Thumper
8th December 2006, 15:53
When I arrived in NZ five years ago I was blown away that fifteen year old kids could be let loose on the roads and that just six months later while still fifteen could be let loose by themselves on the roads with a restricted. When growing up in South Africa we could take our restricted motorcycle licence at the age of sixteen but needed to be eighteen to get a learners license to drive a car.
As a result of this most school kids ended up riding a motorcycle during the final few years at school and even the first year or two of Uni. I can remember the roads around the high school that I attended being lined with motorcycles varying in capacity between 50cc and 125cc, there were hundreds of them (its much easier for schools to provide parking for motorcycles than it is for cars). The only restriction placed on a restricted/learners licence was capacity (125cc max) and the fact that you couldn’t carry a passenger or ride on a motorway at all.
After being on a motorcycle for two years you could then sit your car learners and I believe that as a result your sensitivity to traffic and other vehicles on the road was heightened as was your technical ability to read a road. Any driver who has spent at least two years on a bike makes for a much better driver when they get behind the wheel of a car and a graduated approach to licensing encourages this. If you didn’t want to ride a bike, you just waited until you were eighteen to get your learners for a car.
Although this system worked really well I can’t see anything similar being attempted in NZ. No Member of Parliament or political party is going to be prepared to make a change to the status quo which is likely to alienate themselves from the next generations of voters. Today’s fifteen year olds are likely to be voting if not in the next election the one after that!
As a result of this most school kids ended up riding a motorcycle during the final few years at school and even the first year or two of Uni. I can remember the roads around the high school that I attended being lined with motorcycles varying in capacity between 50cc and 125cc, there were hundreds of them (its much easier for schools to provide parking for motorcycles than it is for cars). The only restriction placed on a restricted/learners licence was capacity (125cc max) and the fact that you couldn’t carry a passenger or ride on a motorway at all.
After being on a motorcycle for two years you could then sit your car learners and I believe that as a result your sensitivity to traffic and other vehicles on the road was heightened as was your technical ability to read a road. Any driver who has spent at least two years on a bike makes for a much better driver when they get behind the wheel of a car and a graduated approach to licensing encourages this. If you didn’t want to ride a bike, you just waited until you were eighteen to get your learners for a car.
Although this system worked really well I can’t see anything similar being attempted in NZ. No Member of Parliament or political party is going to be prepared to make a change to the status quo which is likely to alienate themselves from the next generations of voters. Today’s fifteen year olds are likely to be voting if not in the next election the one after that!