Driver licencing is a real catalyst for change, and New Zealand – Aotearoa – needs to look at how we as a country put more focus on this to increase our national wellbeing and prosperity and give us an advantage (or reduce our disadvantage) on the world stage.

Our system of individuals getting their licence worked well enough when (as the saying goes) people could pretty much get their driver licence out of a weetbix packet.

However, with increasing population (it isn’t that long ago 3 million was a big number, now we’re looking at 5 million), faster cars and demands for a more productive workforce, our situation has changed.

We’re still small enough to need a driver licence more than people in many countries, as we don’t have the economies of scale or infrastructure for people to get to work and get around with out a vehicle.

People are working longer and harder, and jobs expect more of their workers.

It is now more important than ever for people to have a licence to both get a job and be fully productive in that job. People on a benefit are 8x more likely not to have a driver licence. Over 80% of entry-level jobs (trade, office, professional included) require a driver licence. A driver licence:

• Helps people get to work – which is often further away than in decades past; and for those outside the major centres, and some in the cities, may not be accessible by public transport.
• Allows them to drive themselves to meetings, places where they are working, etc.
• Lets them go and pick up tools and equipment when needed, rather than taking other people out of their work.
• Allows them to drive others when needed.
• Sets them up to get more qualifications, whether it is a truck licence or other study.
• Makes an employer more likely to hire (or promote) someone, as they are likely to make it to work (less absenteeism) and to be more productive and useful when they are there.

Safe driver training, for both learners and restricted drivers and for those who already have their full licence, is also important. Crashes on the roads can have many consequences:

• Those in the car can be hurt or killed, affecting them and their families and friends. As well as the injury/grief reducing direct ability to work, this has long-term indirect productivity implications. Injuries also create more demands on our health system, reducing the ability to do proactive health interventions and costing more.
• People outside the vehicle can be hurt or killed – with flow on effects as above.
• Not to mention avoiding some of the pain of those affected / hit / in the car with a driver who crashes, long-term injury and changes to their lives and ability to do things.
• The ones whose vehicle is damaged have to take time out to arrange repairs, deal with costs and/or insurance claims, and may find that the costs of excess and repairs / replacement make it harder to pay their other bills or save to get ahead, get a holiday, buy a house, etc.
• Other vehicles can be delayed by accident-related road closures, and this can have many impacts – a few of which can be: people run late to meetings; truck drivers run out of hours to get things where they are headed; goods and supplies are late to where they are needed for packing, shipment, etc – sometimes stopping a production line if packing material unavailable or missing a ship; animals in trucks can become overheated and distressed; blood tests on their way to a specialist lab may become compromised and need redone – taking people out of work, etc. to give another sample, doubling the lab work and potentially delaying an important diagnosis…

Our whole economy will benefit if we have more people in work, who can be more productive, and we have fewer crashes. People will also be more able to run themselves and others around, contributing to social inclusion.

Those stuck in a cycle of poverty (and other negative things that can flow from that for them, their families and society) are more likely to find their way out if they have a driver licence. Funnily enough, changing the poverty cycle for these families will also do a huge amount to increase our national productivity, by ensuring they are able to be in work not on benefit and able to contribute to the economy through work, taxes and having more to spend. And a driving licence can be a catalyst to that change for them and their families – and thus for New Zealand.

These are just a few of the reasons why New Zealand should look at the public good of people being safely trained and licenced drivers.

So, how should we do it?

The first thing to do is to follow up on ensuring driver licencing is supported (and funded / resourced) in schools. If school is preparing us for life and almost all jobs need a driver licence, let’s make that a basic part of what we expect students to come out with. Many families will be able to provide some of the driver training needed, but some of those most in need may not – if they are unlicenced too, don’t have a legal car, work really long hours on minimum wage… And of the families who do provide the driver training many could do with some refresher training on what and how to teach and the example to set (see further down this article) and most students would still benefit from some good quality professional training to ensure they can become both safe and licenced drivers.

The introduction of a graduated driver licence system (GDLS) has changed the playing field for new drivers, with more stringent testing and longer periods where people are expected to operate under limited driving conditions, with a supervisor for learners, and without passengers for restricted. (On a productivity side note, for parents, this also affects the time we take out of other things to run young adults around.)

Now I’d hazard a guess that for most of us with a driver licence, we view it more as a right than a privilege. We use it to get to work, to get to meetings, to pick up equipment, to go visiting and to drive others around. We don’t expect to have to renew our skills, and most of us with a full licence haven’t been through the GDLS.

Being honest, how many of us think we would pass the Restricted or Full licence test the way we normally drive?

• Do we all slow down BEFORE the reduction in speed signs and not speed up until past the open road sign?
• Do we all go the posted limit through road works?
• Do we all maintain a minimum 2 second distance behind the vehicle in front – 4 seconds in wet conditions?
• Do we all drive with two hands on the steering wheel, in 1/4 to 3 position, and keep one hand in control at all times?
• Do we always aim to sit at or just below the speed limit, in town, in a school zone, on the open road, and reduce speed when there are possible hazards – e.g. pedestrians, cyclists, children or pets around?
• Do we all come to a complete and utter stop at a STOP sign?
• Do we all know what the triangles, diamonds and other signs painted on the road mean?
• Do we all maintain our own lane in a double-lane roundabout, signal right if going right, left if going left, and left to show we’re exiting at the next point?
• Do we all indicate our intention to turn or change lane or pull out at least 3 seconds before we do so (because indicating is to let others know what we intend, not what we are halfway through doing)…?
• Do we all know how our vehicle ABS and other tools work?

I could go on. Some of us will do some things properly, but many of us are not driving as safely or well as we could, and are making it hard for those on a Learner or Restricted Licence to know what the right things to do are. If they see many others doing things wrong, it gets confusing. And even the best of us could use some access to good training along the way to refresh and improve our skills.

So – where am I heading with this? For NZ Inc, and to increase our productivity, we need to change the way we look at driving and at driver licencing.

• We need to support driver training and make it easy (and expected) to refresh and improve our skills so we can become the best drivers we are capable of being.
• We need driver licencing to be supported in schools, to give everyone some professional training and to ensure all students are able to graduate with at least a Restricted Licence to get them into and to work.