2023-06-21 16:49:00
Lower the driving license age to 17. This is the flagship measure announced by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday evening to the online media Brut. An announcement ahead of the presentation of its youth roadmap this Wednesday. This reduction will particularly benefit apprenticeship students who have to drive to their company. Young people will therefore be able to drive at the age of 17 from next January 2024. But professionals in the sector fear that this measure will be even more discriminating on accessibility to the permit and point to the vagaries in its implementation.
Driving license: a bill to facilitate its obtaining
A possible increase in the driving license
First concern of this announcement: a rebound effect on license registrations. ” After yesterday’s announcements, we saw an explosion this morning of 25% sign-ups for the code among 16-year-oldsconfirms Benjamin Gaignault, co-founder of Ornikar, the online driving school specialist, believing that nearly 700,000 potential new people might register now”. A boom that worries driving schools regarding the availability of the timetable for driving tests.
If there are more registrations for the permit, the waiting times for taking the exam might be longer. However, the longer this period, the more hours of driving will be needed to bring the candidate up to standard. Overtime billed between 35 euros and 60 euros.
« The government had succeeded in recent years in lowering the examination time from 6 months to 3 months. With the arrival of 17-year-olds, the deadlines will explode and the prices with them. They have just scuttled four years of work! “, laments Benjamin Gaignault.
An idea taken up by the Mobilians mobility union, which is asking the government to hire additional examiners in order to anticipate these possible delays. Some 200 inspectors should be poached according to them. Today, they are 1,250 to exercise on the national territory.
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CPF Portability
An increase in the price of the license and the time taken to pass the exam refuted by the association 40 million motorists: “ this measure does not mean that all young people will take the exam at 17 years and 1 day! While not everyone agrees on the consequences of lowering the age to 17, they are nevertheless unanimous on the lack of ambition regarding the financing of this permit.
Indeed, according to the Ministry of the Interior, the code and the driving license cost on average 1,800 euros and this price can climb above 2,000 euros in the event of failure in the exam. However, even if the age is lowered, only those whose parents can finance such a price will be able to afford the luxury of driving at 17 years old. Elisabeth Borne has announced that the aid of 500 euros, currently intended for apprentices, will be extended to all students in vocational high schools. Insufficient for the sector.
« This lowering should not be taxed as a measure for the rich with those who can enter the school grounds with their car and the others. We want the portability of the CPF training account from parents to children in order to finance part of this permit. This is essential “, underlines Patrice Bessone, president Education and safety within Mobilians.
Another injustice denounced, the price of insurance. These might hinder access to the youngest, also fearing the increased risk of accidents. If, however, the insurance companies agreed to cover the minors, the price would certainly be very high, once more widening the gap.
Finally, the last argument put forward by the detractors of this project: road safety. Last year, 3,267 people died in 2022 according to the National Interministerial Observatory for Road Safety. A result slightly higher by 0.7% than in 2019, the last reference year before the COVID pandemic.
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More risks on the road?
Among those killed, the age group most affected in 2022 remains the 18-24 year olds with 111 deaths per million inhabitants compared to 52 killed per million for 35-44 year olds and 65-74 year olds, still according to the Observatory. The lowering of the age is worrying, but professionals in the sector want to be reassuring by pointing the finger at the introduction of accompanied driving at 16, which offers much better results in terms of road safety. The unions are also advocating the introduction of such a measure in other European countries such as the United Kingdom where the age is already 17 and the number of accidents has not increased.
But if passing the license at 17 does not appear to be more dangerous, the acceptability of such a measure in the population remains complicated. ” We rather wanted to lower the age of the license for those who are in accompanied driving in the first instance so that this measure is easier to pass. “, regrets Pierre Chasseray, general delegate of the association 40 million motorists.
In order to reassure public opinion regarding the application of this measure, Elisabeth Borne wishes to set up a “pre-code”, ie a first awareness of the highway code for middle school students. This device, an equivalent of the School Road Safety Certificate (ASSR) number 3, would be provided by teachers. A news that is likely to react within the national education…
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