Tougher tests for learner drivers

The Transport Agency is abolishing restricted licence tests in 35 towns in New Zealand. Photo / Lani Hepi

Learner drivers in many parts of rural New Zealand will have to travel longer distances to centres busy enough to test their skills under a tougher new licensing system from Monday.

The Transport Agency is abolishing restricted licence tests in 35 towns where it believes there is not enough traffic to challenge the vehicle-handling skills of new drivers.

That will leave just 52 centres to which learner drivers can travel to upgrade their licences, although the agency will design a special trial test for Kaitaia to limit travelling times after protests from the Far North District Council.

It initially intended removing licence tests from the town, requiring learners to travel to Kerikeri, involving a round trip of almost 200km.

The agency has stopped short of promising that tests will remain in Kaitaia, saying that depends on the effectiveness of the pilot in ensuring substantially higher driving skills than measured under the old licensing system.

Neither does it intend making exceptions for the 35 other towns on its hit list. Those in the upper North Island include Kaikohe, Dargaville, Warkworth, Turangi, Cambridge, Huntly, Matamata, Paeroa, Waihi, Whangamata, Te Kuiti, Te Puke, Kawerau and Opotiki.

But the agency's northern regional director, Stephen Town, said most if not all of them would retain service centres offering theory tests for learner licences.

His organisation was also working with the Automobile Association and a Far North community group on another trial programme, which could be rolled out in other remote areas, to provide supervised driving support for learners.

Mr Town said from Monday learners would have to prove themselves safe enough to operate a vehicle in 60km/h zones in busy traffic and with merging lanes.

Kaitaia was not normally busy enough for that, so the new tests there may have to be restricted to times of the day "when the traffic is as busy as it can be".

Far North District Council member Tracy Dalton, based in Kaikohe, said the loss of testing in that town would be hard on a young population around the Hokianga Harbour facing a round trip of up to 160km to Kerikeri and back.

That would add a high hurdle to efforts to encourage them "to keep on the right side of the law" and ensure they were able to drive legally.

"Our people need to get to jobs, or to Winz - we don't have public bus services, so there is a real reason to make everyone on the roads as legal as possible without too much inhibition," she said.

Ms Dalton believed the new licensing system was too "city-centric" and said rural drivers faced special hazards not encountered in cities, such as loose metal roads, one-way bridges, milk tankers and stock trucks.

But Mr Town said: "If you look at the crash statistics, you won't find gravel roads at the top of the list for teenage deaths and serious injuries.

"You'll find open roads and urban environments with loss of control, lapses of concentration and alcohol."

The new tests would encourage learners to notch up 120 hours of supervised driving, rather than an average of around 40 hours now.

Those now on restricted licences were seven times more likely to crash and the tougher tests were expected to reduce the risk by about 40 per cent.

GOING SOLO

*From Monday, restricted licence tests will be toughened to encourage learners to notch up 120 hours of supervised driving before going solo.

*The AA says that will reduce the risk of crashes by 40 per cent for restricted licence holders, which is now seven times higher than for average drivers.

*The new system will remove restricted licence tests from 35 small towns.