This year marks 20 years since I began my journey as a licenced driver. To some of our readers 20 years may be ‘just getting started’ in the context of their driving careers – and indeed to me, looking back, it does feel like just yesterday.

As a scholar of all things motoring, I remember reading editorials, just like this one, about how incredibly outdated the system was even then. That it was designed for a time when vehicles were comparatively rudimentary, slower to go and slower to woah, likewise a road system that was much simpler, with fewer vehicles using it, and the main requirements for passing the test were an understanding of the fundamental road rules and demonstration of competent (basic) control of a vehicle.

I’m confident that if I were writing this editorial still in South Africa nothing would be different in 2025. In New Zealand, the licencing system is similarly outdated for modern times – but at least it’s had its share of revisions, the last major one in 2011 when the minimum age for obtaining a learner licence was raised from 15 to 16.

There has been a lot of opinion about the latest six proposed changes, consultation of which closed on 9 June. These essentially intend to make the process of getting a full licence easier and cheaper by removing the full practical test (class 1 only) and reducing the number of vision tests, while implementing a stricter hand for offences to ensure that graduating to a full licence isn’t just a formality. Critically, though, the missing link there is authoritarian levels of enforcement – which we don’t have.

We’re also told NZTA will look at introducing a hazard perception test at the end of the learner stage as well – a worthwhile addition in my opinion. But, we could go further. Under Gavin’s rule, whether or not we were to bin the full practical test, earning (deliberate use of the word) a drivers’ licence would require the following…

Time in a truck

Despite the impracticalities of it, everybody applying for a class 1 licence should spend at minimum two weeks in the cab of a truck around town and on the open road. It will give the learner an appreciation for how different driving a heavy vehicle is, and make them more respectful and considerate around heavy vehicles on the road. It may also spark a desire in the odd person to join the ranks of the nation’s truckies.

Time on a bike

Want to drive a car? Sure, commute on a scooter first for a set time and total distance. Like spending time in a truck, this will also ingrain an understanding of driving from a different perspective, and perhaps make people more aware of their surroundings when they get into their little motorised bubble.

Advanced and defensive driving

New Zealand has roads that range widely in their quality and level of engineering, a mixture of climatic conditions across season and location, and a driver pool that includes everyone from the professional to the barely competent – who are, on paper, also considered of equal ability. Physically learning how to control the dynamics of a vehicle in varying conditions, and how to naturally drive in a way that could avoid the need to do so in the first place, moves a new driver beyond simply understanding the road rules and basic operation of a vehicle.

Time with someone affected by distracted and impaired driving

A little shock, horror and emotional appeal can go a long way to influence behaviour. I’ve sat in presentations and talks by police and medical professionals who’ve shared some of the horrors they’ve encountered on the road, as well as some by people whose lives have been directly affected. It’s a powerful tool for making people think twice.

First aid courses

While we’re at it, let’s add a critical life skill that should become a mandatory competence for us all at some stage of life. And it makes sense at a driver’s level. If you get into a crash, you’re the first on the scene, and even basic first aid knowledge could be the difference between life and death. I believe it is a mandatory requirement is some European countries.

Of course, none of these aid the government’s intention of making it easier and cheaper to get a full licence (and really, should it be?). However, what they will do is ensure that whoever does want to get a licence is truly committed, has a level of self-awareness that is almost non-existent among drivers, and is as skilled as they can be at that early stage of their driving career. I’m sure there’s evidence out there that would suggest economic benefits, too, meaning we’d save in the long run anyway.

Today, Transport Minister Chris Bishop proposed further reforms to New Zealand’s land transport rule, one of which includes reviewing the weight thresholds for Class 1 and 2 licences and simplifying heavy and special vehicle driver licencing. If we’re going to allow people to drive heavier vehicles and make it easier for them to do so, it becomes even more important to get the basics right.

Are all his revisions and reforms on the right road? At face value, I don’t think there’s enough in it to ensure getting a driver’s licence doesn’t become more of a right or formality than it already is. Nor does it advance the basic level of skill drivers are being sent out on the road with. A missed opportunity … Maybe in another 20 years’ time.

Take care out there,

Gavin Myers
Editor