Policy Briefing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Policy Briefing - Essay Example Its main mission has remained unchanged; to prevent and detect illegal entry of people into the United States of America. The department of homeland security is currently in charge of border security in the country. The point of interest is often the American Mexico border. Together with other law enforcers, the border patrol team has continued to place the US border under surveillance with an intention of identifying any threat to national security as well as illegal entry. Border policy does not prevent people from entering the United States, it only ensures that the entrance of people who are in possession of legal documents as well as screening individuals who may be trafficking contrabands and drugs into the country (Chà ¡vez, 2003). The border patrol in the county is responsible for patrolling two thousand miles of coastal waters surrounding Florida peninsula as well as six thousand miles of Canadian and Mexican border (Ngai, 2008). The agents are allowed to work around the clock in all types of weather conditions and terrain as well as in other isolated communities within the county. So many changes have taken place since the inception of the policy in the 1924. The number of agents patrolling the border has been increased to over twenty one thousands agents by the end of 2012. Although the United States border control measures may be considered as strict by many international states, I believe that their actions are extremely justified. The United States government has a mandate of ensuring that the people are safe from terrorists and other insecurities (DHS Increases Border Security in Response to Narcotrafficking Violence., 2009). The border patrol team thereby acts to ensure that the likelihood of dangerous people entering the United States of America is lowered. These activities are often accomplished through following leads, maintaining surveillance, interpreting and following tracks as well as responding to aircraft

Behaviorism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Behaviorism - Essay Example All methodologies trace their roots in history. Although, there is no classification which has actually been agreed upon but beside the main three methodological, psychological and logical types, there other few which are titled, like theoretical, biological and radical. The conduct of methodological behaviorism claims that it should only concern itself with the behavior of organisms, not with mental states and environment surrounding them. The focus is on the source of behavior .The essential theme of John Watson (1878-1958) writings is methodological behaviorism. Reinforcement, learning histories, external physical stimuli and responses in human and animals are the claims of Psychological behaviorism. Most of the prominent psychologists, Pavlov (1849-1936), Edward Thorndike (1874-1949), as well as Watson, have worked on it but the most famous work is on schedules of reinforcement by B. F. Skinner's (1904-90).Logical Positivism (see Smith 1986), a philosophical movement, has given b irth to Analytical behaviorism. It focuses on concepts, which refer to behavioral patterns which can or should be interpreted into behavioral terms. It explains how environment controls behaviors and predicts if the environment changes how behavior will change in relation to it. Gilbert Ryle (1900-76), and later work of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-51) is a good source of analytical behaviorism. An advocated brand of analytic behaviorism, by T. Place (1924-2000), restricted it to intentional states of mind, such as beliefs, which took place to constitute a type, although not the only type, of mentality (see Graham and Valentine 2004). It says that behind every mental state there are behavioral tendencies and situations.Since psychology is a natural science of behavior in organisms, psychologists in a different manner, observed animal behavior. As a result, theoretical concepts were defined. Developmental study was the idea, which appeared at a big scale, during the early research progr ams by the behaviorists. They believed that the routine action of excess activities plays a key role in the development of humans. Developmental studies attracted Watson. Early behaviorist texts, Dashiell, Weiss, Allport and Hamilton also worked on this idea. Internal drive states and motivational theories were emphasized by the behaviorists. The result was "No expression without impression; no response without stimulation" by Dashiell (1994) would conclude this contribution the best. The psychology of habit formation related to trial and error, conditioned stimulus and an extensive explanation of response was the prominent contributions. Behaviorists were highly attracted towards the idea of habit formation through conditioning. Allport (1994) concluded that transferring the right responses to new stimuli was the core of education. The significance of social behavior, social stimulus and reactions which stimulate the social objects relating to behavior was added to psychology. Sinc e 1920's, language acquisition and language itself was always been linked to self-stimulation and response. Language responses were considered as substitute and symbolic stimuli independent of the sensory feature of the original stimulus. Quine (1960) captured a behaviorist approach to the study of language, which was widely

