How many times do you need to lose

your licence to drive before you go to prison? How much harm do you need to do?

There is a piece asking those questions in this morning's paper. It is a question I have asked myself and heard many other people ask. 

A licence to drive is a privilege. It is not a right. 

I have never had a licence to drive a car. I don't know how to drive a car. My only time behind the steering wheel was after I had passed the "learn to drive" test. It tested your knowledge of the road rules, not your physical capacity to drive. If it had tested that then I might still have passed the medical examination. It was not until I actually tried that I realised there was a problem and the doctor we had at the time said, "No, Cat - most definitely not." Even at sixteen I did not argue. We all knew cars can be lethal tools in the wrong hands. Even when people are doing all the right things accidents happen.

The learn to drive test most certainly did not and does not test your ability to behave in a responsible manner on the roads. It is why someone who had lost his licence eleven times and was driving anyway killed someone. He had never been sent to prison for any of his previous offences, always given the benefit of the doubt or another chance. "Taking away your licence" is considered to be punishment enough. The reality is that far too many people then risk driving without a licence. It ends up being no punishment at all. All it does is put other people at even greater risk.

It isn't only the number of deaths on the road but the injuries, sometimes permanent, caused and the cost of these. It is the cost to all of us in the taxes which pay for the people who have to deal with the aftermath of the inattention, the speed, the drug and drink driving and more.  

Yes, I am upset. I am upset that someone I know and like is still foolish enough to insist that his research shows that it is still safe to drive after smoking non-medicinal cannabis. The very fact you are even considering doing that and thus breaking the law shows you are not, at least in my view, fit to have a licence.

We need to make it much harder to get a licence and retain that licence. The penalties for driving without a licence need to be much harsher. I am sorry but I no longer care if you "can't get to work" because you have lost your licence. Catch the bus instead. 

Yesterday I came far too close to being killed. The pedestrian lights had been in my favour for long enough for me to be halfway across the road when that fool went straight through on a red light. Horns were blasted at him. His reaction was to blast his horn in return and then speed up. He was young. His "music" was blaring. The car was an "old bomb". 

Nobody got his number of course. Someone pulled over to make sure I and the person walking just behind me were "okay" - yes, just shaken. Thank you so much for asking. We both appreciated your concern.

There have been two more deaths on the road since the death of the Police Commissioner's son. Our road toll in this state is now heading towards being almost twice as high as it was last year. Last year was considered a "good" year but no year will be good until there is "O" there.