Probably everybody knows that Australians drive on the left hand of the road (and swear it is the right side!) However I thought it would be interesting to check into how young drivers get to drive.
The Government has taken up the fight to avoid accidents like mine many years ago.
For this reason, teenagers need to obtain a learner's permit like in the US. This gives them the ability to drive under supervision. They need to have the learner's permit and mark the car with a yellow L while on the road. After having had the learner's permit for at least a year they teenagers can apply to sit the driver's exam. In order to do this, they need to produce a driving log indicating that they drove (under supervision) for at least 120 hours, 10 of them in night conditions.
Once the young driver passes the practical exam, thee get promoted to P-plates. At this time, they can drive by themselves, but have to mark the car with a red P (P for Probationary.) Strict rules apply; they include no alcohol (i.e. zero Blood Alcohol Content, BAC), at most one passenger unless they carry family members and have a regular licensed person on board, no use of phones in the car, limits on engine sizes and types (i.e. less than 8 cylinders, no turbo charged engines.) After a year of good driving record, they get promoted to the green P plate. At this time they may carry more passengers, but still spend the next three years in probationary state, which carries some of the same limits.
At earliest four years after the driver's test they can get promoted to being regular, fully licensed drivers with standard restrictions (e.g. 0.5% BAC). This is quite a contrast from the US way to get to drive!
The biggest complaint I generally have, is that there are too many people on the road who drive while intoxicated. Drinking is a well accepted spare time activity and driving comes afterwards as a means to get back home. Not a good combination.