The Government is set to raise the driving age to 16, and exemptions are unlikely, Prime Minister John Key announced today.The measure is part of its Road Safety Strategy, being released tomorrow, which outlines a range of measures aimed at reducing road
The Government is set to raise the driving age to 16, and exemptions are unlikely, Prime Minister John Key announced today.
The measure is part of its Road Safety Strategy, being released tomorrow, which outlines a range of measures aimed at reducing road deaths.
Included is raising the driving age from 15 to 16.
"It'll take some time to go through a select committee process and for the law to be changed ... but it will be this side of Christmas if it occurs," he told reporters.
One of the reasons for the change was that New Zealanders aged 15 to 19 suffered 60 percent more fatalities and crashes than their Australian counterparts.
Mr Key expected opposition from the rural sector, whose liked their children to get their licences as early as possible so they could drive themselves to activities such as school and sport.
"I understand that issue and I think we've thought long and hard about that but I think if you look at that the accidents that have occurred with 15-year-olds in rural communities, there are too many youngsters dying on the roads," he said.
"I think, in the end, this is about saying `look, the driving age was always aligned with the school leaving age, the school leaving age is now 16'. Yes it might cause some inconvenience for parents in rural communities but on the other side of the coin, if that means that a youngster lives and doesn't die in a road fatality, I think that's a sacrifice worth making."
Mr Key said it was unlikely there would be any exemptions as it was difficult to define who they should apply to.
"Ultimately, if there's a change, it'll go through a select committee process and I have no doubt that people will come up with recommendations," he said.
"And actually while there is some inconvenience to rural kids, there will also be some inconvenience to parents of urban kids who currently are dropping their kids at sport. That'll mean between 15 and 16 they'll have to continue to drop their kids at sport.
"So it's not solely an issue that affects rural children."
Mr Key signalled a zero alcohol limit for drivers aged under 20, as indicated yesterday by Transport Minister Steven Joyce.
