Driver licensing system He pūnaha mō ngā Raihana Hautū

Earlier this year, the Government consulted on changes to New Zealand's Graduated Driver Licensing System. The Minister of Transport will announce the final changes to the Graduated Driver Licensing System in early 2026. Changes to the system will now come into effect in January 2027, rather than the previously proposed date of July 2026.

As part of New Zealand’s Road Safety Objectives(external link), the Ministry of Transport is reviewing the Graduated Driver Licensing System. The Government opened consultation on proposed improvements on 14 April 2025. The proposals aim to reduce cost and access barriers to a full driver licence, while supporting drivers to have the skills to drive safely.

Consultation closed on 9 June 2025. The Ministry will analyse submissions and advise the Minister of Transport on the outcome of consultation. Once final decisions are made on the changes, the Ministry will work with New Zealand Transport Agency to help implement the changes.

Related documents and publications:

Cabinet Paper - Approval to consult on Graduated Driver Licensing System improvements(external link)

Interim Regulatory Impact Statement:(external link) Graduated Driver Licensing System(external link)

Consultation Document: Graduated Driver Licensing System(external link)

As part of the Road to Zero Action Plan 2020-2022(external link), Te Manatū Waka is conducting a regulatory review of the Graduated Driver Licensing System (GDLS) to investigate barriers to entry and progression through the system. As part of this review, Te Manatū Waka commissioned research into the crash risk of drivers who are slower or do not progress through the driver licensing system to obtain a full driver licence. Research findings were that those who progress from a restricted to a full licence within 2.8 years, have better outcomes on the road when compared with those who remain on their restricted licence.

A cross-agency programme to improve access to the licensing system is currently being led by Waka Kotahi and overseen by Employment, Education and Training Ministers. Waka Kotahi is working closely with Te Manatū Waka, the Ministry of Social Development, Accident Compensation Corporation, Te Puni Kōkiri and New Zealand Police. This programme is designing a future state for the driver licensing system where Waka Kotahi will maintain its role as regulator of the system and optimise how people, processes, policy, technology and information are combined to provide a driver licencing system that is accessible to those who want or need it.  

This programme is consistent with, and builds on, Budget 2022(external link) funding for equitable access to driver licences to improve employment, wellbeing and safety outcomes.  Waka Kotahi is collaborating with the Ministry of Social Development to improve driver licence support for people most disadvantaged by barriers to driver licences. 

Waka Kotahi also has two trials to improve access to driver licences underway in Te Tai Tokerau and Tairāwhiti(external link).

The Government revoked the 5-year time-limited licence policy to remove barriers created by the policy for learner and restricted licence holders needing to renew their licence.

From December 2021, newly issued and renewed learner and restricted driver licences will be valid for 10 years. Upon renewal of these licences, licence holders will no longer have to sit and pass a relevant theory test.

This change recognises that implementation of the time-limited licence policy has not addressed the barriers to

progression that some communities face but instead has made it harder to retain a licence. The barriers to progression through the Graduated Driver Licensing System will be considered and addressed through the current review of the driver licensing system.

In October 2019, Cabinet considered options to address the significant number of expiring learner and restricted driver licences, as not enough people were aware that they expired after 5 years.

The Government agreed to extend some expiring licences while we review the GDLS to look at what challenges learner drivers face and why many of them choose not to progress through to gaining a full licence.

A 2-year extension was announced  in November 2019 and applied to drivers holding a current 5-year learner or restricted car or motorbike licence due to expire between 1 December 2019 and 1 December 2021.

As part of the Transport Base Evidence Strategy’s 2018/19 Evaluation Programme, we commissioned Schiff Consulting to evaluate New Zealand’s GDLS.

Transport Base Evidence Strategy project

The evaluation examined the:

• safety outcomes of the current Class 1 (driver) and Class 6 (motorcyclist) licensing systems
• safety-related effects of selected recent changes to the GDLS, including changes to penalties for driver licensing breaches, raising the minimum age, strengthening the practical tests, and the introduction of Competency Based Training and Assessment.

