Right: it has been suggested that expansion of Australia's public transport system would be a better solution to the problem of youthful employees getting to their jobs than would be a lowering of the driving age.
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Arguments against lowering the driving age in Australia
1. Young drivers already have the highest accident rate
Opponents of lowering the driving age argue that young people are already dramatically over-represented in road casualty and fatality rates. According to this argument, increasing the period during which young people can legally drive by an additional 18 months to two years will simply result in an even greater number of road accidents involving young people. The youth safety lobby group YouthSafe has drawn attention to the high accident rate among young drivers. The group has stressed that young drivers are significantly over-represented in road traffic accidents resulting in both injury and death. This is the case in Australia and worldwide. In 2007 the World Health Organisation released data showing that each year nearly 400,000 people under 25 years die on the world's roads.
In 2013, the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics revealed that in Australia, the population-based rate for road deaths of young adults is 56 per cent higher than for all age groups.
The Young Driver Fact Base states, 'Of all hospitalisations of young Australians, almost half are drivers involved in a road traffic crash and another quarter are passengers.' The same fact base notes, 'Young drivers (17 - 25 years) represent one-quarter of all Australian road deaths, but are only 10 - 15% of the licensed driver population' and further states, 'A 17 year old driver with a P1 licence is four times more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than a driver over 26 years.'
Such risks are particularly acute for young male drivers. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare stated that in 2010, in the 15-24 year age group in Australia, death rates among males were three times as high as among females in road traffic deaths (15 and 5 per 100, 000 respectively).
In 2013, the Australian Department of Infrastructure & Regional Development revealed that the highest risk period for young Australian drivers is shortly after they get their licence, and continues up to age 24. Critics of lowering the driving age in Australia argue that all such an initiative would do is increase the highest risk period from six years to eight.
Transport Accident Commission chief executive Janet Dore said that anything that encourages earlier driver licensing also increases crash risk. Ms Dore noted, 'When Canada reduced the minimum driver licensing age to 16 from 18, crash involvement among new drivers increased by 12 per cent and fatalities increased by 24 per cent.'
A Victorian government discussion paper released in 2005 calculated that if the driving age was lowered to 17, the road toll would rise by 20 in the first year, with 250 more people seriously injured, and by 13 extra deaths each year thereafter, with 200 more serious injuries.
2. 16- and 17-year-olds consume alcohol illegally
Many more young people use alcohol than tobacco or illegal drugs. By age 18, more than 70 percent of teens have had at least one drink.
An Australian National Health Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted in 2008 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration noted that as they grow older, the chance that young people will use alcohol increases. Approximately 10 percent of 12-year-olds say they have used alcohol at least once. By age 13 that number doubles. And by age 15, approximately 50 percent have had at least one drink.
Teenagers drink less often than adults. But when teens do drink, they drink more than adults. On average, young people have five drinks or more on a single occasion. This binge drinking behaviour is particularly hazardous and would have serious consequences if combined with driving.
Binge drinking means drinking significantly more than the recommended level of four standard drinks on any one occasion. In the 2011 report on tobacco, alcohol, over-the-counter and illicit substance use among Australian secondary school students, around 6.4 per cent of Australian secondary school students drank more than four drinks on one day in the previous seven days.
In 2013, Jerril Retcher, CEO of Vichealth which funded research with the Australian Research Council into the under-age drinking problem in Victoria, noted that almost three quarters of young people are drinking at levels that put them at short-term risk of injury.
Critics note that such behaviours among under-age drinkers make it completely inappropriate to lower the age at which it is legally permissible to drive in Australia. It is claimed that such an age reduction would bring about the same conjunction of driving and alcohol consumption only at an age when the young drinker was even less physically and psychologically equipped to manage his or her behaviour.
3. 16- and 17-year-olds already have access to driver education
Various organizations or groups operate special driver training programs for learners and pre learners. These programs usually aim to encourage the development of safe driving techniques, and can involve road law knowledge tuition and some in-car components, either on an off-road track or circuit, or on-road under supervision.
Numerous studies conducted in Australia and overseas have cast doubt on the effectiveness of pre-driver education conducted within schools or in programs run in conjunction with schools. What has been found effective is extended periods of learner instruction for those seeking to obtain their licences. This option is available now.
