This analysis shows that the greatest net benefit was to be found by adopting a national driver licensing scheme for all drivers. The substantial costs of including a unique licence identifier and compulsory medical examinations within the scheme do not appear to be offset by their resulting benefits. These results suggest that the preferred national driver licensing scheme be based on the following primary elements: a) each driver to hold only one licence; b) common licence classes, with common eligibility criteria and competency; c) standards for each rule; d) common conditions, licence card symbols, etc; e) driver to conclusively prove his or her identity; f) mutual recognition of interstate licences; g) transmission and logging of demerit points and offence penalties to where the licence record is kept; h) disqualification or suspension in one jurisdiction to apply in all; i) common medical standards and medical self assessment for very heavy vehicle drivers (greater than 15 tonnes gross vehicle mass); and j) a process to enable the conversion of interstate licences to be treated in the same manner as an intrastate change of address. The quantitative analysis suggests the benefits may be approximately $67 million in net present value terms. The majority of the costs will be incurred by licensing authorities while the majority of the benefits will be as a result of improvements in road safety. There is some uncertainty in these estimates, but they are based on best available data.
Abstract