What do you guys think about raising the minimum driving age to 16 or 17? I reckon it's a good move, 15 year olds are (generally) way too irresponsible to drive IMO!
Chat: Raising the driving age?
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gosh u shud hear how strict driving is in germany! with age and fines and just RESTRICTIONS... we shud think we're blessed with the liberties we have...
doesnt make a diff to those who drive illegally...
its not going to do much even if they do raise it anyway as accidents will still happen and they have been saying that they are gonna raise it since primary school and they neva did.................................................
Omg!! NOOOO i am only 14, if they raise it, then i will have to wait for AAAAGES!!!!
I have a strange feeling that even if they do raise the driving age heaps of accidents will still happen, as some older drivers are irresponsible drivers and some arent..... The same goes for teenagers ( like most of us),some teen drivers think they are responsible when they arent and some are responsible drivers... It is the irresponsible drivers who end up having or causing an accident as they see those adds on tv about speeding and they think that its not going to happen to me i'll be safe when it does end up happening to them and they dont expect it either.... I can also say that at least most people whether you like it or not will either have an accident once in there lifetime, depending on how bad the crash is they may live to tell the story, or they may die as a result of it.
I think they should make it 16, 12-18 months on learners, a year on restricted, and make defensive driving courses compulsory.
I don't actually know why I would want it to go up, since I don't have my license yet...
I agree about the defensive driving whojemawhatsits.
Screw that. That's just a waste of money. I'm glad I already have my Full license, they can raise the driving age or not. I don't care.
There are a lot of people who are taught to drive by friends/relatives who don't give them a fully comphrehesive teaching, that I think some kind of driving course (like defensive driving) should be made compulsory.
My brother did a defensive driving course and he said he didn't learn much at all and it was all a bit pointless.
That's why they have Restricted Practical test. To test people if they're up to scratch. It's the LTSA's fault or whoever runs the whole damn thing if they didn't test you the way it should be.
True, but if they're not up to scratch, then how are they supposed to get better if they were taught by someone who doesn't know either? Do they just keep retrying until they get a sympathetic person who lets them through? Wouldn't it be easier to make the courses compulsory in the first place?
It's called hiring a Driving Instructor. It would be stupid if they implement that Defensive Driving will be compulsory. There are heaps of fast learners when it comes to driving and there are also some slow learners.
So the fast learners will get more experience. It won't kill them and they'll be better as a result.
But they have to pay more and it sux. You do know that money doesn't grow on trees. Driving isn't that hard to learn, it's the way how some stupid people drive. They think they're COOL if they always drive really fast and careless.
You're right, driving isn't that hard to learn. Teenagers make great progress within less than 15 hours of driving, but they're still not nearly as good as they think they are. It takes them over 300 hours of driving to get 80% of the reflexes, etc of an older, more experienced driver.
I think it would be a good thing to help them gain some of those reflexes...but if they made the courses compulsory they should probably also make them cheaper.
I think rather than lowering the age, they should be providing better education in schools about how to use a car responsibly and have limits between each stage.
16 for your learners, 18 for a restricted, 20 for a full.
I think that age should be raised to 17 and have a theory and practical test and that be it, take out learners and restricted.
Uh, you aren't the stasia i know are you? No, you cant be. Far out it freaked me out seeing your name
Welcome to the site
Take out learners and restricted?? That'd be a nightmare!! We'd probably end up with worse drivers than some that are on the roads now!! :|
Not nessacerily(sp?) My mum for instance only had one exam. And it's not (normally) the 40 boyracing and what have you.
Only one??
Yup. Well thats what she tells me anyway. *suspect*
That would be right.
Back in the *old days*, if you were over 25 and on your learners, you could go straight to your full. And all you had to do for your full was pay around $50.
So easy.
I don't think it should be raised.
As with most situations..its a few immature people who have to ruin things for the majority of 15 year olds & give an impression that they're all irresponsible...
I just went and got my Learners licence. I ended up getting 3 questions wrong :$ it should have been 2, but I accidently scratched part of one of the answers circles, so that counted as wrong.
I think that it shouldn't be raised. I'm 15 and i have recently got my learner's licence. If you are responsible you will not have any trouble.
Although there is a lot of proof saying that it should be raised, I myself, disagree.
There are a lot of responsible teenagers out there and I don't think they privilege to drive should be taken away from them.
Same. I got 3 questions wrong when I took my learners a few years ago. But luckily, you need 4 mistakes and above to fail the whole test.
Definately think it should be raised. 15 is much too young to be let loose on the roads!
