ACC media adviser Glen Donovan said an online injury prevention initiative called Practice, developed alongside the NZTA, aimed to increase driver skill and indications were it was contributing to lowering the number of fatalities and serious injuries nationwide.
Practice involves the learner driver nominating a dedicated driving guide and aiming to clock up 120 hours of supervised driving before the learner got their restricted licence and was able to drive solo.
"Practice is about instilling good habits right from the get go," Mr Donovan said.
Senior Sergeant Ian Campion agreed a lot of the instances of poor handling probably related to inexperienced drivers.
"Poor observation is around not paying attention and distractions."
Mr Campion said it was important to remember there were often a number of factors which contributed to a crash so poor handling could be combined with speed, alcohol, poor observation or judgment or another factor completely.
"I think people need to concentrate," he said. "Concentrate on what they are doing and that's driving. Make sure the way is clear at intersections and concentrate on driving, not what they have to do when they get to work. It's about trying to reduce those distractions to focus."
Mr Campion said the current driver licensing system worked reasonably well in ensuring young drivers had the skills they needed before they were allowed to driver solo but said all drivers could benefit from extra courses.
"Courses similar to defensive driving, for a lot of drivers, would be helpful. A lot of it's identifying potential dangers and risks and acting appropriately to anticipate them."
Western Bay police had dealt with more than 20 crashes in each of the last two weeks, more than double the usual amount and many were caused by people not concentrating, particularly at intersections, he said.
AA motoring affairs manager Mike Noon said poor observation had been one of the highest causes of crashes for a long time and incorporated things like distraction, inattention and fatigue.
Poor handling was often a by-product of poor observation, Mr Noon said.
"What we do say people need to be focusing on when driving is the task of driving.
"It is a very difficult task but we can misjudge that because we do it so often and so routinely."