Methods of Data Collection Essay Example for Free

Methods of Data Collection Essay Introduction: Data Collection is an important aspect of any type of research study. Inaccurate data collection can impact the results of a study and ultimately lead to invalid results. Data collection methods for impact evaluation vary along a continuum. At the one end of this continuum are quantitative methods and at the other end of the continuum are qualitative methods for data collection. Bakhtadze (2012:82) ‘When you have decided on a topic, refined it and specified objectives, you start considering the ways of collecting the evidence you require. The initial question that guides you is: â€Å"What do I need to know to answer my research problem? Why do I need it?† After you have answered the question you start choosing the best ways of collecting information. Researchers next decide how they are going to collect their empirical research data. That is they decide what method of data collection (test, questionnaires, focus group, observation, interviews) they are going to use to physically obtain research data from their research participants.’ University of Wilconsin (2012)The Quantitative data collection methods, rely on random sampling and structured data collection instruments that fit diverse experiences into predetermined response categories. They produce results that are easy to summarize, compare, and generalize. Quantitative research is concerned with testing hypotheses derived from theory and/or being able to estimate the size of a phenomenon of interest. Depending on the research question, participants may be randomly assigned to different treatments. If this is not feasible, the researcher may collect data on participant and situational characteristics in order to statistically control for their influence on the dependent, or outcome, variable. If the intent is to generalize from the research participants to a larger population, the researcher will employ probability sampling to select participants. Typical quantitative data gathering strategies include: * Experiments/clinical trials.   * Observing and recording well-defined events (e.g., counting the number of patients waiting in emergency at specified times of the day). * Obtaining relevant data from management information systems. * Administering surveys with closed-ended questions (e.g., face-to face and telephone interviews, questionnaires etc). Wikipedia (2012) In statistics, survey methodology is the field that studies the sampling of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies. Other types of survey are used for scientific purposes. Surveys provide important information for all kinds of research fields, e.g., marketing research, psychology, health professionals and sociology. A survey may focus on different topics such as preferences (e.g., for a presidential candidate), behavior (smoking and drinking behavior), or factual information (e.g., income), depending on its purpose. Since survey research is always based on a sample of the population, the success of the research is dependent on the representativeness of the population of concern. Survey methodology seeks to identify principles about the design, collection, processing, and analysis of surveys in connection to the cost and quality of survey estimates. It focuses on improving quality within cost constraints, or alternatively, reducing costs for a fixed level of quality. Survey methodology is both a scientific field and a profession. Part of the task of a survey methodologist is making a large set of decisions about thousands of individual features of a survey in order to improve it. The most important methodological challenges of a survey methodologist include making decisions on how to: * Identify and select potential sample members. * Contact sampled individuals and collect data from those who are hard to reach (or reluctant to respond). * Evaluate and test questions. * Select the mode for posing questions and collecting responses. * Train and supervise interviewers (if they are involved). * Check data files for accuracy and internal consistency. * Adjust survey estimates to correct for identified errors. Advantages * They are relatively easy to administer. * Can be developed in less time compared with other data-collection methods. * Can be cost-effective. * Few experts are required to develop a survey, which may increase the reliability of the survey data. * If conducted remotely, can reduce or obviate geographical dependence. * Useful in describing the characteristics of a large population assuming the sampling is valid. * Can be administered remotely via the Web, mobile devices, mail, e-mail, telephone, etc. * Efficient at collecting information from a large number of respondents. * Statistical techniques can be applied to the survey data to determine validity, reliability, and statistical significance even when analyzing multiple variables. * Many questions can be asked about a given topic giving considerable flexibility to the analysis. * Support both between and within-subjects study designs. * A wide range of information can be collected (e.g., attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviour). * Because they are standardized, they are relatively free from several types of errors. Disadvantages