She says...

Press, 19 April 1979, Page 13

She says...

I’ve noticed some publicity lately on the question of the age at which we, in this country, can get a drivers’ licence, the suggestion being that the age should be raised from 15 to 18 or so. This one’s a hardy annual, of course, although one .of the reasons now

given for making the suggestion — fuel-saving — is new. There’s been all sorts of research on the age question both in New Zealand and in other countries over the years, with results that generally fail to support changing the age limit. As recently as this February. the Automobile Association in this country resolved that there was insufficient evidence to support any change in the New Zealand age limit. The usual argument for raising the age is the accident rate among young drivers. But all the research over the years seems to suggest that driving experience is as much a factor as age in years. In other words, a new driver tends to go through a period of caution, followed by rising confidence in his or her abilities, followed by over-confidence and then an accident. This general pattern seems to occur whether the person first drives at 15, 18. or 20 — whether the reason for the delay in starting by legal or otherwise. Maturity is no argument. We all know mature youngsters of 15. and immature twits of 40. Nor does it automatically follow that responsibility comes with age. Then there are the practical considerations: in a farming country such as ours, the difficulties caused by banning those under 18 (for argument) from the roads can readily be imagined. There’s also the “catch ’em young” factor: it’s better to teach people skills and good habits when they are young and mentally flexible. Those who should know what they’re talking about are firm that it is a bad thing to have a gap between the school-leaving age, and the age at which people are allowed to start driving. And the “new” 15-year-old driver is much more likely to be under adult supervision — and much less likely to be full of beer. As far as I can see, there’s no reasonable argument for raising the driving age. There may well be good argument for raising the car-owning age, and I’m sure there are excellent arguments for making the driving test very much tougher. But those are separate matters —Barbara Petre