Getting a driver licence is an important step for many young New Zealanders. It’s a step towards independence and freedom, but it can have adverse consequences. Sadly, New Zealanders age 15 to 19 stand high in crash statistics, and are around seven times more likely to be involved in crashes than someone in their late 40s.
Practice – the plan for learning to drive safely
To help get these figures down, ACC and the New Zealand Transport Agency developed the free ‘Practice’ programme, which encourages sustained supervised driving practice. Overseas experience has shown that increasing the amount of supervised driving in the early phases of the licensing system is a key method of reducing novice driver crashes.
Practice is a free, practical driving programme to help new drivers pass the restricted test. Practice is all about getting out there and driving. The more time a learner driver spends in the driver’s seat, the safer they’ll be on the road.
With Practice, the learner nominates a dedicated driving guide. The aim is to clock up 120 hours of supervised driving before the learner gets their restricted licence and drives solo.
Practice provides:
- free, online help to learn a range of driving skills from basic to advanced
- free online videos to show you how to learn key skills, like a driving instructor would
- free driving manuals to help the driving guide teach, and the learner-driver achieve.
To sign up for the programme, go to the Practice website (external link) now.
Safer Young Drivers – a guide to best practice education
Safer young drivers (PDF208K) was produced as a result of the collective efforts of road safety sector stakeholders, including National Road Safety Committee (external link) partners, commercial providers of driver education, and the AA Driver Education Foundation (external link).
The guide will help ensure that government and community resources invested into young driver education deliver the greatest road safety benefits. The guide’s two key aims are to:
- raise the overall standard of road safety education offered to young drivers
- help increase the likelihood that young drivers who participate in road safety education become safer drivers.
Last updated: 9November2009