The reliability of survey data may depend on the following: * Respondents motivation, honesty, memory, and ability to respond: * Respondents may not be motivated to give accurate answers. * Respondents may be motivated to give answers that present themselves in a favorable light. * Respondents may not be fully aware of their reasons for any given action. * Structured surveys, particularly those with closed ended questions, may have low validity when researching affective variables. * Self-selection bias: Although the individuals chosen to participate in surveys are often randomly sampled, errors due to non-response may exist ( Adà ©r et al. (2008:13) . That is, people who choose to respond on the survey may be different from those who do not respond, thus biasing the estimates. For example, polls or surveys that are conducted by calling a random sample of publicly available telephone numbers will not include the responses of people with unlisted telephone numbers, mobile (cell) phone numbers, people who are unable to answer the phone (e.g., because they normally sleep during the time of day the survey is conducted, because they are at work, etc.), people who do not answer calls from unknown or unfamiliar telephone numbers. Likewise, such a survey will include a disproportionate number of respondents who have traditional, land-line telephone service with listed phone numbers, and people who stay home much of the day and are much more likely to be available to participate in the survey (e.g., people who are unemployed, disabled, elderly, etc.). * Question design. Survey question answer-choices could lead to vague data sets because at times they are relative only to a personal abstract notion concerning strength of choice. For instance the choice moderately agree may mean different things to different subjects, and to anyone interpreting the data for correlation. Even yes or no answers are problematic because subjects may for instance put no if the choice only once is not available. Questionnaires Wikipedia (2012)A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. Although they are often designed for statistical analysis of the responses, this is not always the case. The questionnaire was invented by Sir Francis Galton. Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are cheap, do not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data. However, such standardized answers may frustrate users. Questionnaires are also sharply limited by the fact that respondents must be able to read the questions and respond to them. Thus, for some demographic groups conducting a survey by questionnaire may not be practical. As a type of survey, questionnaires also have many of the same problems relating to question construction and wording that exist in other types of opini on polls. Basic rules for questionnaire item construction * Use statements which are interpreted in the same way by members of different subpopulations of the population of interest. * Use statements where persons that have different opinions or traits will give different answers. * Think of having an open answer category after a list of possible answers. * Use only one aspect of the construct you are interested in per item. * Use positive statements and avoid negatives or double negatives. * Do not make assumptions about the respondent. * Use clear and comprehensible wording, easily understandable for all educational levels * Use correct spelling, grammar and punctuation. * Avoid items that contain more than one question per item (e.g. Do you like strawberries and potatoes?). Questionnaire administration modes Main modes of questionnaire administration are: * Face-to-face questionnaire administration, where an interviewer presents the items orally. * Paper-and-pencil questionnaire administration, where the items are presented on paper. * Computerized questionnaire administration, where the items are presented on the computer. * Adaptive computerized questionnaire administration, where a selection of items is presented on the computer, and based on the answers on those items, the computer selects following items optimized for the ‘testees ‘estimated ability or trait. -Wikipedia. Org Observational study In epidemiology and statistics, an observational study draws inferences about the possible effect of a treatment on subjects, where the assignment of subjects into a treated group versus a control group is outside the control of the investigator. This is in contrast with experiments, such as randomized controlled trials, where each subject is randomly assigned to a treated group or a control group before the start of the treatment. Wikipedia (2012)Although, observational studies cannot be used as reliable sources to make statements of fact about the safety, efficacy, or effectiveness of a practice, they can still be of use for some other things: [T]hey can: 1) provide information on â€Å"real world† use and practice; 2) detect signals about the benefits and risks of[the] use [of practices] in the general population; 3) help formulate hypotheses to be tested in subsequent experiments; 4) provide part of the community-level data needed to design more informative pragmatic clinical trials; and 5) inform clinical practice.’ Bakhtadze (107:2012) Observation is watching behavioral patterns of people in certain situations to obtain information about the phenomenon of interest. Quantitative Observation: Quantitative Observation involves the standardization of all observational procedures in order to obtain reliable research data. Qualitative Observation: Qualitative Observation involves observing all relevant phenomena and taking extensive field notes without specifying in advance exactly what is observed. Focus Groups Bakhtadze (106:2012) A focus group is a type of group interview in which a group moderator (working for the researcher) leads a discussion with a small group of individuals to examine how the group members think and feel about the topic. Purposes of Focus groups: 1. Obtaining general background information about a topic of interest; 2. Stimulating new ideas and creating concepts; 3. Generating impressions of products, programs, services, etc. 4. Learning how respondents talk about the phenomenon of interest; 5. Interpreting previously obtained qualitative results Summary A method of data collection is the procedure that a researcher uses to physically obtain research data from research participants. The method of data collection that is used in a research study is discussed in the method section of a research report. . Finally, the methods of data collection discussed in this paper work can be mixed by using the fundamental principle of mixed research to strengthen the evidence provided by a research study. References: Adà ¨r, H. J., Mellenbergh, G. J., Hand, D. J. (2008). Advising on research methods: A consultants companion. Huizen, The Netherlands: Johannes van Kessel Publishing. Bakhtadze, I., 2012.Course note on Research Methodology, Department of Education, International Black Sea University, Tbilisi-Georgia. World Bank, n.d: Data Collection Methods, 2012 viewed 28th of December 2012 http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/impact/methods/datacoll.htm University of Wilconsin, n.d., Data Collection Methods, viewed 28th of December 2012 http://people.uwec.edu/piercech/researchmethods/data%20collection%20methods/data%20collection%20methods.htm Wikipedia, 2012, Questionnaire, viewed 28th 0f December 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Questionnaire Wikipedia, 2012, Survey Methodology, viewed 28th 0f December 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_survey Wikipedia, 2012, Observational Study, viewed 28th 0f December 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observational_study

Developing Healthcare in Third World Countries

Developing Healthcare in Third World Countries Good Health Care is important for many reasons, longer living for one. However, most people who live in third world countries, such as Haiti, who have little to no access to such benefits. Some sections of the population have additional barriers to overcome. These groups include poor women, young people and other socially disadvantaged groups such as drug users, sex workers and people with disabilities. The child mortality rates that are present in a developing country such as Haiti is a defecate that can spread and affect us here in the United Sates in ways such as diseases that contaminate ones who fly and frequently travel to the U.S. Not saying that we must repel any other country because they may contaminate us, we just have to focus on helping them out, to find a way to better their healthcare, so outbreaks do not happen and occur less often. With all the most expensive medical technology money can buy, the United States performs the most important health procedures. But as this society we all live in modernizes we find that other places, like Haiti, who have been through tough time, are ignored. It I known that if a country has a high level of poverty, their citizens tend to be poor, and the poor tend to have less access to health services. Lack of financial resources can create barriers when having to access services. When health care is needed but is delayed or not obtained, people’s health worsens, which in turn leads to lost income and higher health care costs, both of which contribute to poverty. These deprivations lead to bad health that are common in developing countries, and those who are in poverty tend to be more affected by it. There are many questions that concern the mechanisms of financing health services and the affordability for the poor have been one of the most controversial topics concerning acc ess to health services in developing countries. Child mortality is one of the most difficult things in the world to discuss. The death of any child is a thought many parents would never want to bear. It is depressing that millions of children die yearly and usually from preventable things, than in an industrialized country such as the United Sates, could have prevented in a heartbeat. In third world countries, however, their poverty and lack of access to health care cause many more deaths than there would be in a more industrialized country. â€Å"The 2010 maternal mortality rate per 100,000 births for Haiti is 300. The under 5 mortality rate, per 1,000 births is 89. This is compared to be such an ample number compared to the United States statistics that place the child and newborn mortality rates at 6 infant deaths per 1,000 births.