Licence drive to boost safety

For about 10 years I had an embarrassing little secret.

My family knew it and nagged me about it.

My closest friends knew it and hassled me about it.

But I dreaded telling new friends or work colleagues.

That's because when people find out you're still on a restricted driving licence they take it as a licence to continuously mock you.

For years my handbag had a second lining of discarded 'to do' lists - all with "get full licence" at the top of them.

"How to get your full licence" fact sheets spewed out of my glovebox whenever a passenger - who always had to have held their full licence for two years - dared to open it.

I don't even really know why it took me so long to get around to booking in the test but I know I had enough excuses to put it off for ten years.

And I know I'm not alone.

I've got friends, colleagues and cousins who have been on their restricted for longer than I was.

They are among the 123,000 who have held their restricted licence for five years and will be targeted under National's road safety policy, announced just before the weekend.

The party's transport spokesman, Cabinet minister Steven Joyce, says there are another 113,000 who have been on their learners licence holders for more than five years.

His party is now planning to pass legislation that would limit the time anyone could spend on their learners or restricted.

He says progressing through the licence system significantly reduces the crash risk for new drivers, and these conditions should not be optional.

"National will also introduce a tougher restricted licence test early next year to encourage young people and novice drivers to spend more time practising their skills under supervision before they are able to drive solo."

Given the years of torment I and all those thousands of others have inflicted upon ourselves it seems like one of those things that needs to happen for our own good.

Young people are always going to think they have better things to spend their time and money on, especially when being on a restricted licence still gives you the freedom of driving on your own for most of the day's hours.

Nowadays when I get asked for ID I get just as much of a thrill out of having a green licence as being asked to prove I'm old enough.

And that little bit of green plastic makes me feel much more confident on the roads.

National's plans to get tough on long-time learner and restricted drivers, combined with a tougher restricted licence test to be introduced next year, would give drivers so much more confidence in the long run.

And with a harder test and more pressure to get to the level of driving needed to hold a full licence it would be the right type of confidence.

Given 15 to 19-year-old's make up 7.4 per cent of the population but are involved in 17 per cent of serious injury crashes, National's plan is a step in the direction of lowering that last statistic.