Surprise, surprise! Once again I find myself agreeing strongly with John Key and supporting him, this time as he stands up to the feeble arguments of those who want the minimum driving age in New Zealand kept at 15 years.
I first drove a car in Melbourne, where I spent the first 25 years of my life. The minimum age there was (and still is, I believe) 18, and at the time that never bothered me. I simply waited because that was the norm there and then.
What has always bothered me since choosing to live in New Zealand was the minimum driving age of 15. I cannot understand how anyone can believe that most 15 year olds are capable of making the fine judgments required to drive on increasingly busy roads with all the distractions provided by modern technology and cavalier attitudes to the use of increasingly powerful cars.
Of course, not all teenagers are like this. Most are not, I imagine, but there are enough 15 year olds around who are clearly not mature enough that I would prefer to err on the side of caution. For my sake as much as for theirs.
The standard rebuttal to this argument, employed particularly by the rural lobby, is that if 15 year olds cannot drive their kids would miss out on job opportunities and social occasions, relying instead on parents to ferry them around.
This is a completely spurious argument. If there was any soundness to it then the logical extension is to allow driving by 14 year olds. And 13 year olds. And 12 …….
Anything below about 17 or 18, the age limit is almost totally arbitrary, a number plucked out of the air, a result of habit. A change to 16, or 17, would annoy kids approaching the magic driving age, as well as their parents, but within a few years it will become the norm and those under that age will simply see a new number to look forward to. Parents will have to help out with transport just as they do now for 14 and 13 year olds.
A more important argument, to my mind, is that a driver’s licence should be seen as a privilege, not a basic right. The longer you have to wait for that privilege, the more likely you are to respect and appreciate it.
When I drive I want to feel as confident as possible that all the other drivers on the road have the maturity to take their role as driver seriously and be capable of respecting the safety of others.
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Sorry, don’t know how to do that.
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Sorry, I don’t know how that RSS stuff works. I’m just a writer.
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No, I don’t do it for money and I’m not interested in that approach either.
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Completely understand what your stance in this matter. Although I would disagree on some of the finer details, I think you did an awesome job explaining it. Sure beats having to research it on my own. Thanks
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There’s a box up on the top right hand corner of the blog page for you to subscribe – just enter your email address.
I have seen before the age is NZ is 15. This is very young indeed. Age restrictions to drive an HGV have just been lowered here in the UK from 21 to 18.
Stumbled across your post via a Google search. I found your posting pretty insightful.