Why the USA should follow New Zealand’s footsteps to turn their road toll around

I’m from New Zealand, our country’s population is about five million, roughly 66 times smaller than the population of about 333 million in the United States of America. Therefore our road toll (341 deaths in 2023) should be roughly 66 times smaller than that of the USA, but it’s not. Instead, it is 129 times smaller than the USA’s road toll (44,450 deaths in 2023). So we have to ask ourselves, why is this? And, what can be done to bring the USA’s road toll down?

Looking at the key differences between the two countries, here in New Zealand (NZ) we get our learner’s license at age 16 by undertaking a written and vision test. Before this, we are not allowed to drive on the road under any circumstances. We then hold our learner’s license for six months with the main condition being you can only drive if there is someone sitting in the passenger seat who has held their full license for more than two years. After six months we are allowed to take the practical restricted test which tests what the NZTA (New Zealand Transport Agency) considers ‘Driving tasks’ (tasks such as, but not limited to merging, turning, parallel parking etc.). The main condition of the restricted license is that one may drive alone but isn’t allowed to drive any passengers unless one of them has held their full license for at least two years. You must hold a restricted license for a minimum of 18 months unless you take a defensive driving course (a four week course) to learn about hazards when driving. Taking this course means a restricted license holder can sit their full license after 12 months rather than 18 months. The full license tests one’s ability to acknowledge and respond to hazards both on and off the road while driving safely. In total the minimum amount of time it takes to get to a full license is 18 months if you do a defensive driving course and two years if you don’t. Therefore, the earliest age a teenager can be freely driving on a NZ road is 17 and a half, however, you will find that due to the difficulty of the restricted and full tests most teenage drivers (myself included) struggle to get their full license by age 18. 

When comparing this to the laws in the USA we can see the dramatic differences between the two countries. Although it differs from state to state, on average one can obtain a learner’s permit at 16. One then has to be on the permit for between six and nine months before applying to get their license. During this time, they are expected to have driving lessons through school or privately. In some states once they have their license they are free to drive, in others, there are curfews which are lifted once they turn 18. However, the key piece of information is that in the USA there are teenagers who are less than 17 who can be driving on the road without any supervision, driving on what those of us in NZ would call a full licence. 

This fact alone scares me. Why is it that after less than a year on the road, a teenager can be trusted to drive perfectly? I have been on my full license in NZ for roughly six months and started driving two years and six months ago and even now I wouldn’t consider myself fully experienced and prepared to drive in all conditions. Looking back at myself when I had been driving for less than a year, I was not ready or experienced enough to be driving freely at all times of the day. I understand there are cultural differences between the USA and NZ meaning in the USA more trust may be given to minors. However, when driving is such a leading cause of death the law makers should start looking at the facts and start changing laws to prevent them. According to the AAA foundation for traffic safety, drivers under 20 have the highest crash rate, specifically those in the first two years of driving. This shows that beginner drivers in the USA shouldn’t be given as much freedom when driving. 

With this knowledge the obvious choice would be to make it a longer process for teenage drivers to obtain their licenses. This step would have immediate impacts on the road toll in the USA. A small step such as making a driver spend more time on their learner’s permit would force them to drive for a longer time whilst supervised, stopping them from creating as many bad habits and allowing them to gain more experience before being given free range of the roads. This extra supervision and experience alone would reduce the crash and therefore fatality rate because drivers are less likely to make beginner mistakes which occur when one is stressed or distracted. 

Increasing the time on a learner’s permit would also reduce the number of teenagers driving with their friends in their cars unsupervised. As fun as I find it to drive with my friends, they are distracting and loud. I know how to tune them out because I have been driving for long enough but a beginner driver would struggle to do that. This distraction takes ones focus away from the road, leading to a recipe for disaster. Therefore, stopping learner drivers from driving their friends unsupervised removes this dangerous distraction, which will help to reduce the crash rates in teens and therefore the overall USA road toll.

In my opinion the obvious steps that need to be taken to decrease the road toll in the USA are through focussing on the youth and how they obtain their licences. Yes, there are some good young drivers and yes there are some terrible older drivers, but by following New Zealand’s footsteps by focussing on the new drivers and making them spend longer ‘learning to drive’ the USA can reduce their crash rate in the most at risk demographic. Therefore reducing their overall crash rate and most importantly their unacceptably high road toll.