The age for drivers licenses should be raised from 15 years to 18 years?

On average, everyone disagrees with significant nonconsensus between 580 voters.

Reasons To Disagree

18 years is OK in European cities, where there is substantial public transport, and it's possible to live an entire life without ever owning a car. New Zealand is so spread out and rural, public transport outside the main cities is so poor or non existent. 17 year olds need to be able to drive to be able to work.

now thats getting stupid

It take to long already to get a full licence, plus the younger the more oppertunities to get financial help

NZ is a rural based country, and most areas have sub standard transport systems, and because most young people need to travel far for sporting, educational, recreational and social reasons the driving age should be kept at 15.

After 16 requirements to work and travel are significant and a licience should be available to do so - unless one wishes to raise teh age that one can work, which would be ludicrous

Any restriction based on age is purely arbitrary. Somebody can be a perfectly safe driver at twelve - and a demonic hoon at 15, 25, 35, 40, 50, 60, 70 - whatever.

Definitely not a good choice! 18years old is way too late to be learning to drive! Students have part-time jobs and parents shouldnt be expected to do pick and and drop offs all the time. It would defeat the purpose of having the job because all their wages would be going on gas. Especially for those in rural areas.

based on age, there should be a limit on the power of cars available to younger drivers (like motorbikes currently)

18 is to old to drive it should stay the same i could drive at age of 12 maybe more restrions on young driver stundent need to get to school or work

no way whats the point that means there will be more people under the age limit stealing cars or joy riding

Cause and effect? Do many of the middle-aged male speeders link the two yet because the issue of speeding drivers is surely not restricted to teenagers? It's not fair to target youth only because it's easy.

A few points: 15-19 year old fatal crashes decreased about 75% from 1984 to 2003, not factoring in major population growth in that time. So why now the call for raising the driving age? At 16 you can leave home, quit school and get a tattoo, all without your parents consent. So, at 16, how can you become so responsible for yourself and your decisions, yet you should not be able to drive because you are ?not responsible enough?? The minimum youth rate starts at 16 years old. But how are you supposed to get to your job if no adult can drive you there? The obvious answer is public transport. But what if you live in a rural area where the population isn?t big enough to support a good public transport system? The driving age should not be raised to 18, because it's not the driving - it's how we're driving.

I strongly disagree because its not every 15 year old fault that their peers get into accidents. Some of them get into accidents because they want to see how fast the car go etc. So don't punish everyojne for their mistakes.

i totally agree with these arguments, it would be pointless because i doesn't matter how old you are its your choice to drive badly or normally.

What we need to do first is look at how many accidents are caused by people with little experience - not the age. It's mostly young people who have little experience so statistics can get skewed to look like "young people = bad drivers" whereas it's probably more like "little experience = bad driver". We need better driver training - a system where lessons are compulsory for all new drivers and not just young people.

Social mobility. This is a city-folk problem. Your streets are too busy and your time to occupied to teach your kids. Vote to empower your kids with skills, not against them... silly people...

nah thats dumb

How about you old folk try and rely on public transport? Just because some fagg*ts race there imports doesn't mean we dont all need it. Try and focus your attention on the real social problems instead of trying to muck around with something the media thinks will turn heads.

raising the driving age aint gonna fix nothing better license tests is whats needed

It should be age 16.

Absolutely rediculous. Good luck on ruining the system old people (we all know people aged 30+ cause the vast majority of serious accidents)

We have places to go!! Its taking a load off our parents especially if you live out in the bush its a nuscance for our parents to drive us in and out because buses don't run so far out of town.

It doesnt really matter how old you are. You cant put moron drivers in an age bracket . I think that the driving test should be harder. Defensive driving courses and other driving courses essential. Its all about educating. Just because you drive 10 km under the limit every where pissing the normal people off doesnt make you a good driver.

dumb

That's what the driving license test is for.

no way!!!!!!!!!!!!

even stupider idea than raising it to 16

I think the age should be raised but not that drasticly. That just makes parents and caregivers suffer by having to do more tripping around. I believe that 16 is a good time to START to LEARN to drive.