† (Health, IMA World, 2010) â€Å"The highest percentage of death occurs after birth and before the fifth year of life. During the neonatal period, 75 percent of deaths occur during the first week of life. The remainders of neonatal deaths occur within the first hour after birth. Deaths within the first month can often be attributed to poor nutrition, poor prenatal care, or disease.† (Health, IMA World, 2010) Many of the deaths that occur in the first hours of life are due to poor help in delivering or poor prenatal nutrition. Children who are born into a poverty life are significantly more at risk of malnourishment and dying before the age of five. Children from developing countries are ten times more likely to die before the age of five than those from more industrialized nations. This is because children from developing nations are much more likely to lack a skilled birth attendee and the medicine and care they must obtain if they were to have complication during labor and birth. From longstanding to emerging problems, environmental factors are a root cause of a significant burden of death, disease and disability – particularly in developing countries. A significant proportion of that overall environmental disease burden can be attributed to relatively few key areas of risk. These include: unsanitary water, sanitation; vector-borne diseases; poor environment and indoor air quality; and global environmental change. Human health and environmental health are intimately intertwined. The existence of clean air, clean water, a stable climate, thriving wildlife, and well-managed natural resources determines the extent to which people can enjoy their basic rights to life, health, food, housing, livelihood, and culture.† (Gopalan, 2002) Little things such as these are being ignored and not taken into consideration. Human health and environmental sanitation and wellness are essential for life of any kind to be sustainable. As well as health requirement’s sanitation is another problem that affects these countries that lack healthcare. â€Å"Deficient sanitation systems, poor nutrition, and inadequate health services have pushed Haiti to the bottom of the World Bank’s rankings of health indicators.† (Public Health Issues and Priorities for the Haiti Earthquake) According to the United Nations World Food Programme, 80% of Haiti’s population lives in poverty. Consequently, malnutrition is one of the significant problems. The trouble in Haiti’s health care system, such as those listed above, is structural violence. Structural violence refers to organized ways in which social structures harm or otherwise disadvantage individuals. Haiti, one of many poor countries on the globe, demonstrates social arrangements and structural violence that put its individuals in higher health risks. Due to reasons such as racism, pollution, poor housing, poverty, and overall social inequality , structural violence limits residents of Haiti from proper clinical medicine. Many of these problems have surfaced after the cataclysmic earthquake of 2011. Addressing these obstacles will effectively reduce structural violence, and it will be likely that health care improvements in Haiti, which are much needed, be exceeded. IMA World Health, a specialist in providing essential healthcare services and medical supplies around the world, is a nonprofit, faith-based organization working to restore health, hope and dignity to those most in need. â€Å"Working primarily in the developing world, where an estimated 30 to 70 percent of health care is provided by faith-based organizations. IMA is an international health organization that is widely recognized for its effective and careful use of resources.† (IMA World Health, 2008) The IMA have done such a greater good for health care, an example of their work is the Medicine Boxes. â€Å"Whether responding to a natural disaster or the needs of a war-torn population, Medicine Boxes ® are found in many corners of a hurting world.† (Health, IMA World, 2010) â€Å"UNHCO is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to support individuals in emerging nations and resolve medical care problems. UNHCO works worldwide to provide humanitarian help for people affected by malnutrition.† (UNHCO, 2003) UNHCO is an international relief organization committed to global development of medical care as well as preventive health care for emerging nations. UNHCO is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, providing support to countries and monitoring health trends. Works Cited Chen, Pauline. What We Can Learn From Third-World Health Care. Well What We Can Learn From Third World Health Care Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. Shah, Anup. Health Care Around the World. Global Issues. N.p., 22 Sept. 2011. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. Moredock, Will . Third World Healthcare . Charleston City Paper. N.p., 4 Sept. 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2014. Development Goals. Biggest Threats to Child Mortality in the Third World. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. NYT: What the U.S. can learn from third-world health care. The Advisory Board Daily Briefing. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Health Care in Developing Countries | Interchurch Medical Assistance | IMA World Health. Health Care in Developing Countries | Interchurch Medical Assistance | IMA World Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. UNHCO The Healthcare Agency. UNHCO The Healthcare Agency RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.

