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Can we talk about vehicles?

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Jace:
I just took a half semester class in school, then drove for like 8 hours during the summer. Didn't have to take any further tests, just went to the DMV and waited in line.

Akima:

--- Quote from: Lunchbox on 25 Nov 2010, 14:02 ---I think it takes like 5 years to get a full licence here. Unless you're over 25 in which case it is fewer years, but it is still years.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, I'm so glad I just squeaked in under the old system where you could get a full license in as little as 18 months. Under the current system, the minimum time to get a full license is four years.

The Graduated Licensing Scheme is massively freighted with middle-class assumptions about easy access to vehicles, and willing, committed fully-licensed "supervising drivers" (usually family members) who must ride with the trainees until they graduate to P1 plates. To complete the mandatory 120 hours of logged training in the minimum 12 months obviously requires 10 hours per month on the road from the trainee and supervising driver. Better start early, and hope you come from the sort of stable, supportive, fairly prosperous family environment the legislators assumed you do. Good luck if your circumstances differ from their rosy fantasies. And need I mention that having at least a Provisional license is a requirement for quite a lot of jobs?

Ironically, it is now easier and quicker in New South Wales to get a motorcycle license than a car license. To get mobile on a motorbike:
* Take 7 hours of "pre-license training". This is held off public roads at approved training centres, and they provide bikes, helmets and gloves. Assuming you pass the course, you are issued with a Pre-learner Certificate of Competence.
* Take your certificate to the RTA, take the eyesight test, and sit the computer-administered "knowledge test". If you pass, you are issued your L-plates and learners license, valid for 12 months.
* The clock is now ticking. You have 12 months to get a learner-approved bike, helmet etc., develop your skills, and pass the next step, the pre-provisional course. If you fail to do this, you go right back to square one and restart the process at pre-licence training. You must spend at least three months on L-plates before you're allowed to take the pre-provisional course, but beyond that there is no monitoring of your experience, no log books, and no need for a supervising driver.
* Take the pre-provisional course, and pass the Motorcycle Operator Skill Test at the end of it.
* Go back to the RTA and obtain your P1-plates and provisional license.
* Ride on your P1s for 12 months, your P2s for 24 months, stay out of trouble, and the RTA will issue you with a shiny silver full license.
As you can see, you can be fully licensed in a minimum of 39 months instead of 48, and the minimum time on L-plates is a lot easier to achieve. I guess the NSW government thinks kids are better off on motorcycles than in cars...

ibrahimdelil:
wow you guys got it bad.

in turkey, you just get a 60 hour course on first aid, rules signs etc and mechanics, and a 10 hour driving course with an appointed trainer. then you take a test, if you pass, drive half a mile with a trainer, a police officer and a ministry of education representative. you get your license about 20 days later. the whole thing takes less than 2 months.

Something Witty:
Old and busted:
Third gen camaro. Totally bitchin in an awful way, v6 that used more oil than gas and a 5-speed manual transmission.


New hotness:
First gen Miata, It's like driving a go-kart everywhere I go. Plus that purple is FABULOUS and you all know it.



I also have these old things sitting around:
The one in the front is the one I wrecked a couple years ago.



Interesting aside:
I saw this at the store a while back(not my photo), I pretty much would never drive anything else if I had one.

Barmymoo:
Actually thinking about it I think you now have to have a year's worth of lessons before you can take your practical driving test, but when I was learning I could have taken my paper test, then my practical test straight away. I remember reading in the paper about a boy who had been driving off-road in competitions for years before he turned 17, so the day he turned 17 he took his paper test, passed it, booked his practical test for like the next week or something, and then passed that. No requirement for driving hours or anything, just straight-up proved his competence and got handed his licence aged 17 and 7 days. Makes sense really. The problem here is they let people like me drive, people who go round corners in fifth on their test and cause their examiner to hit her head on the window (why did she even pass me? The first guy failed me on much less than that!).

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