Pearly

Well, on the way home from work, I saw first hand why P-Platers are restricted power wise.

One was driving a VC/B Commy v8 and was wheel spinning from every light.
Then I got stuck behind a slow driver and he thought it was a good time to over take us.
He floors it, and the back spins out while we're doing 70+ on Burwood Hwy, and sure enough,
he can't control it, spins off into the median strip and straight into bushy trees.
Luckly for him, the driver in front of me was able to stop and so was I.
Or that he didn't go into a hard tree, or that he didn't fly right across and into on-coming traffic.

Steffo

The P-Plater power restriction is stupid IMHO and I'm glad we don't have it here. If someone's not sensible enough to drive properly, they shouldn't be on the road PERIOD. Give a jackass a car that makes 90kW and goes from 0-100km/h in 14sec and he will still kill himself because he is a jackass (happens all the time in Sydney, dumbarses in stock Celicas and Pulsars and Corollas who think they can take normal corners at 160km/h+ and meet a telegraph pole's bad side...)

Just makes it bad for all us normal people.

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flappist

True but the problem is that, with very few exceptions, ALL P platers have one thing in common, not much actual road experience.

It is a lot easier to accidentially get into a dangerous situation in a high performance vehicle than a low performance one and usually a lot easier to get out.

Examples:
Unexpected slippery patch on road, especially corner or roundabout, car starts to over or understeer and must be corrected instantly. Incorrect solution in hi perf willl mean total loss of control imediately whereas lo perf is much more forgiving.
Another vehicle/animal/child on pushy/whatever strays into path from a blind spot. Incorrect use of steering/power/brake can also lead to loss of control.

All this comes with experience, it must be learned and cannot be taught.
Remember even Peter Brock stuffed up his first race.

Sorry but it is a fact of life, regardless of how good you are at playstation or go-carts, there is NOTHING that will replace real world experience.

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Revelations 13:18
Here is wisdom.
Let him that hath understanding count the number of the BEAST:
for it is the number of a F6 Typhoon; and its number is 0217.

Pearly

It's true, you don't need a hi-po car to kill yourself, but it certainly makes it easier if you have one.

If this guy had been in a little gutless Corolla, he would not have been able to give it enough stick to the point where it cuts lose while doing 70+.

Show me a stock Corolla that can do that an I'll eat my keyboard.

Steffo

You don't want to see the crashes my dad sees on the road at night that P-platers have in stock Corolla's and such (he's a taxi driver). Slow or fast, people will continue to die, and its their own fault. The real problem starts to occur when other people die because of the idiocy of these types of people.

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blueraven

One the first year, most P platers are not good drivers. They past the test, but after that the 'freedom' of driving by yourself takes over. This is when most of the accidents happen I think.

After that period, your abilities and understanding of situations grow and most people grow with them.

The fact remains though, that part reason of Rice existance is to do with young drivers wanting more performance out of cheap little cars for whatever reason. It only takes so long before that aforementioned corolla gets some upgrades to those that can afford it...

galaxy xr8

I agree with what has been said here, they will do stupid thing's in any car and can quite easly be a danger on our road's even in a low powered vehicle but then again they can be a nightmare in high powered vehicle's,I believe the restriction's should remain for P-plater's if not be harsher.

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AU II XR8
Herrod mod's,mmmn.
XW Wagon 221-2V,
Laser a maser.

XRSIK

totally agree mate, you get the guys on here going "your going to have an accident wether its a slug or a hi-po", its only true to a certain extent - of course any car can crash - but if you can get to 100 in 5 seconds you are obviously exposed to ALOT more risk that if u were driving a car that did it in 14 seconds. Its a simple fact and all the whining P platers can argue all they want.

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2003 BA XR6, T5, Blueprint. Herrods exhaust, unifilter ,painted calipers.
0-100 in 6.55 secs.
Forever to live in the shadow of its big brother!
Also - Kawasaki ZZR, soon to be Kawasaki ZX6R.

psycho chicken

OK, tell me how you'd get a COROLLA to powerslide doing 70kph? Hell I can barely get my Fairmont to do it, IN THE WET.

I agree totally with power restrictions on P plates. On L plates it's different, you need all the experience you can get. To put a kid into a car with 4 mates and 150rwkw, having never driven without his mum or dad beside him is f-ing stupid.

Now I'm no where near the world's greatest driver and I don't think for one second I am. But I've driven enough types of cars, from FWD, RWD, AWD, different centres of gravity, different power outputs, ect, ect to know what most cars will do if you give it a bit. 3 months ago if I gave the Fairmont a boot full around a corner 9 times out of 10 I'd be facing the other way. But practise a bit and you learn to control it.

You should only be allowed to drive what you can drive properly, in all conditions.

Barefoot

all this crap about power-restricitons would all be avoidable if they taught us how to drive properly in the first bloody place. Driver training is crap all over australia.

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