On August 1st 1987 New Zealand became the first country in the world to introduce a graduated driver licensing system. The system was intended to address the over-representation of recently qualified drivers in crashes. Later evaluations of the system showed that there had been an initial drop of about 25% in novice driver casualties. This resulted mainly from the drop in exposure as young people were deterred from early licensing. Nevertheless a durable reduction of about 8% in respect of drivers aged 15-19 years of age was achieved. Ten years later was an appropriate time to review the system. The Land Transport Safety Authority conducted the largest round of public consultation ever conducted by a New Zealand government department. Over fifty thousand public submissions were received. At the same time a world-wide literature review of best practice was conducted. In 1998 a team of Australian consultants were contracted to develop a Full Licence Test. Land Transport Safety Authority specified that the test was to focus on the driver's situational awareness, visual scanning skills, hazard identification skills, attention allocation and proactive or reactive hazard avoidance skills. Elements of vehicle control, manoeuvring and adherence to road rules were also to be included. At the same time the theory test and licence administration procedures were revised and altered. The new system was introduced on May 3rd 1999. This paper outlines the process of development and implementation of what is perhaps the most fully developed Graduated Driver Licensing System in the world.
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