Do we really want 16/17/18 year olds relying on their parents driving them everywhere? Kids need to learn responsibility at some stage

No, never. It's 16 now, but it's not going to do much. I think it should stay 15 or 16. 18 is way too high.

Sadly rediculous we don't want to keep them children forever, they need independance to grow self respect within the NZ community.

Reasons To Agree

NZ young people are increasinly proving that they are too immature, too irresponsible to get behind the steering wheel of a car. Instead of cleaning up after young drivers who have crashed, or advertising against student drunk drivers, the Govt could put more money into public transport so youth wouldn't have to drive to work. 15 is far far to young, and it definitely should be raised. Remember - a driving license is a previledge not a right, as some of you think it is...

Not only should the driving age be lifted to 18, there should be more draconian restrictions in place during the licensing period. Road safety should be compulsory in schools from an early age. Bicyclists should be licensed, as party of attaining a full 'drivers' license - having completed the bicycle module, the applicant must then spend a compulsory period on the treadley; the next step will be a basic motorscooter/motorcycle course, followed by another compulsory period riding either a scooter or restricted output motorbike. Having completed these modules, an applicant may then apply for permission to be considered for a 'full' driver's license - the process of attaining such should NOT be easy; too many of us consider piloting two tonnes of death down our highways at lethal speeds to be a 'right', when it is, in fact, a responsibility. And, time and again, we continue to prove that we are not responsible beings.

15 year old minds are not able to link cause with effect and therefore are not mature enough to hold a drivers licence. The age for drivers licences should be raised to 18. In conjunction with this, the money spent on safe driving advertising campaigns (which are proven to be ineffective) should be spent instead on public transport systems.

The young kids are too irresponsible to be driving at anything less than 18. The school leaving age should be 18 too

I think the driving age should be raised to 18 because... young people strive to take opportunities that take advantage of something...everyone knows is big. they think that they can tackle the road by the horns, knowing that their 15 years old, confidence is more powerful than common sense in such early development. Basicly, the number '15' makes young teenagers react like they have the experience...when they don't. Privacy and Freedom sometimes let's kids go all cocky because they want to impress a cute girl or a group of wannabe gangsters.

Q.How do you keep your kids at home? A.Let the air out of their tires. Or let them wait until age 18 before being able to drive.

I agree. Let's face it. Anything under 18 is still a child. Even alot of 18 yr olds are still kids really. However (especially in Auckland) they need a good public transport system as an option. Also another option is to restrict the ownership (and driveability) of vehicles to people under the age of say 25 to a certain horsepower. Jap imports are so cheap. I've seen teenage (looking anyway) people driving Subaru's that have at least a couple of hundred kilowatts-that my friends is a recipe for disaster. Earn your right to drive a performance car.

A full license should only be able to be obtained at the age of 17-18. You should really be in school until this age and there is no need to being able to get to work. If you do have a part time job, jump on a bike or if to lazy for that, get a scooter. Also I have never understood the point of learner, restricted and full licenses. No one follows these rules anyway, how many learners don't we see on the roads with no supervision? The attitude towards cars and driving in NZ is all wrong and the penalties is far to soft. I totally agree with the above comment that the young kids are too irresponsible to be driving at anything less than 18. The school leaving age should be 18 too. I'v been a teenager and i certainly thought i was old enough to concur the world, but looking back i know now how immature i was. Although it is required to have better and cheaper public transport in place. If this is obtained we may see less cars on the roads altogether which would benefit in so many other ways as well.

It has been shown that a lot of youth are not aware of their actions and drink driving, by increasing this age, the number of car crashes should decrease

Anyone under 18 is not responsible enough to be in control of something that can kill people. I think that adulthood should be defined as 18 at which point everything that is currently prohibited based on age can become available.

Driving is a privilege. However, it is a lethal and often fatal weapon in the hands of an immature and irresponsible person. Not only should the license age be raised significantly but the driving test should be much, much harder than what it currently is. It should also be compulsory to participate in and pass a defensive driving course before allowed to drive on the public roads. Too many deaths are caused by irresponsible and careless drivers and this should be addressed asap!