A veteran Tauranga driving instructor is sceptical if the government's decision to raise the legal driving age to 16 will have any impact.
Transport Minister Steven Joyce announced on Thursday morning the driving age will be lifted to 16 as part of the government's push to improve safety for young drivers.
Driver Training Solutions instructor Carl Winter says it is maturity rather than age that determines how well a person can drive.
"I don't think it's going to do a lot. It's really the attitude of the driver."
"I have met some great 15 year old drivers that are genuinely concerned about the safety of other road users."
He also says the decision could have an adverse affect on his business.
"By lifting the age to 16 it might create a hole temporarily, but that's only my forecast."
The minister says improving the safety of young people is a top road safety priority and the actions in the package are designed to work together to achieve this.
"It is great to see these actions approved - they can make a real difference to the high level of road death and injury suffered by our young people," says Steven.
"Young Kiwis have a 60 per cent higher fatality rate on the roads than young Australians. We have looked to what has worked in Australia in choosing to progress these measures."
Other announced actions aimed at improving driver safety for teenagers are:
* Make the restricted licence test more difficult to encourage 120 hours of supervised driving practice.
* Raise public awareness of young driver crash risk.
* Improve the road safety education available to young people and increase access to it.
* Investigate vehicle power restrictions for young drivers.
* Allow approved courses (Defensive Driving and Street Talk) to be undertaken in the learner licence phase.
* Investigate whether tougher penalties should be introduced for breaches of restricted licences.
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