, the money would be far better spent introducing mandatory advanced driver training classes to improve driving skills and reiterating the road rules.

No doubt that if the trial are successful, the system will find its way to everyday cars, perhaps being  a mandatory fitting for repeat speeding offenders.

So what do you think? Would you allow your car to be fitted with a big brother style speed limiter?

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“Were you driving safely Mr Hughes? If you were, then you have been lying to us about the importance of sticking to the speed limit, we don’t believe for a single second that Mr Hughes was driving dangerously and he must now tell us the truth about the role of speed limits in road safety.” UK group Safe Speed’s Paul Smith asked Mr Hughes.

Mr Hughes has been punished by being stripped of his current position and put in charge of ACPO’s security planning efforts for the 2012 Olympic games. We found this video that better explains why UK motorists should be angry at the hypocrisy that Mr Hughes has shown.

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