Loyal! You're supposed to back me up here
I wannnna driiiiive. 
it makes you think though that if they raise the driving age this will still happen anyway amongst 18-20 year olds and most young teenagers have their liscences already and it wont do much as they have been talking about raising it for years
This is a big concidence because today i just got word that two of my mates were involved in a little car crash.
Last night, on the way to their work (the one driving only had her restricted and had another girl in her car). She was speeding and apparently they were about to hit a few ppl so she swerved the car and it crashed into a tree. Both girls are fine, but my mate has to get a new car, i bet her parents arent very happy with her.
In childcare me and a few mates were talking about how they were learning how to drive...while one of my mates was in the car with the aa driving instructor, she ended up by driving on the damn round about.
The accident in Hastings hasn't brought this on by any means. I was having this same discussion a year ago after hearing the proposal. The idea has been there for some time but it takes an accident with full blown media coverage to highlight the issue - time and again.
A race track is a brilliant idea but it wouldn't work for very long. Boyracers hot up their cars to show off. If they aren't receiving that attention, then what's the point? It's much *cooler* to waste a tank of petrol driving the same strip in town where everyone can see....
Not getting your licence at 15 isn't the end of the world.
You're exactly right. The house of parliment has been discussing changes to driving laws (ie; raising the age) for quite sometime now. When a tragic accident like the one in Hastings occur, the discussion is highlighted once again in the media.
Just because the legislation changes aren't shoved in your face constantly doesn't mean there isn't debate going on.
I'm 18 now, when I turned 15 I raced into the AA to get my learners because everyone was talking about the driving age going up.
Its not a matter of if anymore, it's more like when.
Anyone who is extremely interested can contact my local parlimentary representative: Harry Duynhoven, also the Minister of Transport. hduynhoven@ministers.govt.nz with queries about proposed changes.
prefer 16+ for license
Random...hey should we build the boi racers a race track to keep them off the streets or should they build it at their own expense?
There's heaps of driving tracks around NZ. I doubt that it's being use every night. Why not give the boy racers an access to it once a week. It will cut the death toll instantly!
The driving age should be changed to 18. I know alot of people that are like 15-16 that have been in car accidents and r lucky to survive. I have been in hospital in the past as some teens aged about 15-17 was drag racing around town and crashed in to my mums car.
i agree.18 should be the driving age.
I think the driving age should definitely be raised.
I'm from England and over there was 17, and was supposed to be/has been (I'm not sure which)raised to 18.
When I was living there 17 even seemed to be too young to me.
It all depends on your age as to your opinoin too. I bet that 90% if not 100% of people who already have their licenses want to raise it. But if they were in the situation of people who are just about to turn 15, and could really use having personal transport so as to rely on themselves only, then they'd have a different opinion.
*shrugs*
And unfortunately, we're being run by people who most probably have driver's licenses so don't care about whether or not we have them. How can we learn if we cant drive?
*yawn*
You're not really relying on yourself, learners licence holders cant drive unless they have someone sitting in the passenger seat who holds a current FULL licence.
Therefore, you are relying on someone to go wherever you go.
YOU may just want your licence to LEARN how to drive, but the fact is, there are hundreds of kids who think as soon as they get it they can do what they like - conditions of the licence be damned.
But should we disadvantage [couldn't think of a better word] the majority of people who wouldn't abuse having their learners for the minority of stupid people who would?
I guess we should thinking about that again actually. Anything to prevent deaths, but its still really sad and to me because it does affect me personally it of course seems unfair. But what can we do *shrugs*.
i think it should be raised
The only reason this has come up now is because they were lacking in news stories so they took something that happens often (people dying from car accidents, whether it's a teenage thing or not) and made a big deal out of it.
More people die from ADULT drunk drivers and speeders than teenagers. It's stupid. All of it.
*agrees* I don't know why they want to change the rules & regulations just because four drunk teenagers died from a car accient. Maybe they're not the only teenagers who lost their lives but accident happens for a reason.
And usually the reason is because a) they're drunk, or b) they were speeding. See how careless teenagers can be?
And older people can be careless too, of course.
Yeah, of course. But teenagers are more careless.
http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/research/annual-statistics-2003/casualty-2003.pdf
True. But teenagers in general are better drivers than the drunk teenagers. What kind of a person speed more than 100kph. They need to educate the teenagers in schools about the consequences of Drink Driving. If they have Sex Eduction, I'm sure Drink Driving Education will be useful too.
LOL! I think Driving Education will suffice - Sex education teaches how to have safe sex so by going to Drink Driving education one would assume you'd be learning how to drink and drive safely.