Kiwi motorists have big "knowledge gaps" on navigating roundabouts, using bus lanes, and interacting with cyclists, a recent study has found.
The Automobile Association study asked 535 licensed drivers 24 questions about road rules and driving behaviour. The majority of participants answered less than 70% correctly.
The average score was 16.3 correct answers, or 68%. The lowest score was 5/24, while the highest was 23/24. A score of 90% is required to pass a learner licence test in New Zealand.
AA called it a "concerning gap in driver knowledge".
Most common unknowns
Participants were most commonly stumped on questions about indicating at roundabouts, driving around bus lanes, and sharing the road with cyclists.
Give way rules, where respondents scored best, still had an average of 80% correct answers.
Lower knowledge was "more evident" for foreign licence holders and New Zealand drivers who lived overseas. The 10 respondents with a valid overseas licence scored an average of 11.5 correct answers.
No sign of improving with experience
The survey also found that driving experience had little effect on respondents' knowledge. The majority averaged around 16 correct answers. Those who held licences for between 16 and 20 years averaged the lowest, at 15.3 correct answers.
"People who had been driving for more than four decades scored no better or worse than those who had held a licence for only a year," AA said.
The study found lower knowledge of newer rules, less common traffic control devices, and more complex or changing driving scenarios.
AA said gaps in knowledge could lead to misunderstandings and actions that contribute to unsafe driving and crashes.
“Every day there are incidents that cause near-misses or minor crashes because road users misunderstand each other or someone didn't know the rules," AA research and road safety manager Dylan Thomsen said.
'Misunderstandings and avoidable incidents'
“Our roads work best when everyone knows the rules – there are fewer misunderstandings, less frustration and fewer avoidable incidents."
Thomsen suggested a new scheme where drivers take an optional test when renewing their licence, encouraged by a discounted renewal fee.
“Currently licence renewal is an administrative process with a new photo, updating details and so on. The next Government can do something far more useful for drivers and road safety at this time, by giving people the option to do an online refresher module in return for a lower renewal fee.
“Let’s reward drivers for doing the right thing.”
He said that while boosting knowledge won't prevent every crash, a "better understanding of the rules could help prevent thousands of avoidable incidents every day".
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