I'm Not Sure If People Read It

[And]

WA Police recruits would train on public roads at 20km/h over the speed limit instead of under controlled conditions in a plan the police union called a cost-cutting measure that could endanger lives.

It is understood that under the police proposal, recruits doing their seven-day driver training would complete the priority two component, designed to replicate high-speed car chases, on roads in Perth and country towns rather than at Collie Speedway.

Recruits now do priority two training at the speedway beside an instructor in a dual-control vehicle. They have to navigate an obstacle course at up to 20km/h above a nominal speed limit.

WA Police Union president Russell Armstrong said yesterday he feared the proposal was cost cutting to help police achieve the 3 per cent budget cut the Government demanded from all departments.

He said the proposed changes would save a big amount of money because police would not have to go to and from Collie. The current training was safe and had "served officers well for many years".

Allowing recruits with no high-speed training to drive powerful cars well above the speed limit on roads was a recipe for disaster, Mr Armstrong said.

"It's a real concern to us because we think there would be a lot of danger to our young officers and to members of the public," he said.

"And before you could even consider this, there would have to be legislation that would give legal protection to the drivers and the instructors in case they were in a crash on a public road and there was injury or property damage."

WA Police executive director Greg Italiano confirmed police were considering changes to driver training but refused to provide details of the proposal. He denied they had anything to do with the 3 per cent budget cuts.

"The motivation for looking at these potential changes is the improvement of driver training, not cost-cutting," Mr Italiano said. "WA Police are spending more on driver training this financial year than it ever has."

A spokeswoman for Police Minister Rob Johnson said he supported the police proposal.

Shadow police minister Margaret Quirk said the plan presented major safety concerns for officers involved in training and the public.

RAC head of member advocacy Matt Brown said he was not opposed to the plan but would not support it until police and the Government had done a safety assessment.

The West Australian ©

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/mp/59...test-too-risky/

[2LV8ETR]

Okay, so that means we should be allowed to do some driver training on the streets.

Why not?

Talk about double standards

[Ten Four]

^ +1.

Love to see the newspaper.. "Police Hoon Crashes"

[ossie_21]

Double standards aside, it pretty much means they will be doing a lot of driving at a speed that those roads should probably have their limit at anyway.

Good game.

[And]

Okay, so that means we should be allowed to do some driver training on the streets.

Why not?

Talk about double standards

"They have to navigate an obstacle course at up to 20km/h above a nominal speed limit."

In plain English that means - inexperienced cadets will learn how to drive and overcome obstacles, doing +20 above nominal speed limit. Let me repeat - inexperienced cadets. And what they worry about - people lives? No, they worry about "legal protection", they say - "there would have to be legislation that would give legal protection to the drivers and the instructors in case they were in a crash on a public road and there was injury..." . Fan-f**g-tastic !

Now, read this:

Travel at 20 km/h over in a 60 km/h zone and you’re 32 times as likely to have a serious crash.

Source - "MEDIA RELEASE TITLE: ONGOING SUPPORT FOR SPEEDING ENFORCEMENT ENCOURAGED", Office of Road Safety, Government of Western Australia, August 20, 2007

http://www.officeofroadsafety.wa.gov.au/in...ReleasesCurrent

Ouch. You said "double standards", didn't you?

[dan_the_man]

"They have to navigate an obstacle course at up to 20km/h above a nominal speed limit."

In plain English that means - inexperienced cadets will learn how to drive and overcome obstacles, doing +20 above nominal speed limit. Let me repeat - inexperienced cadets. And what they worry about - people lives? No, they worry about "legal protection", they say - "there would have to be legislation that would give legal protection to the drivers and the instructors in case they were in a crash on a public road and there was injury..." . Fan-f**g-tastic !

Now, read this:

Travel at 20 km/h over in a 60 km/h zone and you're 32 times as likely to have a serious crash.

Source - "MEDIA RELEASE TITLE: ONGOING SUPPORT FOR SPEEDING ENFORCEMENT ENCOURAGED", Office of Road Safety, Government of Western Australia, August 20, 2007

http://www.officeofroadsafety.wa.gov.au/in...ReleasesCurrent

Ouch. You said "double standards", didn't you?

