Call to ban youths from driving high-performance cars

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Ipswich Mayor Paul Pisasale says he wants a ban on young people driving high-powered cars, after two men were killed in a crash west of Brisbane yesterday.

The men, aged 19 and 28, were flung out of a high-performance Subaru that crashed through trees, fences and homes at Silkstone.

Police are waiting to question the 18-year-old driver, who survived but remains in hospital with serious injuries.

Councillor Pisasale says too many young people are being killed in high-performance cars.

He wants legislators to consider laws banning young people from driving high-performance cars until they are older and more experienced.

"This is a wake-up call for everybody - cars are getting faster and faster," he said.

"When I was at the scene yesterday it was just a nightmare.

"Authorities have to start looking at young people getting their licences - they really have to go through driving schools and then go through a defensive driving school.

"I think what we have got to do is make sure when people get these cars and the type of car they get, there has to be some limiting factors."

He says police have taken council security footage showing the car driving at dangerous speeds just before the crash.

"Yesterday was a very sad day - it highlights once again that driving fast, speed, is just a result in death and the community suffers," he said.

"The speed they were travelling at yesterday was virtually two to three times the normal limit - that's a result for disaster and now we are all suffering."

Councillor Pisasale says young people are not mature enough to drive these types of cars.

"What's happening - especially with the Subaru this young gentleman had - they just can't control the speed and the emotions that go with them having a fun time," he said.

Topics: road, activism-and-lobbying, local-government, driver-education, ipswich-4305, silkstone-4304, brisbane-4000

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