By Anna Ling
The increased minimum age requirements of the new graduated driver licensing system (GDLS) implemented on August 1 has stopped would-be teenage drivers in their tracks.
With the new system, the minimum age requirements to apply for a license have changed.
To apply for a learner license, you must now be 16 years old, while in the past, the age requirement was 15.
As a result, the age requirements for obtaining restricted and full licenses have also been increased to 16.5 and 17.5 years.
This has caused anger among young people, particularly teenagers who find that they cannot sit for a test that has been registered and paid for without applying for an exemption.
“I feel personally let down by the NZTA. I strongly believe that it is unfair for teenage drivers who have completed a year on their restricted license to be prevented from sitting their full because of their age,” says Victoria Brownlee, a 16-year-old Kristin Student.
Ms Brownlee received a letter stating that she could not take her full license test for which she had registered and paid for in late July.
Strongly disappointed by the actions of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), she feels it is the choices and attitudes of a driver that determine his or her ability to drive, not their age.
“I do not see why those who obtained licenses prior to August 1 should not continue on through the old system. Why was it that when I booked my test in late July, I was told nothing of the change?”
“It is embarrassing to our country that this ‘transition’ is nowhere close to smooth”, she says.
Although there is an exemption process Ms Brownlee, like most teenagers, feels as though the process is complicated and time consuming.
“Part of the reason why teenage accident rates are so high is because there is no law in place to ensure teenagers actually learn to drive properly before sitting their restricted license test.”
“The NZTA needs to focus on the cause of teenage accidents. Ignoring the problem by delaying it a year is not going to make it go away.”
The New Zealand Transport Agency believes that by increasing the minimum age requirements, individuals of a higher age and with more experience would lead to better and safer drivers on New Zealand roads.
“The line has to be drawn somewhere”, says Andy Knackstedt, national media manager for the New Zealand Transport Agency, when asked why teenagers who had obtained licenses prior to August 1 could not continue on the old system.
Mr Knackstedt encourages all teenage drivers to use resources such as safeteendriver.co.nz to help improve their driving skills, and advises them to take an approved defensive driving course to help shorten the wait to a full license.
“This is going to make a real difference,” he says.
Anna Ling is working with UNICEF as part of the 3Youth project, an upcoming section of the 3 News website focusing on social issues and written by young people.
3 News