If there’s a cause I can – and likely will once my trucking-related days are done – fully support, it’s educating and upskilling young drivers. At least one horrific fatal crash involving young, recently licenced drivers seems to make the news each year. Most recently, just two weeks ago, three out of five young occupants died, having not been able to escape their submerged vehicle after crashing into the Tuamarina River north of Blenheim in the middle of the night.

I know I’ve written about this topic before and I likely bring it up at least once a year. But that’s because it really is something I feel passionately about, and I’m saddened each time I read another news story on the subject. I think it’s partly because these young people’s lives are cut short in a way that could perhaps have been prevented and partly because I, too, was one of those testosterone-fuelled, meat-headed young men who was lucky enough to escape a crash early in my driving career that changed my attitude to driving and set me on a path to improve my skills on the road and behind the wheel over the ensuing years.

And that’s just the thing; driving any type of vehicle beyond the minimum the driving test prepares you for is a skill that develops over the years, as is the ability to effectively read the road and other road users and make the right decisions before potential danger becomes real. In a fit of overconfidence, many think ‘I got this’ when starting out, and by then, it’s often too late.

The young driver stats on the Ministry of Transport’s website do show an encouraging trend. Deaths in crashes involving young drivers with primary responsibility has been consistently below 100 since 2011, with an absolute low of 58 in 2014 (from an absolute high of 327 in 1986). A positive long-term trend it might be, but the 93 deaths in which a young driver was at fault in 2022 accounted for a quarter of fatal crashes that year. And, quite unsurprisingly, the stats show that young drivers tend to be disproportionately represented in fatal crashes at night, almost twice as much as during the day.

In modern-day society, driving is almost seen as a right. There are precious few parts of the world where people – on the average trip – wouldn’t take private transport given the choice. Sure, there are places where the car isn’t the primary mode of transport, but most of the time, including in New Zealand, that’s the exception. And if that’s the state of play, wouldn’t it make sense to start the journey to safer driving as young as possible?

Sure, there is a multitude of young-driver educational resources available online. The NZTA even offers an education portal. But I genuinely feel that the building blocks of safe road use should be taught throughout the school curriculum, in a way that it forms part of the student’s journey to learner or restricted level. By the time full licence level is reached, they could have the right attitudes and approach to driving, a fundamental understanding of the road, respect for other road users and an appreciation for the physics involved in driving a vehicle, so they begin their driving career at a level far higher than those before. Think of the compounding effect across generations of school leavers.

Thankfully, there are many charitable and not-for-profit young driver education organisations out there doing their bit, among them Pro-active Drive and Street Smart – which have both been supported but the annual NZ Road Transport Hall of Fame event – Road Safety Education’s RYDA programme, BRAKE and Students Against Distracted Driving.

I was particularly impressed by the Street Smart presentation at this year’s Hall of Fame gala. Part of the Tony Quinn Foundation, it benefits from his ownership of racetracks around New Zealand to put kids behind the wheel and expose them to potential real-world situations in a controlled environment. No, the real world isn’t a controlled environment, but it’s also not the ideal place to learn potentially tragic lessons. The foundation says its mission is to “make this practical, hands-on driver training compulsory for all Kiwis before getting their full license”. I can absolutely get behind that. And again, building it – or something like it – into the school curriculum would be the simplest way I can see to make it happen.

In any event, this all may be a way off yet – if at all. Although, as I write this, the minister of transport has just released the 2024 Road safety objectives document, in which identifying opportunities to improve the Graduated Driver Licensing System is a key area. In the meantime, I encourage any parent or young driver to research the options available to them and budget for one of these hands-on programmes as part of obtaining a driver’s licence. You can never be too well equipped when taking to the road.

Take care out there,

Gavin Myers

Editor