Bureaucratic bingo

18 August 2023

Young regional Victorian drivers are being offered a $5,000 state government subsidy to ditch their old car and replace it with a safer vehicle under the rollout of a program called Unsafe2safe.

The state government is heroically spruiking the safety merits of the program and how it will save lives on regional roads.

The scheme encourages regional drivers aged between 18 to 25 years old who have a vehicle with a low safety rating and is over 16 years old to replace it with a new vehicle equipped with more advanced safety features from a participating new car dealership.

On face value, it’s always been a good idea to put young people into safer cars and any initiative aimed at doing so is worthy of attention.

However, I’m trying not to cynically view this as a selective regional vote grabbing exercise by the State Government. Why?

Not all applicants are guaranteed the subsidy, which closes on 3 September 2023. Lucky candidates are randomly chosen!

Then there is a very high jump to reach the $5k carrot. Interested participants are asked to firstly undertake an online survey, then complete a VicRoads safety course.

And after all the bureaucratic dancing, is the program potentially pushing younger drivers into debt by committing them to loans for new cars? After all, they are driving clunkers destined to be scrapped. 

I don’t think the subsidy goes far enough.

There is another way to improve regional driver safety for all Victorians Mr Andrews, try fixing the perilously potholed roads we all have to drive on.

Words: VACC CEO Geoff Gwilym. As featured in the Herald Sun 18 August 2023.