The announcement comes as a trial scheme in Queenstown to stop drivers who have had their contract cancelled hiring another vehicle from a different company has met with some success.
The lower South Island has more tourist driver crashes than other areas, and a bumper tourism season is expected this summer.
The Tourism Industry Association (TIA) and the Rental Vehicle Association (RVA) yesterday announced a code of conduct for rental companies dealing with visitor drivers.
Operators would be asked to sign up to a three-stage code targeting pre-arrival, vehicle check-out and on-road periods of a car rental contract.
The companies were expected to provide educational material on driving in New Zealand on their web page, provide it to hirers when they confirm bookings, and to third parties such as tourism wholesalers as part of the booking confirmation process.
At vehicle check-out, operators would need a mandatory policy to assess a driver's preparedness.
They would have to require ''at-risk'' hirers - first-time visitors with the exception of those on Australian or United Kingdom licences - to ''acknowledge the receipt and understanding of road safety material'' provided to them.
Companies would also require a process for managing situations where there were concerns about a driver.
''Keep left'' stickers would be in all vehicles, operators would consider cancellation of a contract if contacted by police about poor driving, and hirers would be contacted if there had been a complaint about their driving through the *555 network.
The code would be voluntary, but the TIA said it envisaged an operator's compliance would be required for it to be a member of bodies like the TIA, Tourism New Zealand, Qualmark and others.
RVA chief executive Barry Kidd said yesterday the code would mean by the time a driver arrived, they would have received at least two emails preparing them for their trip.
Screening once the driver arrived may be as simple as checking they had seen documentation or videos links, and had done some research.
''Where it gets a little bit more complex is where it's unclear how much preparation they've made, and how prepared they are for what they're going to encounter on New Zealand roads,'' Mr Kidd said.
But the emphasis was on sending drivers information two or three times before they arrived.
''We're optimistic most people will have, if not read all of the emails, at least opened and seen some of the material.''
Companies would have various ways of assessing a driver's preparedness, included by asking a list of questions.
Mr Kidd said the code was just one of a package of measures.
''I don't think any one intervention on its own will make that much difference.''
But it would help, coupled with the Government's measures to have additional keep left signs painted on the road, provide rumble strips, and make changes to roading infrastructure.
The RVA was working with 25 of the largest operators, and all of them signing up would mean more than 80% of operators would be involved.
Mr Kidd also said a Queenstown trial whereby rental companies shared information to make sure drivers who had their contracts cancelled could not hire from another company had netted two drivers in the past six weeks.
In one case, a driver tried one other company, but with no luck.
In another, a Chinese national whose contract had been cancelled and keys removed tried at least two other companies, once using an alternative name, but was stopped by the system from hiring another car.
The trial would continue for another few months before an evaluation of how it was working, and whether it needed to be fine-tuned.
