Judge Colin Charteris, presiding over a case in which a teenage driver crashed his car, killing four of his mates, said it gave rise to debate over the current licensing laws.
High school mates
Corey New, Mitchell Eveleigh, Paul Morris, all 16, and Bryce Wells, 17, died when a speeding car driven by their friend ran off the road south of Byron Bay in 2006. The driver, now 19, is facing sentencing in the District Court at Lismore after pleading guilty to four counts of dangerous driving occasioning death.
Read the boys' parents' victim impact statements
Judge Charteris earlier heard evidence of scientific studies which showed cognitive skills related to driving did not develop until a person reached their early 20s.
"The case is an excellent example of why, (the State Government) should reconsider the age when people get licences," he said.
"We are giving people at 17 a licence. It's like giving potentially a loaded gun and saying these are the rules that you don't use the gun."
Judge Charteris said young men commonly erred behind the wheel.
"There's 99.5 per cent of them that abide by the rules, the other half a per cent is just a disaster."
The court heard earlier the driver, who had received his probationary licence three months earlier, was speeding just before losing control at a left hand bend.
Judge Charteris said the speed would play a relevant role in sentencing the driver, who was 17 at the time of the crash. He is now 19.
The 19-year-old has admitted driving in excess of the 90km/h limit applicable to his probationary licence.
He was also driving in excess of the 100km/h limit he said he believed was in place for that stretch of road.
The road was actually subject to an 80km/h limit.
The teenager is expected to be sentenced today.