Raising age will not work: instructor

A Timaru driving instructor says changing the driving age will not reduce the number of serious road accidents - it is people's attitude to driving that needs to change.

"Simply raising the driving age is not going to work. [The Government] thinks that will be an easy fix," Timaru's Bruce Driving School owner Ivan Beswarick said.

He was responding to Transport Minister Steven Joyce's announcement last week that the Government is looking at raising the driving age from 15 to 16 or 17.

Mr Joyce was speaking to the Motor Trade Association.

He said young drivers (aged between 15 to 24) were "seriously over-represented" in New Zealand's crash statistics and in the road toll, with young people making up 16% of all licensed drivers but being involved in 37% of all serious injury crashes in 2008.

Mr Beswarick said raising the driving age would not change anything - it was New Zealanders' "driving attitudes" that needed to change.

A way to do this was to make it compulsory for learner drivers to have lessons with a driving instructor, who would instill a good driving attitude in them, he said.

"New Zealand has this do-it-yourself attitude, but people [who are not driving instructors] don't have a perception of what good driving is."

He said when parents taught their children to drive they often taught them only what they needed to know so they could get their licence, and they likely picked up bad habits when learning to drive with the parents.

"Children start learning to drive from five or earlier, watching their parents go through stop signs and exceed speed limits. They think it's the norm."

Driving instructors would teach learner drivers an attitude of discipline, Mr Beswarick said.

He compared the teacher-child relationship and the cost of learning to drive with learning how to play the piano.

"Parents don't teach their kids to play the piano.

They go to lessons for years and it must cost a fortune.

"Driving lessons might cost a lot but you only need them once. And if Johnny plays a bad note it's not going to kill him."

Mr Beswarick said 15-year-olds were more likely to be cautious than 16 or 17-year-olds.

"It's after they have their licence for two to three years and they have their own cars that they get cocky.

"It's easier to teach a 15-year-old good attitudes and practices than a 16 or 17-year-old, who thinks they know it all."

Putting up the driving age would only put forward the age range of those involved in serious road crashes to 19 to 20-year-olds, as young people being involved in crashes was more about them becoming comfortable with driving and taking risks on the roads than it was about the age of the child, he said.

Timaru police Senior Constable Alister Doonan , of Timaru, agreed.

"It will just delay when they are confident enough to do risky manoeuvres by six months or a year."

Snr Const Doonan said he could see positives and negatives to raising the driving age - while 16 and 17-year-olds would be a bit more mature than 15-year-olds, a 15-year-old who drove a car would most likely be under the control of their parents, who owned the car they used, while 16 and 17-year-olds could probably afford their own car.

Both parents and a driving instructor should be involved in a child learning to drive, as the former helped with their confidence and the latter helped with their skills, Snr Const Doonan said.

"It should be a two-pronged attack."

The driving age did not worry him, as he believed a person's capability to drive was dependant on their training.

"Whether they are 15 or 16, one or two years is not going to make a lot of difference. I don't know if [raising the driving age] will have any long-term gains," Snr Const Doonan said.

- Cerisse Denhardt.

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Government Proposals
Measures the Government is considering to reduce the number of fatal and serious vehicle crashes involving young people:
- Increasing the driving age to 16 or 17.

- Extending the learner licence period from 6 months to 12 months.

- Changing the restricted licence test so it encourages 120 hours of driving practice.

- Increasing the benefits of professional driver training.

- Increasing the benefit of school road safety education.

- Impounding vehicles of those who breach licence conditions.

- Restricting learner/restricted licence holders from driving high-powered or modified cars.

- Introducing third-party insurance.

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