AUSTRALIA MAINTAINS ITS reputation for inconsistency in road rules with varying minimum driving ages, depending on what state you’re in.
In Victoria, the minimum age to hold a driver’s licence is 18 years. The Northern Territory makes it 16 years and nine months. South Australia currently has the lowest minimum driving age of just 16 years and in other states and the ACT, it’s 17 years.
There are plenty of arguments about what is the most suitable age and much disagreement. One problem with setting the minimum age at 18 is that it’s the same age that you’re legally allowed to drink alcohol, giving young people two important responsibilities at the same time. On the other hand, the reality is that plenty of under-18s drink regularly. And increasingly common recreational drug use, especially (but not limited to) young people complicates the issue even further.
In the UK, the minimum driving age is currently 17 (as it is in most Australian states). Most European countries have set the age limit for getting a driver’s licence at 18, but in the UK it has been 17 ever since the driving test was introduced in 1935. However, six out of ten UK motorists are in favour of raising it to 18 and 76 percent support the introduction of 12-month probationary licences for all teenagers who pass their test. Probationary licences have long been in place in Australia.
Also following Australian practice, 62 percent of UK drivers believe young drivers should have to display green P-plates as a warning to other road users that they are inexperienced. In Australia, P-plates are usually a warning that the driver will pass you at a speed significantly above the posted limit, and inflict his or her musical preference on the surrounding population within a 100 metre radius.
Recent changes to Australian laws regarding young drivers have included night time curfews and limits to the number of passengers they can carry. In the UK, just 35 percent support curfews preventing young drivers being on the roads between 10 pm and 5 am unless a passenger over 30 is in the car.
UK figures show that nearly one in eight of all road casualties are hurt or killed in collisions involving a teenage driver, despite this group making up just 1.5 percent of all licensed drivers. One fifth of all deaths on British roads involve drivers aged between 17 and 24. Road accidents are the biggest killer of young people in the UK, higher than either alcohol or drugs.