Midsummer Nights Dream :: essays research papers

Midsummer Night’s Dream Questions and Answers 1. What does Shakespeare accomplish by setting most of the action at night and in the wood? Explain thoroughly. Use examples. Setting most of the action at night and in the woods creates a dreamlike world. There is no other place that holds more myth than the forest. Obernon makes clear that nighttime is fairies’ time. Theseus, who is present during the daylight, represents reason.The visions of fairies and magic are all related to the nighttime forest setting. Shakespeare was interested in how dreams worked, in how the events in the play transpired, and how time seems to change and loses track. Throughout the entire play, the young lovers are overcome by the magical power of the woods. They are put into a situation that is unrealistic which leads to bizarre mishaps. Even uncanny incidents happen to the fairies of the woods. Titania is put under a love spell and falls in the love with the ass-headed Nick Bottom. Puck reminds us in the end that if the play has offended anyone, they should simply remember it as being a dream. This helps make the play an incredible occurrence, rather than an intense dra ma. 2. Explain how Theseus represents the voice of reason and moderation. Be specific. Use examples and quotes (include act and line numbers) Theseus represents the voice of reason and moderation in the play because he seems to be the only normal character left. He only appears in the play during the daytime, when nothing magical occurs. He is the only character who shows complete sanity in the dreamlike fantasy world around him. He is the Duke of Athens so many people come to him with their problems. When Egeus comes to Theseus about the problem he is having with his daughter, Hermia, Theseus takes power over the situation. He explains to Hermia that if she goes against her father’s rules, by his words, she will be sentenced to death or sent to a convent. (Act 1, Scene 1, Pages 4 and 5, Lines 30-34). He states, â€Å"For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself to fit your fancies to your father’s will; Or else the law of Athens yields you up,- which by no means we may extenuate,- to death, or to a vow of single life.† Hermia is so in love that she can not make a reasonable decision, so she runs off in to the imaginative woods with Lysander.

Head Start Essay -- essays papers

Head Start Head Start and Early Head Start are comprehensive child development programs which serve children from birth to age five, pregnant woman and their extended families. They are child-focused programs that have the overall goal of increasing the school readiness of young children in low-income families. . These programs try to prepare young children intellectually, socially, emotionally and physically for their future educational and social endeavors. ( U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2002).. The programs prepare the parent(s) to be supportive in the endeavor. Head Start has the philosophy that parents are a child's first and most influential teacher. The Head Start program is beneficial to early learning. In 1964, the Federal Government asked a panel of child development experts to draw up a program to help communities meet the needs of disadvantaged preschool children. The panel became the blueprint for Project Head Start (U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, 2002). Beginning as an eight-week summer program out of the Office of Economic Development, the Head Start program was well received by the education community. From the outset the program offered not only an education program, but also a health program for children. The program strongly encouraged parental involvement and offered the parents social service help if warranted. Right now the program is administered by the Administration for Children and Families. There are Head Start programs in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. territories ( The Online Head Start Resource Center, 2002). In 1994, the Early Head Start Program was established, because it was determined that children from birth to t... ...n. (ERIC Document Re-Productive Service No. ED327313) 6. Schweinhart, L. (2002). Recent Evidence on Preschool Programs. (ERIC Digest No.____). Champaign, IL: ERIC Clearing house on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. (ERIC Document Reproductive Service No. ED458046) 7. Head Start Works, But Needs More Funding and Better Teachers, (2002). Retrieved on November 5, 2002 from NIEER (National Institute for Early Learning Response, http://nieer.org/media center/index.php?pressid=7 8. Merrow, J. (2002, September 25)., The Failureof Head Start. Educationweek. Retrieved on November 5, 2002, from http://wwwedweek.org/le/ewstory.cfm?slug=04merrow.h22 9. Lubeck, S. (1990). Four-Year-Olds and Public Schooling. (ERIC Digest No _____). Urbana, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. (ERIC Document Reproductive Service No. ED325204)

P Plate Laws

