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Further implications
Current trends in managing the behaviour of young drivers do not seem to support the contention that their safety would be increased if the driving age were reduced.
There has been a pleasing decline in the accident and mortality rate among young drivers in Australia. However, this is not linked to any decrease in the driving age, rather it seems to be at least in part connected to the additional training and experience requirements young people now have to met before they can obtain a drivers licence, as well as to the protracted period during which young drivers are now held on a restricted probationary licence.
A graduated licensing scheme was one of the elements of the 1 0-point road safety package announced in December 1989 as part of the Federal Government's Road Safety Initiative, for adoption by States and Territories.
The initial components of the Graduated Licensing Scheme were:
zero blood alcohol concentration (BAC) for learner drivers
zero BAC for the first three years after obtaining a non-learners licence up to 25 years of age
no learner permits to be issued before 16 years of age
no probationary licence to be issued before 17 years of age
the minimum period for a learner permit to be 6 months
Over time and depending on the jurisdiction in which the driver lives, many of these requirements have become more rigorous. In Victoria, for example, new drivers are introduced to driving through progressive stages of being a learner, a P1 probationary driver, a P2 probationary driver and then a fully licensed driver.
Key features of Victoria's graduated licensing system include:
compulsory 120 hours of logged supervised learner driving experience
a minimum 12 month learner permit period
a challenging on-road driving test
a two stage probationary licence - P1 (minimum one year) and P2 (minimum three years)
a peer passenger restriction for P1 drivers
probationary drivers are prohibited from driving certain vehicles
a range of educational support measures
a ban on mobile phone use for all probationary drivers.
All Australian jurisdictions have some form of graduated licence scheme (GLS) currently in place. This has been credited with having brought about a dramatic reduction in accidents involving young drivers. The Australasian Transport Research Forum has stated, 'National road trauma data shows that fatalities among the 15-24 age group have reduced by 29% over the last ten years and each Australian jurisdiction has achieved reductions, largely due to the introduction of GLS models in all jurisdictions.'
The 2010 Australasian Transport Research Forum paper concluded, 'The Graduated Licence Scheme has reduced licence-holding levels among young people in NSW. It is likely that the combination of the requirement for 120 hours of driving experience, and the increased costs, have deterred, or at least slowed, the uptake of licences by young people. This reduced exposure to risk will partially explain why the fatality rates per head of population are in decline.' One of the additional reforms that the Australasian Transport Research Forum recommends is an increase, rather than a decline, in the legal driving age. The Forum states, 'The older a young person is when they are licensed the safer they are.'