![OUR SAY: Solutions to ease trauma of more young Border crash victims can be found OUR SAY: Solutions to ease trauma of more young Border crash victims can be found](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/zTpV5j6X6iLmSh5SbcmSaP/f8f99126-dd3e-42de-b01a-1779f353025b.jpg/r1167_997_5423_3611_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
It has been a grim few weeks on Border roads.
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Five lives were lost in 11 days in a spate of crashes that ripped apart families and left police reeling at what could be done to stop the carnage.
It was, if that was possible, made worse by the fact that young drivers or passengers were involved.
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Any one of those crashes could have taken our son or daughter, our cousin or friend.
It is far too soon for conclusions to be drawn from these deaths, as coronal inquiries will be held and crash scene investigations will continue for months to come.
It is only then that the families of those lost and the wider community might find out what happened, or get a guarded insight into individual cases.
Road trauma is regularly visited upon by Albury magistrate Sally McLaughlin, who must pore over the aftermath in her role and especially as coroner.
She regularly reminds young drivers who, for example, might be appealing a licence suspension for speeding that they don't have the experience to be as safe as older drivers.
And there is the simple fact, as she recounts to drivers of all ages, that their licence is a privilege. It is not a right.
If we as a society pay far more attention to the driver training we afford our learner drivers then we can at least lessen the risks.
For now, if you're a learner driver in NSW you must complete 120 hours of time behind the wheel, including a set component of night driving, before sitting your test.
Victoria's learner-driver training regime is almost identical.
But the bugbear of all this is that a learner driver can be easily taught the bad driving habits of their adult, often parental supervisor.
Former Border bus company operator Bernie Mylon believes a lack of training is a major factor in such deaths on our roads.
His idea is for governments to subsidise "proper training" for adults to then in turn teach their kids.
This carries considerable merit, for we will never have the resources for every learner driver to do all their training with an instructor.
But this approach will at least help us make effective progress and, in so doing, not so needlessly lose young lives.
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