Highway Toll
If you read or watch the news enough, there’s one thing you’re sure to learn: driving is death. Roadway accident tolls are announced every weekend, and during every holiday period, a state-by-state count is maintained. On a per capita basis, however, I wouldn’t say the figures are so grim as they might seem. And I wouldn’t blame the young drivers nearly so much as I would two other demographics: truckies and everybody else. So while NSW is planning further restrictions on young drivers, I’d like to point out that long-haul truck drivers get into far more accidents and cause many more deaths on the roads than the kids do, and (at least in Sydney) everybody around here drives like a maniac to begin with, with DUI being a problem of epic proportions. Restricting under-18’s isn’t going to solve either problem, although it’s sure to reduce the number of teenage traffic fatalities. Cracking down on trucking companies that push their drivers into making their runs within impossible time frames is a good idea, so I’d like to see more of that. And I’d like to see more traffic stops generally.

Update: In case you enjoy statistics, the government has complied road safety information in this report for your delectation. While the figures suggest the assertion that truck drivers are safer than others on the road is indeed correct, there is a perponderance of instances where the weighted factor is "unknown," which would skew the presentation into being largely arguable still. It is nevertheless true that insurance isues and public liability issues tend to provoke knee-jerk reactions from government, regardless of whether it's NSW or NYS.