Why are you referring to them as cadets?

Okay, so that means we should be allowed to do some driver training on the streets.

Why not?

Talk about double standards

Too right. We should be allowed to carry guns too.

While we're at it, why not make us all attend gruesome road crashes for a little look-see. Seems fair to me.

[R DIRTY 3]

Guess it depends on the finer details.

Cant see them doing this on the freeway etc....it will be closed off roads somewhere away from the public etc.

[dan_the_man]

Guess it depends on the finer details.

Cant see them doing this on the freeway etc....it will be closed off roads somewhere away from the public etc.

Agreed. I'm sure the roads would be closed /controlled as you said.

Nevertheless, lets all maintain this anti-authority attitude.

[R DIRTY 3]

I kind of support this idea.

Teaching these upcoming police members about car control etc on a race track or speedway etc doesnt really have a great deal of relevance to street (unless of course your high speed pursuit is at kwinanna Motorplex lol). Grip levels are different, vehicles are different....even little things like road camber can play a big effect on a car and driver IF evasive action is needed.

I would think that it would make these guys better and more skilled when they become 'pursuit' drivers or what ever they are to become.

Its very easy for the media to make it sound worse than it is and if you are already against certain laws and some members who enforcing it you will instantly have this sort of knee jerk reaction...its what the media thrive and prey on.

When they are doing their training 20kph above the limit on the freeway or St georges terrace at 3pm on a weekday, then ill be against this plan

Lets get ALL the information first

[dan_the_man]

Seems odd that they say it is too costly to bring them down to Collie for training but then they say that some of the training will be done on country roads.

[R DIRTY 3]

Yeah it doesnt make a lot of sense.

The haul pack roads at the back of Collie would be awesome for police testing. We used some of those roads for the Dutton rally.

I would have thought the big cost would have been track hire. They would hire collie and get accomodation etc as it would still be cheaper than hiring wanneroo.

I dont think all the information is in that news article.

Just to justify my comment on cost....Wanneroo is about $3500 a day, collie is about $1200 a day? Might not be 100% accurate but i think its about there.

Edited October 28, 2009 by R DIRTY 3

[dan_the_man]

I thought the media had to supply all the information?

[R DIRTY 3]

They probably are.

But why ruin an awesome story that could get awesome ratings and responses by putting in facts that may take away some of the public impact.

Ever watch MediaWatch on the ABC? Interesting show.

[dan_the_man]

They probably are.

But why ruin an awesome story that could get awesome ratings and responses by putting in facts that may take away some of the public impact.

Ever watch MediaWatch on the ABC? Interesting show.

I do watch MediaWatch and it is a good show.

I was suprised to see that Today Tonight is not always honest.

[R DIRTY 3]

I do watch MediaWatch and it is a good show.

I was suprised to see that Today Tonight is not always honest.

Hmmm is it that they are not honest, or in a 30 minute time slot certain aspects/evidence that have been filmed and recorded may not be able to be shown? I wish it were a 60 minute show....then maybe we could get all the facts from both side of the story to make a non-bias educated opinion before we are outraged.

[dan_the_man]

It's terrible that they only get 30 mins to share the story.

[Dsturbd]

Seems odd that they say it is too costly to bring them down to Collie for training but then they say that some of the training will be done on country roads.

Dont have to hire a public road

[dan_the_man]

Dont have to hire a public road

"He said the proposed changes would save a big amount of money because police would not have to go to and from Collie."

Instead they will have to still travel to the country to use the country roads.

[R DIRTY 3]

Dont have to hire a public road

I imagine they will just get permits to close it off to the public for an allocatted amount of time/days.

It will certainly cut the budget a bit.

[Dsturbd]

"He said the proposed changes would save a big amount of money because police would not have to go to and from Collie."

Instead they will have to still travel to the country to use the country roads.

Saving will be from not hiring the track from MSW