Tomorrow's formal announcement by the Government that it will increase the minimum driving age to 16 is a timely move. Imposing a zero blood alcohol limit only on drivers under 20 will be a discriminatory move.

In stating this, I do admit that some young people may not have the maturity to be behind the wheel. Most fatal car crashes which occur tend to involve young people (especially males). Therefore, any moves to reduce the annual number of fatality and injury accidents on our roads by raising the driving age is welcome.

In this respect, National is going against its electoral instincts. Federated Farmers was concerned about the impact that this would have on young drivers in rural areas who have long distances to travel for education, training, employment and recreation. But the Nats, concerned about the rise in the number of rural road accidents, have gone against their farmer allies and ruled that the age should go up universally. After all, it is consistent with the minimum school leaving age of 16 currently in place. Furthermore, if rural school transport services can be upgraded in response, then this might get around some of the problems that will be created by this policy.

As for lowering the blood alcohol limit to zero for under-20s, it is a good first step but it needs to be applied to all drivers irrespective of age. Otherwise, the policy is discriminatory in that it singles out one group of drivers for specific attention in this regard. While some young people do have an issue with alcohol use, so do many other Kiwis across the age spectrum. Therefore, would it not be wiser then for Transport Minister Steven Joyce to apply the zero limit across the board rather than at the young driver group alone? I think it  would be better to have the policy encompass all ages as a zero limit would influence the drinking behaviour of all New Zealanders who consume alcohol.

Otherwise, the policy will result in achieving only a partial fall in alcohol related road accidents and in one age group only. As a society, we need to further reduce the carnage on our roads across the board and that means not only concentrating on the youngest drivers in our community.