Monday, 23 July 2007

Dunne pushing for driving age increase to cut road toll

Steps to lower the road toll following a horror weekend on the roads, should begin by raising the driving age in order to reflect our busier roads, more powerful cars and catch up to international norms, says United Future leader Peter Dunne.

“If we as a country are serious about changing driver behaviour and cutting the road toll, we should not be allowing our 15 year old children loose and unaccompanied on the road - for their protection and that of other road users,” says Mr Dunne.

“Fifteen is just too young to be driving unsupervised. The 15 to 19 year age group make up nearly one in five deaths on our roads, and I think we need to better protect them and others on the road.”

Mr Dunne says that a rise in the driving age should be accompanied by better driver training, including practical defensive driver training as part of gaining the restricted licence. Compulsory third party insurance should also be introduced.

“I would think that the proposal to increase the driving age would get widespread support in Parliament. It certainly deserves looking into, and I will be investigating whether it is possible to introduce such an amendment to upcoming legislation."

A United Future web-poll run over the past week showed 90% support for lifting the driving age. The preferred age to allow unsupervised driving was 18 (48%).

Dr Dorothy Begg, from the University of Otago’s Injury Prevention Research Unit, has suggested that, “The one thing that we could do now that would almost certainly improve road safety for young people in New Zealand is to align the licence age with other countries.”

Mr Dunne says that while safety must come first, there could be dispensations possible for those in isolated rural areas in certain circumstances, but that is an issue for discussion further down the track.

ENDS

© Scoop Media