Ooh Leanne, vent away....just don't move in with my DH....he slept until midday today cos he didn't finish until midnight last night

Christine (please don't think i'm prying or poking), did you lose your mum recently? It is sad that Riley won't have that like the girls.

About the driving thing. As you can imagine, we have a lot to deal with P Plate drivers. I was an emergency specialist before I joined the cops. I've seen more squashed, smashed, mutilated bodes than I care to remember. I hate writing tickets and save them for when a driver tries to kill me or someone else. Surprisingly (or probably not) most of the tickets I do write are for P Platers. Short of dragging them along to big smashes and saying "look what happens to heads/legs/arms just because the driver was being dumb/overconfident/undercautious/inexperienced! Look what it does to families. Look at their recovery (if there's one to be had)", I don't know that any rules will make a difference.
I'm probably in the minority but I agree with the proposal. A licence is a privelege to be guarded and respected, not a right. A car is a weapon that can maim and kill. How hard are the road rules to follow???? It never gets them anywhere quicker. But when I learnt to drive things were just 'different'.
I agree with the passenger proposal, at least then it minimises the lives potentially lost. Curfews are too hard to enforce and many don't work daylight hours. Currently in NSW there ARE restrictions on the type of car P Platers can drive, but there are so many easily obtained exemptions that the rule is stupid.
Parents are also conrtibuting as most insurance companys won't insure hig powered and turbo cars for under 25s (a lot are now 30), but the kids want the car so the parents buy and insure them under their names, thus exaccerbating the problem.
Sorry that was a bit of a rant, wasn't it....you should just hear the attitude they manage though....makes you want to smack em!