Following a bad month on the roads where 45 people have died, the worst month on NZ roads since 2009, Greg Murphy is calling for changes.
One of those changes he is suggesting is that when you renew your drivers license, instead of just paying the fee and getting the license, you should have to resit both the practical and theory tests.
There is a story about it here:
For those not on Facebook, his post is below (same that is linked in the AutoCar story)
"I think it is said that - "The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result". Well this is what we are doing here in NZ when it comes to road safety. The headlines again are focussed on a horrendous road crash that have killed 8 and will have impacted and changed the lives of so many more. How many people are going to have to die on our roads before the govt wakes up and focusses on the things that need the real attention.
The govt continues to talk about fixing roads and "Speed", yet is still the drivers of the vehicles that are getting it wrong and causing the carnage. With the amount of driving I do on NZ roads, Speed is not the big issue. A lot of the time it is the opposite - the amount of drivers that are driving at dangerously low speeds is concerning. "Drive to the conditions" is a phase used all the time, but how do you drive to the conditions if no one has ever explained or showed someone what that means or what to do?? We need much better education and driver training to create awareness around these things.
Putting up more median barriers throughout NZ will stop people from crossing the centre line, but it still won't stop people crashing - we can't prepare the roads for every possible scenario.
Distraction is without a doubt making our roads far more unsafe than what they were 10 - 15 years ago. People using their phones while driving is an epidemic and people are not abiding - it's time we got tough on this rather than continuing down the pathetic PC approach. I have been told (unconfirmed) that the Police have the ability to confiscate drivers phones if see using them while driving - if true, then this should be happening, if not true - it should be implemented!
We should all be forced to re-sit our drivers licences every 10 years at the max. The amount of bad habits and poor skills people who have had their licences for 10 - 15 - 20 - 40 years have, need to be addressed - retraining happens in so many different things in our lives, how come something that destroys so many lives only requires essentially a "one off" test for life - madness!
The condition of vehicles on the roads is another issue and what people know about their vehicles and what is safe needs attention and education.
I could go on and on and essentially repeat my thoughts from previous posts - Ground Hog Day - but if there is one thing to finish with - "Expect the unexpected every second you are driving and while driving - focus solely on Driving"
It's time for change that will make a difference!"
Greg was also interviewed on Ryan Bridge's Drive show on Radio Magic yesterday. If you wish, you can listen to that interview below
https://www.magic.co.nz/home/news/2019/04/how-can-we-reduce-road-deaths-.html
Having only held a full license for just under 10 years myself (despite being in my 40's), I know if i had to resit the test, there is a chance that I wouldn't pass first time.
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