Tips & resources for young and new drivers

Plenty of safe driving tips and resources for young and new drivers.

Tips

The main things to remember are as follows.

• Prepare well by getting at least 120 hours of accompanied on-road experience, including during wet weather and at night, before applying for your licence.
• Choose a safe car.
• Avoid driving at night unless essential or you are accompanied by a driver with several years experience.
• Avoid driving during the time you would normally be asleep or if you haven’t slept in the last 18 hours.
• Increase space and following distances. Don’t tailgate – aim to keep a minimum 2 second gap from the vehicle in front.
• Never exceed the speed limit. It takes longer to stop than you might think. Practice slowing down as the first reaction to a potential hazardous situation.
• Do not drive after drinking or taking drugs.
• Set up your mounted device for navigation or music before your journey commences 
• Keep portable devices, such as a mobile phone, out of sight and out of reach
• Anticipate! Continue to develop your hazard recognition skills.
• Always ensure you and all of your passengers are wearing a seat belt

Learner driver resources

• The Road to Solo Driving handbook and Leaner Kit provide essential information for you and your supervising driver. Updated distraction road rules and outlined in this fact sheet [PDF 404 Kb].
• myLearners is our new app and website which helps learners and supervisors work together to form safe driving behaviours and prepare learners for solo driving.
• The practice learner permit test allows you to practise your permit test as many times as you want. It uses actual questions from the permit test. 

Probationary driver resources

• The Probationary Kit given to you when you pass your drive test contains rules and information for you and your parents. Updated distraction road rules and outlined in this fact sheet [PDF 404 Kb].
• Saferpplaters (External link) was developed by The Transport Accident Commission (TAC), with the support of VicRoads and the RACV, a campaign to inform parents of the risk and provide them with a range of easy strategies that they can use to improve the safety of their children as probationary drivers.