You'll Need A Special License To Drive 'Ultra High-Powered Vehicles' In South Australia
If you live in South Australia, come December 1, 2024, you won’t be allowed to drive your Lamborghini unless you get a special license. According to Australia’s Drive, the Australian state has become the first in the country to introduce a license specifically for “ultra high-powered vehicles,” which it defines as any car that makes at least 275 kW per 1000 kg. Or, in units that Americans can actually understand, about 336 hp per ton.
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If you happen to own a bus or a motorcycle, though, you’ll be exempt. And you’ll still be allowed to drive some pretty quick cars on a regular license. The Lamborghini Huracan may be powerful enough to require the new U-class license, but the BMW M3 won’t. And so far, no other state in the country has announced plans to follow suit. So if you live in Adelaide, get ready to jump through a few hoops, but if you live in Sydney, you’re fine. For now.
“This course is currently being developed and will ensure a person is aware of the risks associated with driving an UHPV and the use of common vehicle features within Advanced Driver Assistance Systems,” a spokesperson for South Australia’s Department of Transportation told Drive. “Once the training is available, all existing UHPV drivers and owners will need to complete this training to obtain a U license classification if they wish to continue driving a UHPV after 1 December 2024.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like the course required to get the special license involves any actual driver training. Instead, it appears to just be an online course. So the government isn’t going to actually make sure people driving Ferraris and Lamborghinis actually know what they’re doing behind the wheel. It just wants to make sure they can sit through a few videos and slideshows focused on how bad it could be if they lose control.
Additionally, drivers of ultra high-powered vehicles will also be fined as much as $5,000 for turning off any “automated intervention system” such as ABS, automated emergency braking, stability control or traction control while on public roads.
These new driving laws have been introduced after the driver of a Lamborghini Huracan killed 15-year-old Sophia Naismith back in 2019. In a statement last month, Kyam Maher, South Australia’s attorney general, said:
Sophia Naismith’s tragic death highlighted serious problems with our current laws where driving conduct causes death or serious harm. These problems included the lack of an offense that takes into account driving that does not meet the threshold of ‘dangerous’ driving, but warrants tougher penalties than those available at the lower level of offending. In addition, these reforms will ensure people who drive ultra high-powered vehicles take greater responsibility for their actions while making sure that authorities have the power to prosecute those who flout our road laws and put others’ lives at risk.
