NSW P Plater turbo ban changed
Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 4:51 pm
Booooooooooooooost! 
NSW is set to overturn a ban preventing P-platers from driving the latest turbocharged fuel efficient vehicles.
Provisional drivers in NSW will be subject to fairer vehicle guidelines from next year, with the state government due to adopt a national framework that better reflects vehicle performance.
Under changes to be rolled out as early as January, a contentious blanket ban on turbocharged and supercharged vehicles will be replaced by a formula that calculates the power-to-weight ratio of a car with a limit of 130kW/tonne, opening up a plethora of low-powered vehicles for P-platers that use turbo-chargers to save fuel.
The rethink will also apply to high-powered diesel vehicles, which are currently approved for provisional drivers because of a loophole. The framework, drafted by the Austroads Registration and Licensing Task Force, is set to be implemented in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.
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The NRMA has encouraged the new legislation, which has been in the making in for over a year, calling the current NSW measures “outdated and full of anomalies”.
“We strongly support this measure. It’s the approach we think the government should have taken in the first place,” NRMA president Wendy Machin said. “We’ve been saying for years that the current measures needed to be reviewed. We welcome the changes – it will be a better approach and a simpler approach for parents and young drivers.”
Under current measures introduced to NSW in 2005, a P-plater cannot drive a petrol vehicle with eight or more cylinders, a turbocharged petrol vehicle, a supercharged petrol vehicle, or certain high-performance six-cylinder petrol vehicles. But a technical oversight allows provisional drivers to get behind the wheel of “any turbocharged or supercharged diesel”. Such vehicles, including the twin-turbo diesel V6-powered Audi SQ5, heavily outweigh the power outputs of modestly turbocharged petrol vehicles, but escape the ban because they’re not petrol driven.
The Roads and Maritime Services online database of more than 4500 banned vehicles also discriminates against some of the safest cars on the road, simply because they use turbochargers. Turbocharging has traditionally been associated with performance cars, but in recent years car makers have used the technology to downsize their engines and save fuel.
Similar power-to-mass ratio rules already apply to provisional motorcycle riders in NSW. The same measures have long applied to Victorian and Queensland provisional drivers, with the threshold set at 130kW/tonne and 125kW/tonne respectively.
“Since the restrictions were introduced some manufacturers have been producing low-powered turbo and supercharged petrol vehicles to improve efficiency,” a spokesperson for Transport NSW said of the current laws. “Transport for NSW and RMS are currently considering work that is occurring at a national level that may further refine the high-powered vehicle restrictions that apply to novice drivers. The intention of any changes would be to maintain the safety benefits of vehicle restrictions while simplifying the rules and also considering changes in technology such as the use of low powered turbos.”
Different jurisdictions will meet to discuss the guidelines this week, before progressing with legislative changes.
NSW, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria will then roll out the new guidelines throughout next year, from January 1. It is understood NSW could be delayed until later in the year in implementing the new guidelines.
Statistics obtained by Fairfax Media show that since current vehicle restrictions were introduced for provisional NSW drivers in 2005, fatal accidents involving 17 to 20-year-old drivers have been reduced by 25 per cent across the state.
Number of Driver Fatalities Aged 17 to 20 Years
July 1996 - June 1997: 36
July 1997 - June 1998: 33
July 1998 - June 1999: 32
July 1999 - June 2000: 40
July 2000 - June 2001: 39
July 2001 - June 2002: 33
July 2002 - June 2003: 34
July 2003 - June 2004: 25
July 2004 - June 2005: 29
July 2005 - June 2006: 35
July 2006 - June 2007: 27
July 2007 - June 2008: 28
July 2008 - June 2009: 20
July 2009 - June 2010: 31
July 2010 - June 2011: 19
July 2011 - June 2012: 20
July 2012 - June 2013: 20
NSW is set to overturn a ban preventing P-platers from driving the latest turbocharged fuel efficient vehicles.
Provisional drivers in NSW will be subject to fairer vehicle guidelines from next year, with the state government due to adopt a national framework that better reflects vehicle performance.
Under changes to be rolled out as early as January, a contentious blanket ban on turbocharged and supercharged vehicles will be replaced by a formula that calculates the power-to-weight ratio of a car with a limit of 130kW/tonne, opening up a plethora of low-powered vehicles for P-platers that use turbo-chargers to save fuel.
The rethink will also apply to high-powered diesel vehicles, which are currently approved for provisional drivers because of a loophole. The framework, drafted by the Austroads Registration and Licensing Task Force, is set to be implemented in NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.
Advertisement
The NRMA has encouraged the new legislation, which has been in the making in for over a year, calling the current NSW measures “outdated and full of anomalies”.
“We strongly support this measure. It’s the approach we think the government should have taken in the first place,” NRMA president Wendy Machin said. “We’ve been saying for years that the current measures needed to be reviewed. We welcome the changes – it will be a better approach and a simpler approach for parents and young drivers.”
Under current measures introduced to NSW in 2005, a P-plater cannot drive a petrol vehicle with eight or more cylinders, a turbocharged petrol vehicle, a supercharged petrol vehicle, or certain high-performance six-cylinder petrol vehicles. But a technical oversight allows provisional drivers to get behind the wheel of “any turbocharged or supercharged diesel”. Such vehicles, including the twin-turbo diesel V6-powered Audi SQ5, heavily outweigh the power outputs of modestly turbocharged petrol vehicles, but escape the ban because they’re not petrol driven.
The Roads and Maritime Services online database of more than 4500 banned vehicles also discriminates against some of the safest cars on the road, simply because they use turbochargers. Turbocharging has traditionally been associated with performance cars, but in recent years car makers have used the technology to downsize their engines and save fuel.
Similar power-to-mass ratio rules already apply to provisional motorcycle riders in NSW. The same measures have long applied to Victorian and Queensland provisional drivers, with the threshold set at 130kW/tonne and 125kW/tonne respectively.
“Since the restrictions were introduced some manufacturers have been producing low-powered turbo and supercharged petrol vehicles to improve efficiency,” a spokesperson for Transport NSW said of the current laws. “Transport for NSW and RMS are currently considering work that is occurring at a national level that may further refine the high-powered vehicle restrictions that apply to novice drivers. The intention of any changes would be to maintain the safety benefits of vehicle restrictions while simplifying the rules and also considering changes in technology such as the use of low powered turbos.”
Different jurisdictions will meet to discuss the guidelines this week, before progressing with legislative changes.
NSW, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria will then roll out the new guidelines throughout next year, from January 1. It is understood NSW could be delayed until later in the year in implementing the new guidelines.
Statistics obtained by Fairfax Media show that since current vehicle restrictions were introduced for provisional NSW drivers in 2005, fatal accidents involving 17 to 20-year-old drivers have been reduced by 25 per cent across the state.
Number of Driver Fatalities Aged 17 to 20 Years
July 1996 - June 1997: 36
July 1997 - June 1998: 33
July 1998 - June 1999: 32
July 1999 - June 2000: 40
July 2000 - June 2001: 39
July 2001 - June 2002: 33
July 2002 - June 2003: 34
July 2003 - June 2004: 25
July 2004 - June 2005: 29
July 2005 - June 2006: 35
July 2006 - June 2007: 27
July 2007 - June 2008: 28
July 2008 - June 2009: 20
July 2009 - June 2010: 31
July 2010 - June 2011: 19
July 2011 - June 2012: 20
July 2012 - June 2013: 20
