International tourists should have to prove driving skills to help cut road toll, MP says
Updated
International tourists could have to prove their driving skills before being able to hire a car, under a plan being pushed by Liberal backbencher Sarah Henderson.
Key points:
- Sarah Henderson has called for a review of tourist car-rental standards
- The MP also suggested looking at making safety videos compulsory for all international tourists hiring cars
- The summer holiday period has been marred by several horrific car crashes
Ms Henderson wants a more stringent approach to international driver's licences and has called for a review.
She also suggested consideration of options such as compulsory safety videos for all international tourists hiring cars, and asking car hire companies to impose stricter standards before renting out vehicles.
"It is a real danger that these international tourists are coming across from other parts of the world, getting into a hire car … and they really are a moving time bomb," she said.
"I just don't think it's good enough that there's no verification of someone's driving experience when they arrive in Australia.
"We need to look at ways in which we can ensure that we know that they have the requisite driving experience, that they are not going to be a hazard to themselves and to others."
Ms Henderson's electorate of Corangamite in Victoria includes the Great Ocean Road, which is a popular scenic driving route for visitors.
"At least 20 per cent of all crashes on the Great Ocean Road are now involving or being caused by international drivers," she said, citing VicRoads as the source of the figures.
"On a weekly basis, we are hearing of incidents involving international drivers on the wrong side of the road, stopping in the middle of the road taking photographs of koalas … [and] running through stop signs."
Calls for drivers to take care as road death toll climbs
More than 1,000 people died on Australia's roads in 2017, with the summer holiday period marred by several horrific car crashes.
The toll has prompted pleas for drivers to take care on the roads from emergency services workers and national leaders, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
"At this time of year, which should be a time of happiness and love and families getting together, to be seeing so many families being ripped apart by these shocking accidents is a tragedy," he said.
The New South Wales Government is focusing on the possibility that technology will help reduce the carnage on the nation's roads.
"That's going to be the biggest boost to safety we've seen in generations," NSW Roads Minister Melinda Pavey said.
"Emergency braking, lane assist — they're really important initiatives, which I think are going to have a really significant impact on the road toll."
However, she said she did not believe in changing the mandated standards to force manufacturers to include these safety features in new cars.
"I think people will move towards that technology, especially with the way … the price is coming down," she said.
"I think they'll make those choices themselves."
'We can't be in every single passenger seat in a vehicle'
Police forces around the country have emphasised that too many Australians are getting behind the wheel when they are too tired, have had too much to drink, or have taken drugs.
"[Police are] out there in force … we're doing what we can," Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer said.
But he wants to see drivers obeying the law and using common sense.
"We can't be everywhere. We can't be in every single passenger seat in a vehicle," he said.
"All drivers and riders need to take responsibility for their own action, and how they drive, and the speed at which they drive.
"We call on everyone in the community — not just those who may choose to run the gauntlet but their friends and relatives that are seeing them have a drink or having a joint and then making the decision to get behind the wheel — to step up and say something and do something."
Topics: road, accidents, disasters-and-accidents, law-crime-and-justice, police, government-and-politics, australia
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