[sustran] New Zealand driving licence

[Kerry Wood]

Dear Rajendra


New Zealand has just introduced a new driving licence. The old licences
for existing drivers expired one month after each driver's birthday, so
the new licences were phased in over about 13 months.

The new licence is the size of a credit card and gives Family name;
Personal names; Date of birth (used to tell the driver's age, and also
to separate people with the same names); Date of issue; Date of expiry
(Age 65 for most drivers - they need regular medical checks and driving
tests after that, which get more frequent with increasing age); Licence
number; Signature; Vehicle types (mine is for 'Car' which means up to
3.5 tonne); and Conditions (I have to wear glasses). An important
feature of the new licence is a photo (22 x 19 mm), which is repeated
under the name, as a precaution against tampering.

The main reason for the new licence was to introduce something that was
hard to forge. The easiest and most common way of cheating the old
licence system was to give a Friend's name if you were stopped by police
(carrying the old licence while driving was not compulsory, but carrying
the new one is). If you could not show a licence you had to show it at
any Police station within 2-3 days - plenty of time to borrow your
friend's licence.

At around the same time, a new driving licence testing system was introduced:

1	Get hold of a copy of the printed rules of the road, learn them, and
then sit a driving theory and eyesight test. If you pass you get a
learner licence, which allows you to drive under the control of a
supervisor, who must have had a full licence for at lest 2 years. When
driving you must display a yellow sign at the front and back, with a
large black L on it. If you fail the leaner licence test (or any other
test) you have to pay a new fee and try again.

2	Take a practical driving test, which is administered by the Police and
takes about 20 minutes, after holding a learner licence for at least 6
months. If you pass you get a restricted licence. You can drive then
yourself or your family members by day, but if your passengers are
friends, or you are driving between 22.00 and 05.00, you must still have
a supervisor.

3	After 18 months (or 6 months if the driver is aged over 25) on a
restricted licence a driver can get a full licence. These times can be
shortened if an approved training course is done.

Perhaps I should explain that New Zealand allows driving at 15 years,
and has a problem with drink-driving.

If you would like more information, I suggest you contact

Land Transport Safety Authority
P O Box 2840
Wellington

Or try	www.ltsa.govt.nz


Regards


Kerry

-- 
Kerry Wood
Sustainable Transport Consulting Engineer
1 McFarlane St, Wellington 6001, NZ
Phone +64 4 971 5549  Mobile  +64 21 115 9346