Star readers want driving age raised | Canterbury News | Local News in Canterbury

Christchurch people appear to want the New Zealand driving age changed.

In a random phone poll done by The Star yesterday, 88.6% of respondents said the driving age should be raised from 15.

The remaining 11.4% said the age did not need to be changed, but learner drivers should receive more education on how to control a vehicle before being granted a restricted licence.

This week's New Zealand Herald-Nielsen survey of 2300 people mirrored The Star poll, with 80% supporting the idea of raising the age.

The poll comes after Transport Minister Steven Joyce released the Safer Journeys discussion document last month.

The discussion included more than 60 suggestions for changes to laws, regulations and policies, including raising the minimum driving age from 15 to 17.

Kelly Riwaka, 38, of Parklands, told The Star she thought the age should be raised.

She said the brain was not fully developed at 15, so 15-year-olds did not have the capacity to think properly about the consequences of their actions.

"Now that I am older, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't give myself a licence at 15," she said.

Alister Teague, 60, of Ferrymead, said the age should be at least 17, because being a responsible driver required a higher level of maturity than a 15-year-old would be likely to have.

"(A 17-year-old's) attitude on the road will be better," he said.

"I know there are some mature 15-year-olds, but for the majority, it will be better."

Joy Devereux, 54, of Avonside, said the age should be raised, but no higher than 18, because most other age-restricted activities were permitted for 18-year-olds.

However, Automobile Association spokesman Simon Lambourne said increasing the age would not make our roads safer.

"Simply increasing the age is just going to kill them one year later if you raise it by one year," he said.

"Supervised learner drivers are the safest drivers on our roads.

"When they go solo, the six months after is the greatest risk."

Mr Lambourne supported enforcing 120 hours of supervised driving before a learner would be allowed to drive alone.

He said the AA had encouraged the Government to take up Australia's "keys2drive" programme, which combines online education with driving lessons for learners.

Lyla McCallum, 80, of Upper Riccarton, agreed that more education for drivers was a good idea.

"There should be a compulsory course that they have to do before being allowed on the road alone," she said. "The more experience you have, the better driver you are."

The president of Federated Farmers, Philip York, said there should be allowances for country drivers.

"I think there could be some leniency under restricted conditions for rural children, as long as there is some sort of restriction (such as) not going out at night or taking others."

Mr York thought 17 was a more sensible driving age than 18.

He said some rural children needed to drive to school or work and "you can't just stick them on a bus and you can't just drive them to do these things".

Farmer Alisdiar Crawford, 55, of Hornby, disagreed.

"There shouldn't be two standards," he said.

"It's for their own safety."