“Filling out the paper logbook is just awful,” 16-year-old Lumen Christi student Seriana Elia said. 

Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight Melinda Pavey recently announced a landmark NSW trial for 100 Western Sydney and regional NSW learner drivers to test out the move from paper to smartphones.

L-Platers will be able to trial four apps – Licence Ready, Learner Journey, Ezy Log and L2P – over a six-week period to let the NSW government know how effective they are.

“It is about time we brought the logbook experience into the 21st century. Parents and kids are sick of having to manually write in 120 hours of driving practice,” Ms Pavey said.

“New innovations to make life easier are being developed every day, and it’s important that government doesn’t stand in the way when it comes to harnessing technology to deliver better products and services for NSW customers.”

Ms Pavey’s comments were echoed by local teens who all agreed that moving to an app could only make life easier during what can be a stressful time. 

“I think it is a really good thing, although the log book isn’t that bad it is definitely time for it to be upgraded, I’m a tech person so I just think about all the good things it could bring,” Seriana said. 

Fellow Lumen Christi Year 12 students Rain Flavell who’s on his Ps and L-Plater Bill Robertson were also excited about the prospective changes. 

“I think it’s a good thing because the log books are clunky and hard to carry around, but everyone has a phone. It just sounds easier,” Rain said. 

When Rain was learning to drive he said filling out the log book was a huge hassle and something that he at times forgot to complete. 

Bill said moving to an app based system could also reduce cheating. 

“If you have to log your drive through an app while driving it could stop people from forging their log book. It would also make it easier for the people to check the log book when doing the driving test,” he said. 

While the response from local teenagers was mostly positive, Year 12 Eden Marine High School student Monique Meechan said her only concern was the amount of data the app could use. 

“I have wifi at home so I don’t have much data on my phone. If you are using data for the 120 hours of logging your driving it could cost a lot of money,” the young P-Plater said. 

The apps have been designed so that they don’t distract new drivers or their supervisors, and comply with all applicable road rules relating to the use of mobile phones in vehicles.

Member for Bega and Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance said the apps were the result of the Future Transport Initiative designed at making transport a technology business, and are designed to streamline the learning process while keeping drivers safe.

“This is the next exciting step towards creating better, tech-based solutions for customers by working closely with the brightest minds in the technology community,” Mr Constance said

Transport for NSW will review feedback from the trial, and successful apps are expected to be rolled out more widely later this year.