Bay motorsport legend welcome’s graduated licence system review
Hawke’s Bay-based Kiwi motorsport legend and road safety advocate Greg Murphy has welcomed an immediate review of the graduated drivers licensing system, saying, “it’s broken and regressive”.
“When I met with Minister Genter back in July we agreed that the brakes had to be put on this ‘time-limit’ law which would have seen thousands of learner and restricted drivers lose their licenses,” Murphy says.
“It was one of the first issues we raised with her because in my opinion you can’t punish these drivers because they are stuck in system that’s broken and regressive.
“The reality is, there would have been no practical way under the current resourcing to get them through the system because of the backlog,” he says.
“It could have ended in a situation where thousands of kiwis probably wouldn’t have even known they were going to lose their drivers licence and then they’d have been driving around unintentionally breaking the law.”
Murphy says the biggest barrier to gaining a full drivers licence is New Zealand is access and affordability.
“In my home region of Hawke’s Bay, like many other provincial areas across the country, it costs an average $1000 to gain your driver’s licence. This is severely disadvantaging people based on where they live and if they can pay for it.”
The review has covered most areas Murphy believes needs improving.
However, he says he also wants the ministry to fully review the progressive testing system, including the benefit and value of sitting a final “Full Licence” test and if the incentive of cutting six months off a restricted licence if the holder does a defensive driving course is actually delivering a positive outcome statistically.
