Avoiding fines

Respect
Practice, practice, practice
Drive for the conditions
What happens if I break the road rules?

A good driver is a safe driver and someone who knows more than just the road rules and how to control a car. A safe driver is someone who responds safely to the unexpected. Road trauma continues to be a significant public health issue for Queenslanders. Each year more than 300 people die and approximately 6,000 are hospitalised as a result of road crashes.

Respect

Respecting other road users can greatly reduce the number of road crashes and the resulting trauma. Road crash trauma doesn’t just involve those people involved in a road crash – family and friends are usually involved in someone’s recovery. Worse still, they are all too often left to grieve for a family member or a friend who has died in a crash. Respecting other road users is often just a matter of obeying the road rules. Giving way, indicating correctly and allowing a two second distance between you and another vehicle is not only the law but also shows respect and courtesy to other road users.
Here are some more tips to help you out of sticky situations next time you’re on the roads:

• if you make a mistake, admit it and try to signal you are sorry
• if another driver makes a mistake or becomes aggressive, don’t take it personally and don’t retaliate
• if another driver cuts in front of you, increase the gap between you and the other car by slowing down a bit
• if another driver is tailgating, maintain a steady speed or pull over in a safe place and let them pass
• if another driver becomes aggressive or threatening, don’t get out of your car, drive to a police station or stop near a police patrol car
• good drivers know they can’t control some things like traffic delays and aggressive drivers. What you can control is your reactions to these situations. Keep your cool.

Practice, practice, practice

Experts say new drivers should gain as many hours of driving experience as they can in different conditions before applying for a P1 licence. Practising driving or riding in a variety of conditions will increase your skills and ability and better equip you to react to unexpected situations. Research shows there is a link between the level of supervised on-road driving experience for new drivers and improved road safety. As a learner driver, you are required to complete 100 hours of on-road supervised driving, including 10 hours at night. While clocking up your 100 hours, try to gain experience in as many different driving conditions as possible, such as these below.
This will better prepare you for the unexpected and your practical driving test:

Drive for the conditions

There will be times when you’ll need to lower your speed to below the signed speed limit, such as:

• increased traffic
• wet weather  
• road works
• around school times in the school environment when children are often unpredictable.

As a newly licensed driver you will need to exercise your judgement. You may be in control of your vehicle but you can't control what other road users do. If you have reduced your speed you have more time to react to unexpected events.

What happens if I break the road rules?

If you break the road rules anywhere in Australia you may accumulate demerit points. These points are recorded against your traffic history and are backdated to the day of the offence once you either pay the fine or have the matter dealt with by the court. For L and P licence holders, if you accumulate four or more demerit points in one year, you will be sent a Notice of Accumulation of Demerit Points. You then have the choice to take either:

• a three month suspension period with a 1 year late night driving restriction (banned from driving 11pm to 5am) after the suspension; or
•  continue driving on a good behaviour period for 12 months with a late night driving restriction applied during this time.

Can you do without your licence for that long? What if you have a job that requires a licence? It doesn’t seem worth the risk to break the road rules, does it?