A leading road safety expert has urged governments to raise the legal driving age to 18 across Australia and to stop novice drivers from getting behind the wheel at night.
Associate Professor Rebecca Ivers, of the George Institute for International Health, today outlined a "wish-list" of road toll slashing measures in an address to the Australasian College of Road Safety national conference in Brisbane.
Prof Ivers, the director of the institute's injury division, told the conference that although fewer young people were dying on the nation's roads than 25 years ago, the age group of 17 to 25 year-olds still accounted for 24 per cent of fatalities.
Males and Aborigines were particularly at risk, along with people from lower socio-economic groups.
But the statistics could be improved with a range of measures, Prof Ivers later told reporters.
"What I'd really like to see across Australia is strong graduated licensing programs with full passenger restrictions for the first 12 months of driving, night restrictions for the first 12 months of driving, so ideally between 10pm and 6am," she said.
"We know that's effective and ideally we would raise the minimum licensing age to 18."
The minimum driving age is 17 in most Australian states, except in Victoria where it is 18 and South Australia, where 16-year-olds can obtain a licence.
Graduated licensing systems are designed to phase in young beginners to full driving privileges as they mature and develop their driving skills, starting with a learner's permit.
Overseas evidence showed the higher minimum driving age and ban on night driving were the strongest elements of graduated licensing systems, Prof Ivers said.
"To date, although we've got comprehensive graduated licensing systems in Australia, we don't include these most significant elements in most of our systems," she said.
"So bringing these in we know would reduce the crash rate in novice drivers by 20 to 30 per cent."
Governments may also have to pay to educate young drivers in areas where no professional driving instructors were available or else were unaffordable, she said.
"What we need to do is invest in programs that will help young people, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds, to get through these stronger licensing systems."