The price of car insurance for young drivers in the Antipodes could be set to soar after New Zealand's Ministry of Transport published a damning new report into road deaths.
Along with speeding, drink driving and driving without car insurance, inexperience behind the wheel is cited as a key factor when it comes to finding fault after a road traffic accident.
The research, based on data gathered on New Zealand's roads between 2005 and 2009, shows that over 52 percent of fatal crashes were caused by drivers under thirty.
In addition, New Zealand Transport Minister Steven Joyce, showed that by adding motorists who held young driver car insurance policies to a separate group of 'high-risk' drivers - determined by lawbreaking and previous convictions - he could account for an even higher number of serious and fatal accidents.
"These two groups together cause about half of the deaths and serious injuries on our roads," said Joyce.
Asked what he intended to do about the threat posed by high-risk groups, the Minister responded: "The Government is taking steps to crack down on these drivers to ensure their reckless actions don't put the rest of us at risk."
In the UK, teenaged drivers often feel unfairly persecuted for the bad driving habits of a few - but in New Zealand, it seems the higher price of car insurance for young drivers is borne out across the board.