The Hodgman Liberal Government is helping novice drivers gain the experience they need to get on the road, safely and legally.
We are delivering on our election commitment to invest $1.5 million over three years from the Road Safety Levy to support learner driver mentor programs, which play an important role in helping disadvantaged people gain their driver’s licences.
Today, I am pleased to announce the 16 successful programs that will share in funding to enable them to offer learner driver mentoring through to July.
This includes Launceston College’s new “Car Skills” program, which brings the total number of learner driver mentor programs across Tasmania to 18.
The recommended minimum, supervised driving experience for novice drivers on an L1 licence is 30 hours, while for L2 licence holders, it is a mandatory 50 hours.
Gaining such experience is critical if we are to help new drivers become safer, more responsible road users, but we understand the difficulty this presents for those who have limited access to suitable vehicles and/or supervisory drivers.
What make the learner driver mentor programs work are the many volunteers who freely give of their time to supervise novice drivers to help to remove this road block.
The Government supports Tasmanians getting their driver’s licences to seek employment, education and social opportunities.
That’s why we are providing record funding for the learner driver mentor programs, and why we are so pleased to see new programs added to the list.
The successful programs under this round of funding are:
• Top Gear (Migrant Resource Centre (Southern Tasmanian) Inc.)
• Top Gear (Jordan River Service Inc Bridgewater Community Centre)
• Gearing Up (Huon Valley Council)
• Greenlight (Goodwood Community Centre Inc.)
• Ready Set Go (Clarendon Vale Neighbourhood Centre Inc.)
• L’s Angels (Pittwater Neighbourhood House)
• Drive Time (Derwent Valley Community House)
• Jumpstart (Geeveston Community Centre Inc.)
• Wheels 4 Work (Ravenswood Neighbourhood House)
• Drive 4 Life (Migrant Resource Centre (Northern Tasmania) Inc.)
• Northern Suburbs Community Centre
• Get In2 Gear (Break O’Day Council)
• Strive to Drive (Circular Head Aboriginal Corporation)
• Easy P’s (Devonport Chaplaincy Inc.)
• A2P’s (Red Cross)
• Car Skills (Launceston College, Department of Education)
The next round of funding for new and existing programs for 2015-16 will be made available in June.
Rene Hidding, Minister for Infrastructure
