Young drivers feel they can beat law

Despite yet another horrific accident involving a teenage driver, young motorists say they are happy to continue breaking the rules - because they get away with it.

Young motorists know the risks they face, but say the chances of getting caught are low. Even when caught they are not always ticketed.

However, police warn that while officers have discretion to bend the rules, they generally work on a zero-tolerance basis, which means fines and possible court appearances.

Hastings teenager Che Orbell-Pere was breaching almost all of the rules of his restricted licence when he crashed last Friday, killing himself, three friends and seriously injuring two others.

Since then the debate on whether to raise the legal driving age has resurfaced, as have the reasons young people continue to breach the terms of their licences by driving with passengers or after 10 pm without supervision. Many say it is because they have got away with it several times.

A 21-year-old Auckland driver, Marshall, said he had been pulled over only once in three years of flouting the conditions of his restricted licence.

He was driving home from work unsupervised after midnight when he was pulled over. He pleaded with the officer, showed his licence and was let off without a ticket.

Marshall said many of his friends were driving as if they had a full licence. "I don't know anyone with a full licence."

He failed the full licence test this year, and the cost of sitting again is proving a hindrance.

University student Mya, 21, has no licence but admits using her parents' or neighbour's car to drive to her part-time job four times this year.

"I've never been stopped. My parents are quite strict about it. They don't support me doing this. But it's only when I miss the bus or something like that."

Friends who hold full licences taught her to drive, but she has never sat the test. She intends to, but said the cost of sitting the test as well as maintaining a car was too much.

The acting national road policing manager, Inspector John Kelly, said there was no excuse for not getting a licence.

"If they are scared they might fail, it means they are not up to standard and, if that's the case, we don't want them on the road."

Mr Kelly said some drivers may have got off with a warning or escaped detection. But if they kept breaking the law they would end up with fines or a court appearance.

Waikato University psychologist and road safety specialist Robert Isler said many young people arranged for mates to share the fine.