The Government is seeking to reduce the road toll by further cracking down on P-platers, but the number of L-platers falsifying driving records is expected to rise when tougher requirements are introduced later this year.
Young drivers told the Independent Weekly the practice was already extremely common. They predict it will worsen when the minimum number of driving experience hours rises from 50 to 75, even though the minimum time for holding a learner’s permit will be doubled from six to 12 months.
In a recent survey in New South Wales, where new drivers must log 120 hours, a quarter of P-platers admitted their log books were “completely false” when they gained their licence.
However, SA’s Department of Transport has caught only “approximately a dozen” people since the logbook hours scheme was introduced in 2005, despite issuing more than 24,000 P1 licences in 2009.
The department audits only a sample of logbooks to check for falsified information.
A number of L-platers and P-platers surveyed by The Independent Weekly admitted making false entries in their logbooks to get their P-plate licences sooner, with one saying she was encouraged to do so by her instructor to get her licence in time.
“I faked hours all the time,” another said. “I not only exaggerated five-minute trips to be half an hour, but also got older friends to sign off total nonsense for me. I do not know a single person who did not make up fake hours to get onto their P-plates.
“Fifty hours is a lot and most parents don't have the time nor money to reach this amount.”
Ebony Grigg, 18, Aberfoyle Park said she tried to be as accurate as possible in her logbook but suspected the department would not have known if she wasn’t.
“No one checks up on you or asks you questions so you could write any thing in the book, but if you lied for all of it then the driving instructor would be able to tell by the lack of confidence,” she said.
Drive Smart Driving School owner and instructor Mark Fraser said he only became aware of how many learner drivers were falsifying their logbooks when his daughter got her licence.
“At least 50 per cent of her classmates had falsified their books,” he said.
“I had one client who didn’t have many hours in their book, and didn’t have a car to go driving with someone else, who told me: ‘When I’ve finished with your lessons, I have a friend who will sign it all off for me’.”
Other driving instructors told The Independent Weekly that while the majority of students were trying to do the right thing, increasing the required hours to 75 could make the practice more widespread.
“It will put more pressure on the families and the ones that will shonk the system will shonk it even more and it may even push more people to do it,” said Linda Jackson, of Be Road Wise! School of Motoring.
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