As well as the evaluation report, we published a technical report that provides more information about the methodology, including analysis and findings. Contact us to request a copy. Email evaluation@transport.govt.nz 

The Government agreed to consult on the new Road to Zero road safety strategy and initial set of actions. A systematic review of the licensing system was named as a priority action for the initial action plan.

The review will examine:

• barriers to the driver licensing system preventing entry to the system and progression
• whether the current methods of driver training are adequately preparing novice drivers for the risks they face on New Zealand’s roads
• whether the licensing system is simple and equitable
• potential policy interventions

Waka Kotahi released the proposed rule amendments for public consultation. The proposed changes, outlined in the draft Land Transport (Driver Licensing) Amendment Rule 2019, included reducing the frequency of mandatory eyesight checks and streamlining heavy vehicle licence classes.

Other changes proposed in the rule change included removing the need for licence endorsements for special-type vehicles like forklifts, and improving Waka Kotahi’s oversight of providers approved to teach people to drive.

The proposed amendments aimed to:

• simplify and standardise the driver licensing system
• help move to a digital licensing environment
• improve the customer experience when applying for or renewing a licence
• support the productivity of the commercial driving sector
• strengthen driver training and testing.

Options on how to progress this work are still being considered.

Land Transport Rule: Driver Licensing Amendment 2019(external link)

Read the press release from the NZTA(external link)

Land Transport (Driver Licensing) Rule 1999 (external link)

After considering feedback on the driver licensing system discussion paper, the Government made some changes to the proposals. Cabinet agreed to proceed with the proposed amendments to the Driver Licensing Rule, including a modified proposal for reduced vision testing that responded to the concerns raised during public consultation.

The Parliamentary Counsel Office drafted the amendments, but the consultation was put on hold because there was not enough time to consult the public, finalise the amendments and put the changes in place before the 2017 general election.

With Waka Kotahi, we released a discussion paper that proposed a number of improvements to the driver licensing system. These were mostly aimed at supporting commercial sector productivity and reducing unnecessary compliance costs.

The improvements included:

• reducing the frequency of vision testing to enable online driver licensing transactions
• streamlining the progression between heavy vehicle licence classes
• removing licence endorsements for special-type vehicles such as forklifts or bulldozers
• standardising requirements for special-type vehicles and reducing compliance costs
• increasing Waka Kotahi’s powers to manage approved course providers.

We received 77 submissions in response to the paper, which were generally supportive of the proposed changes. However, some submitters were concerned about proposed changes to the frequency of vision testing.

The Driver Licensing Amendment Rule was amended to include a 5-year time limit on new learner, and restricted car or motorcycle driver licences, and stronger identity evidence requirements for licence applicants. The changes meant Waka Kotahi could eventually move to online driver licensing and driver testing transactions.

Working with Waka Kotahi, we reviewed the driver licensing system as part of our Safer Journeys road safety strategy. The review found that the driver licensing system’s core policies were sound but there were areas where improvements could produce measurable social, safety and economic benefits, while maintaining or improving road safety.

Waka Kotahi released the draft amendment to the Driver Licensing Rule for public consultation. The proposed changes included amending how long learner and restricted licence holders could hold their licences for.

Other amendments included:

• strengthening what ID evidence licence applicants need
• enabling Waka Kotahi to move to online driver licensing and driver testing transactions, instead of just in person.

Waka Kotahi received 36 submissions on the proposed changes which were taken into consideration when we finalised the changes. Most submitters supported the move to restrict time on learner and restricted licences to 5 years, and agreed with allowing more flexible transactions. A number of submissions about ID evidence asked that the list of acceptable documents should be more flexible, especially in regard to producing ID with a photograph.

The Government announced its plan to change learner and restricted car or motorcycle driver licence time limits to encourage drivers to move through the GDLS.

Under the GDLS drivers were not meant to stay on a learner or restricted licence indefinitely. However, at that time, 70% of learner licence holders had held their licence for more than 2 years and 37% had held it for more than 6 years. For restricted licence holders, 56% had held their licence for more than 3 years and 32% had held it for more than 6 years.