Examination sites, post-license practices… These questions posed by a license at 17

The government’s intention to lower the legal age for obtaining a driver’s license to 17 seems to have a generally positive reception from students and supporters of driving schools. “Everything that can promote the mobility of young people must be encouraged because mobility is employment,” sums up Patrick Mirouze, president of the network of French Driving Schools (ECF). If the announcement of this move could be made as early as next week, the 17-year license raises several questions.

At 17, aren’t you too young to pass your license?

“I was too young to have a license at 17 and drive safely, explains, for example, a young driver to BFM Lyon. But for all those who leave school early, who are looking for a job, to work it is better to have a license “. .

“It is worrying to see how even younger young people are put behind the wheel, when they are already paying a high price in terms of road safety since they are affected twice as many deaths on the roads as the average driver,” he stressed this Wednesday. on BFMTV Pierre Lagache, Vice President of the League Against Road Violence.

Driving teachers evoke them, beyond the question of learning, that of experience. Like the one stored by beginner drivers in accompanied driving who already get their license at the age of 17 but cannot drive alone until they are 18. Thus, some representatives of the driving schools ask for support for this lowering of the minimum driving age.

“We must make the post-license internship mandatory six months after obtaining it,” asks Patrick Bessone, vice president of the Mobilians union in charge of driving schools.

“To learn, the younger you are, the better. At 17 you are less mature than at 18. This meeting should make it possible to talk about dangerous behavior on the road, to raise awareness, ”she continues.

These professionals also offer custom experimentation with those who already obtain their license at the age of 17, beginner drivers in accompanied driving. It affects between 25 and 30% of young people who get their license.

Will there be enough exam places?

Some driver education professionals also wonder about the system’s ability to absorb this new wave of potential candidates. “If the bearers of the letter [adoptée ce lundi pour réduire les délais du permis, NDLR] With the understanding that permit approval timelines were an important point, why potentially add two age groups (with the possible move to 16, editor’s note) in a pipeline that is already blocked? Just going to 17 and just looking at the birth rate adds an additional 700,000 people,” explains Benjamin Gaignault, co-founder and CEO of the Ornikar online driving school.

Behind the number of examination places is, of course, the question of the number of inspectors. “Inspectors would be needed in quantity to license these students,” he says in France Blue North Marie-Françoise Le Berre, regional director of the Mobilians-ESR driving school union.

A whole age group will not rush to approve their license at 17, but in departments where deadlines are important, such as the North, this prospect is worrying.

How to lower the price of the driver’s license?

All of them, however, raise an issue addressed in part by the recently adopted permit law, but only in part: that of the price of the permit. Dedicated fund to fully finance it, use of parents’ CPF… Professionals also submitted many proposals here. Approving the license in France costs, according to a 2016 study, 1,804 euros on average.