Raising driving age key, says minister

Raising the driving age and introducing compulsory third party insurance are among options being floated by Transport Safety Minister Harry Duynhoven to reduce teenage road death and injury.

The call follows yet another fatal car accident last week involving teenagers. The single-car crash on State Highway 8 just north of Alexandra claimed the life of Jamie Marie Sandra Walker, 14, and left three other teenagers injured.

Jamie's sister Jade, 15, and Olivia Gardner, 14, are in a serious but stable condition in Dunedin Hospital. Driver Ben Tauber Joseph, 16, remains in critical condition and underwent head surgery yesterday.

Jamie's grieving family said yesterday they were not blaming Ben for the crash and were praying for his full recovery.

"We are not going into the what ifs and there is no blame associated with Ben. It's happened in the past that kids have been together and accidents happen," Jamie's uncle Keith McFadyen told the Herald on Sunday.

Mr McFadyen said Jade knew her younger sister was dead but the family were focusing on getting her well before talking to her about it.

"She knows about her sister but we haven't dived into the mechanics of that yet. We are just focused on getting her well. She is very distraught - it was just the two girls and they were very close."

In the wake of the accident, Mr Duynhoven has called for changes to keep teenage speedsters out of low-cost high-performance imports. Other ideas include young drivers having to get references from school principals or police before being let loose on the road.

He stressed his opinions were personal, not Government policy.

Maurice Williamson, National's spokesman on transport, said he supported the push to increase the driver licencing age.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY