Younger behind the wheel
18.07.2017
M he project BF16 should allow young people to get behind the wheel of a car at the age of 16, explains Lower Saxony's Transport Minister Olaf Lies (SPD). Since the “driver's license at 17”, accidents with novice drivers have decreased by around a fifth nationwide. A research project by the Federal Highway Research Institute came to the conclusion that an extension of the accompanying phase can increase the positive effect. Unaccompanied drivers are only allowed to drive independently at the age of 18. It should stay that way, says Lies. There are already signals from the Federal Ministry of Transport that support the three-year model test. At the beginning of 2018, the EU Commission also wants to deal with this, because so far EU law stipulates a minimum driving age of 17 years. The BF16 project could start as early as 2018.
As early as January 2017, the Lower Saxony Driving Instructors Association, with the support of the Federal Association of Driving Instructors Associations, demanded accompanied driving at the age of 16.
The subject will be discussed
The longer beginners ride in company, the fewer accidents they later caused, it was said. The topic will also be dealt with at the traffic court day in Goslar next week. In 2003, the committee proposed a driver's license when he was 17, which is now standard.
Lower Saxony's Transport Minister Olaf Lies (SPD) announced that he would discuss the issue with experts. The result could be a Federal Council initiative with the aim of changing the relevant EU law, because European law currently does not allow a driver's license at 16. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Transport Minister Christian level (SPD) spoke out against the driver's license at the age of 16.
Accompanied driving at 17 was also introduced as a model test in Lower Saxony in 2004. BF17 was so successful that it was adopted nationwide from 2008. Since then, the number of road accidents involving people under the age of 25 has fallen by over 20 percent.
