Young drivers are committing around 40% fewer traffic offences than a decade ago but more work is needed to address high youth fatality rates from road crashes, according to the AA in New Zealand.
In 2016, the AA Research Foundation released a report into traffic offences involving young people aged 15-19 years old which that showed a substantial decline in offending between 2009 and 2013. The Foundation has recently gathered the latest data showing this downward trend has continued to 2024.
“Factoring in the substantial increase in young drivers over that time, overall offending rates have fallen by 41%, drunk and drugged driving by 58% and seatbelt offences by 52%,” said AA road safety spokesperson Dylan Thomsen.
“That’s a real positive and demonstrates that we are heading in the right direction with the various road safety initiatives and legislative and policy changes that have been undertaken over time.”
Alongside the downward trend in offending, youth fatality rates from road crashes have also fallen but Dylan said they still remain tragically high.
He added: “These figures show we need to be focusing on more than just enforcement to bring crash rates down even further.”
New Zealand currently has about 90 deaths and 600 serious injuries a year from crashes where a young driver is judged to be at fault, according to Ministry of Transport data.
Dylan said the AA see the latest data as timely with the Government currently considering changes to the Graduated Driver Licensing System.
While the AA supports some of the changes being proposed, it is also calling for; the learner period to be increased from six to 12 months, a minimum 60 hours practice with a supervisor across a range of conditions on a learner license and professional training incentivized by accelerating progress through the practice hours system – for example crediting two or three hours following a one-hour session with a professional instructor.
