Greg Murphy welcomes Julie-Anne Genter's review of graduated driver licensing system

Greg Murphy wants the Government to address the value of people sitting a "full licensing test" and address the usefulness of defensive driving courses. Photo / Paul Taylor

Kiwi motorsport legend, and road safety advocate Greg Murphy has welcomed a government review of the "broken" driver licensing system.

Up to 144,000 people on learner or restricted driver's licences will get a two-year reprieve from the risk of losing their licence if they don't graduate to the next level.

The Government will also look at additional programmes to help disadvantaged drivers to access the next licence stage, and have more driver training in schools.

It's Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter's response to a 2014 law change that brought in a five-year time limit on learner and restricted licences for cars and motorcycles.

Murphy, who met with Genter back in July, said the pair had agreed the brakes had to be put on the "time-limit" law.

"It was one of the first issues we raised with her because in my opinion you can't punish these drivers because they are stuck in a system that's broken and regressive.

"The reality is, there would have been no practical way under the current resourcing to get them through the system because of the backlog," Murphy said.

"It could have ended in a situation where thousands of Kiwis probably wouldn't have even known they were going to lose their drivers licence and then they'd have been driving around unintentionally breaking the law."

He said the biggest barrier to gaining a full driver's licence in New Zealand was access and affordability.

"In my home region of Hawke's Bay, like many other provincial areas across the country, it costs an average $1000 to gain your driver's licence.

"This is severely disadvantaging people based on where they live and if they can pay for it," he said.

Murphy said the review covered most areas he believed needed improving.

However, he also wanted Genter to fully review the progressive testing system, including the benefit and value of sitting a final "Full Licence" test and if a Defensive Driving Course was actually delivering a positive outcome statistically.