The Safer Drivers Course is a course you can take while you’re on your Ls. It helps you understand speed management, gap selection, hazard awareness and safe following distances. It gives you skills that will make your solo driving on your P plates a less risky proposition. Taking the course also gives you 20 hours of log book credits which can go towards the 120 hours you need before you can take your practical driving test.
If you want to take a course you must be on your Ls already, have completed 50 log book driving hours of on-road driving (not hours accrued under the 3 for 1 in structured professional tuition) and be under 25 years old.
The course consists of a 3-hour group discussion with other L platers to help you learn to manage risks on the road, plus a 2-hour in-vehicle coaching session with you an another learner to teach you safe, practical driving behaviours.
You can find a list of accredited Safer Drivers course providers here.
The maximum accelerated log book hours
You can get 20 hours of log book credits for doing the Safer Driving course, and you can get up to 20 hours free if you do up to 10 hours with an instructor. This cuts down your actual required driving time to 80 hours, although it’s recommended that you do as much as you can before you drive solo on your Ps.
So far, over 800,000 hours of supervised driving credits have been given under the 3 to 1 scheme and Safer Driving course.
20,000 drivers have taken the Safer Drivers Course
The course is subsidised by the Community Road Safety Fund, which was set up by the NSW Liberals and Nationals Government to ensure every cent from speed camera fines goes back into the community. Around 20% of young drivers took the test in December 2014.
The importance of the course is emphasised when you think young drivers in the first six months on P-Plates are nine times more likely to be involved in a crash involving serious injury or death. In 2014, fatalities from P plate drivers reduced by 35% from 51 to 33.
The government is also giving away 10,000 free Safer Drivers courses to our young Aboriginal drivers, as part of their Aboriginal Road Safety Action Plan.
Darren is an expert on driving and transport, and is a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists
