You might have caught up on the latest Herald survey, which claims 80% of us want the legal driving age to be raised to 18 or higher. Personally I can’t quite imagine a system where young people can learn to drive a family sedan at the same age they can enlist in the army and learn to drive a tank.
Darien Fenton and I were chatting a while back about the Government’s proposal to increase the driving age and decided we hadn’t heard much from young people on the issue. We threw together a quick survey, which Young Labour has made available here.
Grateful for your feedback.
While I am not in favour of raising the driving age, not for any other reason that it gives our youth three years to get used to driving before the complicating factor of alcohol comes it, their could be progressive up side to such a change.
Forced into giving their charges a further three years ferrying around while they are becoming increasingly socially active may give middle class voters pause for thought as to why the public transport system is inadequate to cater to those who are unable to use private transport.
Maybe the only difference is that when an 18-year-old (or younger) is learning to drive a tank he or she is driving in a place that is often not controlled by traffic lights.
Despite having spent the Christmas break bunny-hopping around Napier with my 15 year old brother, i support the current system. I found that the fear of stalling and public humiliation proved a great motivation for maturity and much needed family time.I am pleased we give our teens the independence to prove themselves, but i think we need to look into making defensive driving courses more accessible, I’ll forward the survey to my brother and see if we see eye to eye…
I don’t reckon the age should be raised, simply because the ammount of 16+ teens that have jobs is a lot higher than it used to be, and not being able to drive themselves to and from work would probably impact how many go out and get jobs (because you can’t really rely on public transport, especially those who don’t live in the big cities). Just make a defensive driving course as part of getting the licence, and not just something you do if you wish to get it quicker.
I think keep the age as it is and as Cal said make them do a defensive driving course. Also could extend the length of time that each licence is held.
Oh yeah, what about the poor 18 years olds, if they change the law, who want to leave home to go to uni and then have to turn down part time jobs like pizza delivery because they aren’t allowed to drive yet.
And that would stop some of them being able to drive themselves home to their olds.
Whatever you do, make sure the driving age is significantly lower than the drinking age.
If you are old enough to work then you are old enough to drive.
Plus the punishment for playing silly buggers while learning to drive a tank are far harsher and much better enforced than our traffic laws. Perhaps there’s a lesson in that?
There’s some parallel with the issues between youth pay rates and driving age – of particular concern is the potential disproportionate effect on the Pacific communities. Anecdotally Pacific young people are also likely to contribute income to their family – so any change to the driving age could have large negative consequences when magnified by the young demographic.
My concerns still exist about NZ’s exceptionally young entry to the licensing system – are we really so different from the rest of the OECD? But of larger concern is the lack of dialogue about how driving gives young people (and hence their families and communities) valuable income.
My daughter has just turned 18 and is about to leave for Uni, she has been driving for 3 years during which time my wife and I have had considerable control over where when and how she drives. She has become a reasonably skilled and hopefully safe driver, but if she was to only get her licence now as she leaves home and school we would not be able to exercise any constraint or be able to offer any skill and experience training for her. I have observed her friends learning to drive and driving inderpendently and am very impressed by their maturity. Any move to raise the driving age out from under the parental umbrella is dangerous and I think would eventually be more lethal in the long run. I may be wrong but I do recall something about overseas experiences proving this to be the case
One of the biggest issues that young people don’t realise when they’re learning how to drive from their parents, is that they’re learning their parent’s mistakes! For their parents to get their license was a simple drive down the road, and they’re now expected to be the mentors for our youth?
Education is the key, mandatory driving school coupled with existing defensive driving courses would be a winner.
I think you may have the wrong idea Antz, the number of driving lessons required at $50+ a time that equals the experience gained by driving your parents around for a couple of years would break most families budgets, it is elitist and totally unaffordable for anyone but the most wealthy. Our girl had lessons and courses, but nothing matches hours on the road in controlled conditions, and particularly the handbrake of the threat of removal of privileges for indiscretions. All of these essentials to upskilling are pretty much non-existent after kids hit 18.
My comments on the matter have been submitted through the YoungLabour Survey
100% definitely raise to 16 at least! That should have been done when the school leaving age was raised from 15 to 16. But beyond that I’m less sure.
I like the idea of an overlap between having a learner license and being under parental supervision. And agree the drinking age must be several years above driving age – the combo of getting both is to explosive
But an 18 year old driving age and 20 year drinking age would be okay. That would have the plus that no schoolkids would be driving; more mature when they get the license, image of graduating to adulthood, and cuts problems round students driving to school.
The ‘license needed for a job’ idea is a red herring – a minority of jobs require a drivers license; most jobs you are stuck in the one building. Even fewer of those jobs would go to under 18 year olds (eg truck driving).
Sounds like the biggest need is for a change in mindset of the ‘American Dream’ of a license, car and drive off to the party to get drunk… better public transport would help!
Hell, reading the comments almost has me doubting my anti-Lab sentiments
Please don’t raise it to 18..us in the rural and provincial areas (no pub trans) see 100s of 16,17 yr olds going to work, school, job, sports, music to and from farm safely…I think the graduated system works great. Very few 15 year olds drive much, many kids save and work for that first car and drive it well. A raise would suck for 16 & 17 year olds and their parents who will now have to drive them everywhere
Bob – it’s also getting to and from the job, which may finish late at night and be far away from residence.
1. You can enlist in the army at 17.
2. We don’t have any tanks.
What a miserable lot… leave the age as it is. A 15 year old has few opportunities to experience the responsibilities of adulthood as it is and I would put money on the fact that there are 15 year olds with far greater maturity than some of their 30 year old counterparts on the roads in spite of the lacking opportunities.
The licensing system is fine, the age is fine, and the ability to buy a car at a young age on finance is also fine… if they can pay it off by working and sharing some expenses with their parants in some cases, let them.
Can we just stop trying to wrap young people up in cotton wool and start letting them make decisions and take responsibility at an early age? How many drunk driver deaths were caused by drivers between the ages of 15 and 18 as a proportion cf other age groups? How many road incidents are caused proportionately by drivers between the ages of 15 and 18 cf other age groups? How many parents let their kids drive around in unwarranted or unlicensed cars yet do it themselves?
Non issue. Why do we constantly attempt to disenfranchise younger people!?
There’s a lot of people from many age groups who could use some driving tips.
For me it not so much about age but about maturity. Far too many young people think they have the right to drive bestowed upon them, and this right gives them the further right to drive fast cars real fast – make stupid calls that are more about showing off and that they are invincible. With cars far more powerful and relatively cheap, the issue is about how well these kids can actually drive the car.
I would rather see some robust debate and sensible policy around the proper defensive training process, and proper policing of how many kids are driving other kids around, esp late at night, and with other passengers. I would also like to see some regulation over the type of cars these kids are getting their hands on.
I have no issue with learning to drive early – esp as I understand the issues with rural sector esp, but the training and the type of cars present more issues for me than the actual age.
Paul – seriously? you’re hinting at CC restrictions for various license types aren’t you? So, if I were 25 and getting my provisional license for the first time, I would or wouldn’t be allowed to own a car that is say 2500CC? or would it only apply to a 17 year old? And how would you enforce that? What if the car didn’t belong to them and didn’t have a CC rating on the back, how is a police officer to know? They wouldn’t, unless they were driving in a way that gave an officer cause to pull them aside.
Seriously, there are some 40 year olds who shouldn’t be allowed to drive a car with anything more than 4 cylinders, so how do you measure?
From where do you obtain your information that “Far too many young people think they have the right to drive bestowed upon them, and this right gives them the further right to drive fast cars real fast”? I’d suggest your evidence to be as anecdotal as mine and my experience with young people driving a car is pretty positive, they’re respectful, observe the rules and haven’t been in any crashes I know of – just one thing though, and I think it’s cause I hate Acon, why does Acon need to be played at ear-drum shattering proportions? lol
You’re actually having a spout about “Boy Racers” aren’t you? Look, if someone breaks the law, there can be a penalty for that – ie. if the car is modified and unroadworthy, if the car is speeding, if the car is too loud, if there are passengers where there shouldn’t be – so what more do you propose that is reasonable?
I think you’ve been sucked in by the headlines and sensational news articles about these “boy racers” – at the end of the day I am fairly comfortable assuming that there are as many, if not more, crashes caused by idiot drivers who are anywhere between 19 and not-out.
Interesting feedback. I’ve been looking at this issue for a year in my role as Labour’s Transport Safety spokesperson. All of the experts say that lowering the driving age won’t make any difference – and what is needed is a serious change in the way drivers learn – and that’s not just young people. It’s interesting looking at the feedback on the Herald website as well, which pretty well accords with many of your views, and not with the 80% poll.
What poll is that?
I am partial to statistics when talking about such things. Insurance actuaries know that younger drivers get into more accidents, and that is why their insurance costs more.
You can talk all the anecdotal cases you want, but a law is supposed to cover everyone, not just your son or daughter. If statistics show that younger drivers are in more accidents, that pretty much ends the discussion for me.
How high to raise it is my question, not whether to do so.
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Age
Teen drivers who have no driving record will have higher car insurance premiums. However young drivers are often offered discounts if they undertake further driver training on recognised courses, such as the Pass Plus scheme in the U.K.. In the U.S. many insurers offer a good grade discount to students with a good academic record and resident student discounts to those who live away from home. Generally insurance premiums tend to become lower at the age of 25. Senior drivers are often eligible for retirement discounts.”
http://insurance.t5.co.nz/car.html
@Spud : the NZ Herald poll saying that 80% (or something like that) supported increasing the driving age.
@Andrew – interestingly, older drivers figure more highly in accident stats as well. Another conversation is around third party insurance which is compulsory in many countries, including the UK. Some police I’ve spoken to say this would make the biggest single difference in driver behaviour, including younger drivers.
@ Darien I can believe that.
i think if a person is old enough to work then surely they are allowed to drive aswell and public transport isnt exactly the best is it….
yes the driving age should stay the same
I Think the driving age is fine at 15 its just some kids at 15 think its cool to drive fast and have done up cars but they dont realize they have to respect the road and the road uses and thats just the message that needs to get out to those teens.