Killers on the road

Motoring editor ALASTAIR SLOANE discusses an upcoming conference about our national disgrace - the road toll.


Transport Minister Mark Gosche and his offsider, Harry Duynhoven, will be there. So too will Barry Gow, the boss of the Automobile Association's Driver Education Foundation.

A Swede, Hans Mattson, will talk about Vision Zero, the day when no one gets killed on Sweden's roads.

Alan Woodside, deputy director of the Land Transport Safety Authority, will talk about the review of drivers' licences.

Others will discuss changing social attitudes in New Zealand and why there are so many unlicensed drivers on our roads - about 40,000 in Auckland alone. Car crashes will be discussed, so will insurance incentives.

It's a conference in Wellington on March 16 and 17 called the 2000 National Driver Education and Awareness Conference. Its aim, says the invitation, is "changing a national disgrace." By that they mean the road toll.

The conference will be held at the Plaza International Hotel. The registration cost is $350 before March 1. After that it's $400. Dinner on the first night costs $75 a head and there will be a guest speaker. There's no dinner the second night because everyone will have gone home.

Gosche will talk about the Government's long-term road safety strategy, Duynhoven his select committee's inquiry into road safety.

Mattson, Sweden's delegate to the International Driving Testing Commission, which helps to set the exams drivers in Europe must pass, will explain how important driver education is to Vision Zero.

The phrase "driver education" will be aired many times during the conference. But in New Zealand households it is mostly restricted to conversation between the learner-driver and his or her mum, dad or mate. In Europe, the learner-driver must pass stringent practical tests before he or she gets even a restricted licence. The right to drive has to be earned.

It's the other way round in New Zealand. A person doesn't need to be able to drive a car to get a learner-driver's licence.

The Land Transport Safety Authority factsheet says he or she needs only to be 15 years of age (16 from April Fool's Day), and able to correctly answer 32 out of 35 questions in the learner category.

Reading and writing isn't that important: "You can arrange for the testing officer to read the questions to you" if you can't read properly, says the factsheet.

It explains other things, too. That the licensing system has three stages - learner, restricted, full - and is designed to "progressively build driving and road safety skills as you move through the system."

A learner licence lasts at least six months, restricted is an 18-month term and full is for life, unless the driver does more than the law will allow.

The factsheet highlights costs - $246 all up for the three stages - and reminds applicants in each case that their licence should arrive within two to three weeks. "However, if you pay by cheque, your licence will be delayed while your cheque is cleared."

Learners must display an "L" plate and not drive on their own. They must have a supervisor in the front passenger seat, someone who has held a full licence for two years.

Restricted licence-holders can drive on their own but not between 10 pm and 5 am. If they want to go looking for parties at midnight, they need a supervisor in the front seat.

Full licence-holders can drive at all hours. But there are conditions in all categories.

The safety association factsheet asks: What will the testing officer look for in the practical driving test? It answers: "The testing officer will observe your driving skills, including search, speed, direction, control of the vehicle, your overall driving standard and your behaviour towards other road users."

What if I break the conditions of my learner or restricted licence? "Each time you are caught offending you will get demerit points and a fine. If you crash, your insurance claim could be delayed or declined."

In Germany, for example, a learner who breaks the rules has to start all over again. So does a restricted driver. A fully licenced driver might be busted back to restricted. It depends on the seriousness of the offence.

A disqualified driver in New Zealand has to hand in his or her licence to the court or the transport safety association. If the disqualification is longer than a year, they will have to sit and pass the driving tests again.

The factsheet, entitled Getting your car driver licence, explains pretty much everything everyone needs to know about getting a driver's licence in New Zealand.

But nowhere, in the thousands of words on four foolscap pages, does the phrase "driver education" appear. What's the Wellington conference all about again?