Road safety group proposes radical driving licence ban for males under 21 – report

Men aged less than 21 years old should not qualify for a driving licence, according to a controversial proposal from the head of an Australian road safety lobby group.

As reported by The Guardian, the president of the Australasian College of Road Safety (ACRS) – Emeritus Professor Ann Williamson – believes the over-representation of young drivers in car crashes needs to trigger an overhaul in the country’s approach to road safety.

“Undoubtedly, some young novice drivers will be better than others,” Professor Williamson said. “If we can identify those who perhaps are likely to be inherently more risky and limit their licensing, make that a little bit later. 

“Young males, perhaps they should be 21 or 22, before they get their licence.

“This is very controversial stuff but these are all things to think about.”

In Australia, the age at which drivers can obtain a licence to drive by themselves differs from state to state.

The Northern Territory allows residents as young as 16 and a half years old to be tested for a provisional licence, while all other states and territories – excluding Victoria – require applicants to reach 17 before their driving test.

In Victoria, learner drivers cannot take their driving test for a provisional licence until they reach the age of 18.

The ACRS’s radical proposal comes less than a fortnight after an 18-year-old P-plater crashed his ute in the New South Wales town of Buxton – south-west of Sydney – killing five other occupants aged between 14 and 16.

“There’s been a flurry of discussion about how we might make things safer for young novice drivers as a result of that crash (in Buxton),” Professor Williamson told 3AW’s Drive with Tom Elliott radio program.

“Currently, young novice drivers have a number of restrictions on them – we have a graduated licensing system in most parts of Australia, where you can’t get your licence until you’re 18 in Victoria or 17 in New South Wales.

“(Young drivers) have to do a certain amount of practice, there’s no alcohol, they’re not allowed to touch a mobile phone, and there’s restrictions on the types of vehicles (they can drive).

“Why we have these restrictions is that young drivers are not necessarily good drivers just yet.”

According to the ACRS, 15 per cent of the state’s road users are less than 25 years old, however they account for 25 per cent of all car crashes in NSW.

Professor Williams added the ACRS has attempted to assist young drivers in recognising risks on the road, however its unsuccessful campaign suggests more thorough licence examination may be required.

“If your brain isn’t ready to adjust to the risks on the road, then maybe we restrict all sorts of things about young drivers,” Professor Williamson told 3AW’s Tom Elliott. “Maybe we’re licensing (young drivers) too early.

“It’s one of the options we should be thinking about but unfortunately, we still do have problems with young novice drivers.

“The research that is being done suggests – up to the age of around 24 – young people’s brains are not mature enough to appreciate and understand risk, then adjust their behaviour according to risk.

“The research we have done has attempted to train young drivers a bit more about risk to see if it’s something you could train. Unfortunately, we weren’t very successful.

“We’re going to have to keep trying harder to see if there are things that we can teach young novice drivers to appreciate better, but if that doesn’t work we do have to start thinking about some of the other options.

“We already have a hazard perception test for young drivers but there may be a better way of doing that. We need to start looking at risky behaviour and trying to make sure we don’t give licences to people who aren’t really able to appreciate the risks on the road yet.”

As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald on Friday morning, a single-car crash – caused by the 18-year-old driver crashing into a telephone pole – in the Sydney suburb of Beverly Hills resulted in five teenagers suffering injuries.