The president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Michael Gannon, says learner and provisional drivers are not being unfairly targeted in the association’s paper on distracted driving.
The paper, which was released on Thursday, describes a driving licence as “a privilege, not a right” and calls for P-plate and L-plate drivers caught using mobile phones or electronic devices while driving to lose their licence for up to one year.
“Greater controls need to be applied to L-plate drivers to ensure they meet their supervised driver training requirements, are supervised by a competent and experienced driver, and comply with logbook regulations,” the paper states.
“Zero tolerance of P-plate and L-plate drivers who use mobile or electronic devices, or breach any road rules, should be enforced.”
Gannon said drivers of all ages were guilty of using their phones while driving.
“The difference with P-platers is they hold a provisional licence and it can and should be taken away from them if they are not showing early on in their driving careers proper respect for the roads,” he told Guardian Australia.
“We have made specific calls about early drivers not to pick on one sector of society but to recognise people first learning to drive develop habits that will continue through their lives. They’re not experienced.”
While fines and demerit point losses are determined by state and territory governments, Gannon called on the federal government to show leadership on the issue through Coag.
The federal transport minister, Barnaby Joyce, said he welcomed the position paper but said he was uncertain that targeting learner drivers was the correct approach, with such a measure to disproportionately affect young people.
“I’m not going to start saying that we should be banning people or banning provisional drivers for a year,” he told the ABC’s AM radio program. “I think there is already a penalty process in place and I’m only too happy to speak to my other Coag ministers about what they believe is a good national approach to this.
“What I can say is that the campaign of trying to get – and I think everybody at some point in time has been guilty of it – to get electronic devices that can distract you from your attention to the road away from you is terribly important.”
There have been 66 road deaths over the holiday period. According to the position paper, driver fatigue is one of the top three factors contributing to road deaths. The government should consider how to develop and introduce legislation around driver fatigue, the paper said.
