Tasmania is putting more support behind learner drivers and the people sitting beside them, with a new road safety program designed to make the early years behind the wheel less daunting and a lot safer. The state says its new Alongside program will help learners and supervisors build better habits before those L plates come off.
Dylan Anderson
What Tasmania’s new program includes
The Youth Road Safety Program, called Alongside, is being delivered by the Tasmanian Government with RACT and the Road Safety Advisory Council. Its centrepiece is a series of Learning to Drive, Together workshops for learner drivers and their supervisors.
The workshops are intended to cover the practical stuff that can get missed between logbook hours, from preparing for real traffic conditions to building safer decision making. Pilot sessions have already started in Kingston, with further sessions planned elsewhere in Tasmania including the West Coast.
The government says it is investing $8 million in youth road safety across five years. Of that, $2 million is earmarked for improving road safety and licensing outcomes for disadvantaged young people.
Why the focus is on P platers
Learners have supervision. P1 drivers are suddenly making more decisions alone, often at night, with friends in the car and far less experience to draw on. Tasmania says young people aged 17 to 25 are consistently overrepresented among people killed or seriously injured on the state’s roads.
The state estimates around 300 Tasmanians are killed or seriously injured on the road each year. It says the P1 phase is when young drivers face their highest crash risk.
There is no shortcut to experience, but better coaching before a learner goes solo can make those first independent kilometres feel less like guesswork. The new program puts the supervisor back in the conversation, which is sensible. A calm, switched on adult in the passenger seat can help create safer routines long before a learner becomes a provisional driver.
What Tasmanian families should do now
The workshops are aimed at both learners and the adults supervising them, so families do not need to wait until a driving test is booked. Keep an eye on the Tasmanian Government’s announcements for upcoming sessions in your area.
Source: Tasmanian Government media release, 4 September 2026.
Dylan Anderson
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