They are there not to be broken but to save the lives of the young and inexperienced drivers. Since the new laws have been introduced more than 15,000 P-Plate drivers have been stripped of their licence in Victoria alone which shows that these ‘hoons’ don’t care about the law and even tougher rules need to be put in place. The new P-Plate laws, which are being enforced Australia wide, include having only 1 passenger between the age of 16-21 while you are on your Red P Plates, not driving a turbo or super charged vehicle, or driving a vehicle that has more than 6 cylinders. You are also required to drive 120 hours before being able to obtain your P Plates. The new P Plate laws that have been put in place are definitely working and reducing the death toll on our roads. It was reported in the herald sun that since the new p plate laws have been introduced there has been a 21% decrease in deaths on our roads among p platers. Eric Roozendal the roads minister has said he is â€Å"heartened to see that fatality rates have fallen for red P Plate drivers – which were the main target of the reforms†. Not only is he delighted with the way the new laws are working but other drivers or drivers to be are as well, like 19 year old L Plater Meg Walster who is even more excited about getting her P Plates because she is encouraged in the fact that it is safer to drive thanks to the new p plate laws. However some hoons still don’t get the message. These hoons seem to think they can do whatever they like because they will not be caught or because they are showing off to their friends. One of the main laws to be broken is going over the speed limit. Last year more than 11,400 P plate drivers were caught speeding and nearly 200 of those were caught speeding [pause] more than 45 km/h over the speed limit. Not even very experienced drivers could handle the speeds at which some of the new p platers were going at, what made them think they could? A very good example of these hoons not caring about the laws, themselves and other drivers around them was when late last year a young p plater obtained his licence and a mere 45 minutes after his test he was caught speeding at a [pause] 154 km/h in a 110 km zone. That’s just shows how reckless and immature these hoons are. Sue Philips has issued a statement to all new drivers after her son died and his two friends were injured in a horror crash because he was speeding, the damage was unimaginable, the car was split into two, the two halves of the car separated [pause] by a massive 40 meters. She warned all other drivers to stop and think before speeding. These hoons need to wake up and see what is happening around them, and what not just speeding but breaking any of the road rules can do, not just to you but everyone around you on the road. There needs to be tougher punishment for these law breakers, because that’s what they are laws breakers. Just because road laws might not seem as important or as bad as assault or breaking and entering or even stealing the consequences should be similar because breaking the road laws can be more devastating. Hoons choose to break the laws, it is not like they get provoked to or even need to break the laws to survive [pause] they choose to! The P Plate driver who was caught driving 44km/h over the speed limit, 45 minutes after gaining his licence was only fined $421 and had his licence suspended for 3 months. That is not enough for exceeding the speed limit by the amount that he did. Many people die in accidents that are resulted from speeding and even more get severely injured. These hoons need to be treated like criminals because these are criminal offences that they commit when they decide to break the road laws. P Platers argue that they are capable of handling powerful cars that are either turbo or super charged or even a v8 and that is not true because they are young and inexperienced and could not handle its power, as you need experience to control a car like that especially if you were to spin out or even accelerate, p platers most of the time put their foot down all the way when the light goes green, sure they can handle the power in a 4 cylinder car or even 6, but they most definitely would not in a powerful car. P platers also argue that they should be able to carry more than one passenger between the age of 16 and 21 but did you know that a p plater is 4 times more likely to be in an accident when he or she is with someone their own age! Also p plater say is costs too much for fuel when going on trips because they have to take more cars. This is true but when going on road trips you can apply to vic roads to get an exemption for a few days but you cannot be caught speeding or breaking the road laws otherwise there will be hefty fines. The new P Plate laws are there for a reason. Tougher laws need to be introduced but the current ones are working and making our roads safer every day. These hoons need to realize what breaking the road laws can do and need to think about the consequences because not only can they be hurt but others around them too.