Safer roadways

Believe it or not, driving on the other side of the road is actually not the biggest difference between driving in the US and Australia. No, the biggest difference lies with transportation policy. Driving is much safer here because instead of ignoring major safety problems as has the US, the Australians have taken a proactive approach to preventing problems on the roadways. This system is much more to my liking. Here are some major improvements:

Red-light and speed cameras are ubiquitous here. Red-light cameras are not at every intersection, but you cannot make a practice of streaming through red lights for seconds after they change the way everyone does in, say, Reno. The speed cameras are put at locations on highways where speeding is most dangerous, such as when approaching the entrance to a tunnel. And there is always a sign to warn you that you are approaching a camera, so it's pretty fair.

Perhaps best of all, not every moron with a pulse gets to keep a driver license -- which seems to be the rule in the US. Here, you get "demerit points" (kinda like prep school) for doing stupid things like running a red light, and there is real teeth to the system -- you get your license suspended or revoked for a few violations. Get caught driving without a license and you're going to jail -- again, unlike in the US.

Also, high-risk drivers are given special driving licenses that are denoted on the license plates themselves so that everyone on the road knows who they are. "P-platers," as they are called, are people with probationary licenses. Here's what they look like:

P plates come with certain restrictions, like perhaps you're know allowed to exceed 90km/h when driving. In that case, the P plate will include the number so a police officer would know if they were violating the speed restriction.

There are also "L plates," which stands for "learner" (not "loser"). L platers are not allowed to drive during certain hours or have others under 18 in the car with them, etc.

On the whole, it makes for a system where far fewer people per capita are injured or killed on the roads. And despite the extra restrictions, that seems worth the trouble. Most people do not realize that about 42,000 Americans are killed by drivers each year. In my humble opinion, that's way too many.

Transportation planning is far ahead of America as well. When highways fill up with commuters, the Australians build rail lines and expand bus service instead of adding more lanes and waiting a few years for gridlock to resume. New highways are paid for by the users (via tolls), avoiding penalties on those of of us who make more sustainable transportation choices.

On the other hand, in America we're real good at war.