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General News

25 August, 2022

Initiative to help young drivers to buy safer cars

Young drivers are being encouraged to trade their older model cars for newer, safer models as part of the Victorian Government’s unsafe2safe initiative. Up to 150 drivers aged between 18 and 25 in regional areas are able to take part in the...

By Riley Upton

Initiative to help young drivers to buy safer cars - feature photo

Young drivers are being encouraged to trade their older model cars for newer, safer models as part of the Victorian Government’s unsafe2safe initiative.

Up to 150 drivers aged between 18 and 25 in regional areas are able to take part in the current phase of the program, which provides a $5000 subsidy to replace their unsafe vehicles with safer models.

To be eligible, vehicles must be more than 16 years old and have poor safety ratings — with the trial project aiming to replace these vehicles with newer models which include features like autonomous emergency braking.

Central Goldfields Highway Patrol Acting Sergeant Andrew Henderson encouraged young people to take part in the program.

“This is a great opportunity for young people driving older vehicles to upgrade to a more modern and safer vehicle,” he said.

“This is a way of removing older, unsafe vehicles from our roads and ensuring the safety of drivers and other road users which is important.”

Young drivers are at the greatest risk of being involved in a crash in their first few years of solo driving and young regional Victorians driving older cars are 15 times more likely to be killed in crashes compared to the state average, according to the government.

With an overrepresentation of young people in collisions, Act Sgt Henderson said vehicle safety was particularly important.

“Around 30 percent of collisions involve inexperienced drivers,” he said.

“I recently gave a talk up at the Maryborough Education Centre in relation to road safety and the responsibilities of young people and I’m aiming to do something similar at Highview College soon.

“The big thing with P platers are distraction offences and speed which are overrepresented in collisions involving young people and certainly vehicle safety and safety features in newer cars can mitigate that.”

The first phase of the trial program began in Ballarat and Bendigo last year, with participating young drivers now equipped with safer vehicles.

Minister for Roads and Road Safety Ben Carroll said the program would help make vehicles more accessible for young people.

“We know that cost is a real barrier for many young Victorians when it comes to choosing a safe and modern car — that is why this program is critical in ensuring they pick a vehicle with features that could ultimately save their life,” he said.

“Around 70 percent of people who have lost their lives on our roads were in vehicles more than 10 years old and being in a safer vehicle can make the difference between ending up in hospital or avoiding a crash altogether.”

For more information or to register your interest in participating, visit engage.vic.gov.au/unsafe2safe or email unsafe2safe@roads.vic.gov.au.

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