In October, Southern road policing manager Inspector Tania Baron told police officers in her district to refrain from commenting to the media on the "nationality or ethnicity of drivers involved in crashes''.
But police continued to record the nationality of drivers in crash reports.
Police entered the information into the NZ Transport Agency crash analysis database, a spokeswoman said
The recording of a person's nationality did not reflect any particular crash risk, she said.
"The reality is that the majority of visitors who drive on New Zealand roads do so perfectly safely. And, if they do crash, it is most often for exactly the same reasons that New Zealand drivers crash. Nor is it always the visiting driver who is at fault,'' the spokeswoman said.
Consequently, police focused on the behaviours causing crashes, injuries and fatalities, and deployed their resources according to the risks - not where particular nationalities might be driving, she said.
Ministry of Transport land transport safety manager Brent Johnston said the nationality field was added to the crash report form in 2005.
The free text field allowed several ways to record a nationality, such as Wales, United Kingdom or Britain.
The information on the ministry website included regional breakdowns.
The numbers of crashes involving overseas licence holders had stayed "relatively constant'' for the past 10 years, he said.
"At the same time the number of international visitors coming to New Zealand has increased by about 30%.''
A single solution, or single organisation, could not improve road safety for visitors and others on the road, he said.
"It takes many organisations working together to improve safety across all parts of the system - roads and roadsides, speed, vehicles and road use.''
Several initiatives had been designed to improve road safety for visitors and others on the road, such as the visiting drivers project.
The project was designed to improve road safety, while maintaining New Zealand's reputation as an attractive and safe tourist destination.
The 12 project partners included the ministry, NZ Transport Agency, police, Queenstown Lakes District Council and Southland District Council.
