Getting young people to embrace this message is what Prof Hank Weiss calls a "paradigm shift" to reduce crashes, and effect environmental and economic gains.
Dunedin epidemiologist Prof Weiss, director of the University of Otago's injury prevention research unit, is in Wellington this week at the World Safety 2012 Conference.
Yesterday, Prof Weiss presented a state of the art session entitled "Caution! Paradigm Shift Ahead: Adolescent mobility health", at which he expounded the need for the shift in thinking about driving.
Speaking to the Otago Daily Times, he said he would like to see the driving age rise from 16 to 18. Although not confident it would happen, he said even in rural areas teenagers could find alternative modes of transport, including electric bikes.
He did not think gaining a licence should be a rite of passage for youth.
"I'm looking for a better balance. For some people that means not getting their licence."
He also advocates more car-pooling, saying fewer cars on the road made for safer trips for those who did drive.
His 19-year-old daughter, who lives in Wellington, had not applied for her driver's licence, he said. Parents and teenagers should work on the transport issue together, rather than the parent saying: 'That's great, you can drive yourself", he said.
By opting not to drive, young people avoided a major cause of death and injury.
If young people made the shift it would affect their behaviour throughout their life, creating a less car-centric world, he said.
This had environmental benefits, as well as economic, as New Zealand's roads were at "saturation point". Upgrading them for more cars was very expensive.
The world safety conference was an extremely rare chance for New Zealand's safety community to attend the conference in their home country, he said.