In all states of Australia it is possible to gain a learners licence at 16-years of age. This group is then able to undertake extensive driver education both with paid instructors and with a supervisor who has a driver's licence (usually a parent).
In 2002 the RACV (the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria) released a paper titled '
It concluded, 'Research studies suggest that the best learning environment for the beginning driver is the real road system under the supervision of an experienced driver or instructor. Learner drivers under supervision on-road have a low risk of crash involvement, probably the lowest of all driver groups. The accumulation of an on-road driving "experience bank" is perhaps the major potential contributor to reduced crash risk in solo driving for novice drivers.'
The same RACV report noted that various state authorities are now requiring extended periods of on-road supervised practice before young people are able to try-out for a licence. 'This approach has been taken up by most Australian driver licensing jurisdictions and some in North America via the implementation of Graduated Licensing schemes (GLS) which provide for and encourage learner drivers to gain more supervised, on-road driving experience before solo driving. However, this approach requires cooperation between novice drivers, parents (or supervisors) and professional driving instructors over a period of months and perhaps years.'
4. Young people's brains are not yet fully developed and so are unsuited to the decision-making required to drive well
It has been demonstrated that the human brain continues to grow until at least an individual's twenties and that the areas of the brain last to consolidate are those involving decision-making. Those concerned about reducing the driving age argue that 16- and 17-year-olds simply do not have the cognitive capacity necessary to take the decisions that driving involves.
The Australian Law Reform Commission's report on decision-making by and for individuals under the age of 18 states, 'The frontal lobe of the brain is responsible for functions such as organising thoughts, setting priorities, planning and making judgments. Scientists have discovered that the frontal lobe undergoes significant change during adolescence...
The research suggests that the frontal lobe, and therefore an individual's decision-making capacity, has not reached full maturity until some time in a person's early twenties.'
The over-representation of young people in transport related accidents has been linked to risky driving behaviours including speeding, driving when fatigued, and driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs as well as limited development of hazard perception. These behaviours and limitations have been linked to inexperience and to the stage of brain development of the young driver.
Research conducted in New Zealand in 2007 linked poor driving behaviours to the young drivers' stage of brain development. The research was carried out by Robert Isler, director of the traffic and road safety research group at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.
Dr Isler suggested that the lack of brain development was a 'common crash risk factor' in the younger age group.
Dr Isher stated,'Brain studies have shown that the frontal lobes are not fully developed until young people reach the age of 25 years, the same time when age disappears as a risk factor for crashes, even after driving experience is taken into account.'
Dr Isher concluded, 'It seems plausible that immature executive functioning (of the brain) may lie behind the poor hazard anticipation and detection skills that seem to characterise many adolescent drivers. But like any other brain function, they can be enhanced with appropriate training.'
5. We need better public transport, not a reduced driving age
Improvements in public transport appear to reduce the reliance of young people on automobile driving.
Recent trends in New South Wales suggest that people aged under 35 are becoming less likely to hold a driver's licence. One of the significant factors contributing to this trend has been a concentration of population in established urban areas which provide access to public transport. Data from the Household Travel Survey shows that people living in higher density inner suburban locations have a lower propensity to own a car or hold a driver's licence.
In 2010, Australasian Transport Research Forum produced a paper titled 'Why are young people driving less? Trends in licence-holding and travel behaviour'.
One of the research forum's conclusions regarding reduced car ownership and licence-holding in Sydney was 'These higher density suburbs generally have access to high quality public transport services, so these is less perceived need for a car to gain independent mobility.'
It has also been noted that in built-up areas where the expense of living is high, where traffic congestion is significant and where parking facilities can be limited there is less incentive for young people to own a car. Instead, it has been noted, they are taking advantage of other transport options apart from public transport. The research forum report noted an increased incidence of walking and cycling.
Critics maintain that this changing pattern of transportation use among young suburbanites needs an increase in funding of public transport. In 2010, the Australasian Transport Research Forum paper stated, 'The increasing importance of public transport access to jobs, services, and local shopping opportunities is clear.'
Those who condemn moves to lower the legal driving age say that at least in some suburban areas this change is not supported by the demonstrated behaviour of young people living in these areas.