To describe the the rules governing learner drivers and provisional licence holders in the ACT as complex, confusing, and dangerously out of step with those in place across the border would be a serious understatement.
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Local learner drivers and P-platers, for example, can drive high-powered cars including V-8s and Turbos their peers across the border are banned from using.
Local learners also have no restrictions on hands-free mobile phone use, unlike their NSW equivalents who cannot use a phone at all while driving. They also can drive at the legal speed limit within the ACT, unlike NSW learner drivers who must stay below 90km/h at all times, even on 110km/h roads.
To confuse matters even further, once an ACT learner driver receives their provisional licence they can travel at 100km/h on NSW roads while NSW P1 licence holders are restricted to 90km/h.
And, because of anomalies in the way the way the two jurisdictions issue licences, it is possible for an ACT driver to be off their Ps and free of any probation specific restrictions well before their 18th birthday. A NSW driver cannot obtain unrestricted status until the age of 20.
These are just some of the anomalies and contradictions that have led to Canberra being described as having "the most relaxed" P-plater laws in the country.
The Australian Federal Police Association says the ACT government has been "asleep at the wheel" on road safety.
They, along with the Australian Medical Association and other interested parties, have welcomed a discussion paper aimed at bringing Canberra's laws into line with those across the border in the wake of the horror death toll on the nation's roads over the holiday period.
Recent ACT crash data indicates drivers aged between 15 and 29 account for more than a third of all local road casualties. This is despite the fact they represent just 6 per cent of all licence holders.
More than one in five of all drivers killed or injured on Canberra roads in 2016 was a P-plater.
These are disturbing statistics that suggest Canberra's licensing laws may be exposing young motorists to an unacceptable, and unnecessary, degree of risk.
The risks to which the ACT's young motorists are exposed are partly concealed by the fact many Canberrans are involved in accidents that occur across the border.
More Canberrans are injured or killed in road smashes than actually show up in the ACT's misleadingly low accident statistics.
One rule that would make a lot of sense here is the ban on P-platers carrying more than one passenger under the age of 21, usually between 11pm and 5am, that is in place in most other states.
Western Australia goes so far as to ban young motorists from driving between midnight and 5am altogether for the first six months after they get their P-plates.
Canberra's licensing anomalies have been overlooked for far too long. The time has come for the ACT to be brought into line with NSW in the interest of protecting our young drivers.
