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The driving age appears certain to rise after MPs last night threw their weight behind a measure they argued would cut the number of teenage deaths on the roads.
A bill that puts it up from 15 to 16 easily passed its first reading.
United Future leader Peter Dunne, who drafted the bill, said its effect would be to raise the age for a full licence from 17 to 18 years six months.
It still has to be considered by a select committee and go through three more stages before it becomes law, but during the debate only one MP voiced serious concerns about it.
The bill also extends the length of the learner licensing period from six months to 12.
Mr Dunne told Parliament recent statistics showed young drivers were in particular danger on the roads shortly after they got their restricted (solo driver) licences.
The number of crashes in the first month after gaining a restricted licence compared to the last month on a learner's increased 2.5 times for 18- and 19-year-olds, 4.5 times for 17-year-olds, eight times for 16-year-olds and 10 times for 15-year-olds.
"What that clearly shows is that the younger a driver gets a restricted licence, the higher the chance that they will crash," Mr Dunne said. "That is the point of this legislation."
Britain was considering raising its driving age from 17 to 18 to align it with other European countries, he said, and in Australian states people could not get on the roads until they were 16 or 17. "We have the fourth-highest road death rate for 15- and 16-year-olds in the world. The logic of making this change is compelling and overwhelming."
Mr Dunne said he understood there would be concerns in rural areas because of the need for young people to drive on roads that joined different parts of farms but he thought the transport select committee could find ways to help with that.
National's transport spokesman, Maurice Williamson, said he tried to raise the age to 16 in 1998 when he was Minister of Transport.
Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven said the bill had arrived at the right time and the Government was working on a package of measures designed to address the problem of crashes involving young drivers.
NZ First MP Peter Brown said the public wanted the driving age raised. "It should be tagged to the school leaving age."
Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said not all members of her caucus were happy with the bill but they all agreed it should go to a select committee for public submissions.
"It's hard to argue it won't lower serious accidents and deaths."
Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell said that in the past five years 22 per cent of fatal accidents had involved Maori. "We need to do something and this bill is a good way to start."
National MP David Bennett disagreed. Raising the age "doesn't necessarily solve the problem", he said.
The real issue was young drivers breaking the rules - drinking, speeding and driving outside the hours they were allowed to drive.
