Campaign urges inexperienced drivers to practise night driving

By Adair Winder

Aug 19, 2022

Learner: The TAC has relaunched its Parental Control campaign, which encourages learner drivers to achieve more than 20 hours of supervised night driving. Photo: AAP Image/Alan Porritt Photo by AAP

The TAC has relaunched its Parental Control campaign, which urges parents, guardians, and supervisors to educate learner drivers about the hazards that come with night-time driving.

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The multi-platform campaign encourages inexperienced drivers to achieve at least 20 hours of supervised driving experience after dark, as part of their 120 hours, before receiving their probationary licence.

Echuca Highway Patrol Sergeant Paul Nicoll welcomed the initiative to encourage more night driving.

“Increased training and experience can only help to improve driver safety,” he said.

The Victorian Government said that in their first year on the roads, P-platers were around seven times more likely to be killed or injured while driving at night, compared to fully licensed drivers.

“So far this year, young drivers aged between 18 and 25 have made up around 20 per cent of all driver fatalities, even though this age group accounts for approximately 10 per cent of all licence holders,” the government said.

“Of the 14 drivers in this age group killed in 2022, seven of the crashes have occurred between 6pm and 6am.”

The government is also slashing costs for new drivers and their families, with the abolition of learner and probationary licence fees, as well as online testing fees.

The campaign will run until mid-September, and more information can be found at https://www.tac.vic.gov.au/