A ''heartbroken'' family is mourning the loss of 5-year-old Ruby Jay Marris after a car crash involving a foreign driver near Moeraki.
The Marris family, of Oamaru, were travelling north in a station wagon on State Highway 1 when a ute driven by a Chinese tourist allegedly collided with them on Saturday.
Ruby's parents Tristan and Kimberley and sisters Sophie and Georgia are being treated in Dunedin Hospital. Ruby died at the scene.
A family member said the whole family was ''heartbroken'' and hoping for a change to the laws around foreign drivers in New Zealand.
An online petition calling for the Government to take action over foreign drivers on New Zealand roads has attracted a flood of signatures from North Otago residents after Saturday's fatal crash near Moeraki.
In less than 24 hours after the crash, more than 140 people from Oamaru and the Waitaki District submitted their names and reasons for signing the petition.
One of the signatures was from Ruby's uncle Chris Cant.
The Oamaru man wrote: ''My wee 5yr old niece died in her mother's arms last Sat. The mother, my sister, and the rest of their family continue to have ongoing treatment in Dunedin hospital ...
''I never wish anyone to ever experience the senseless pain and ongoing suffering I have felt and seen in the last 24 hours.''
The petition was initiated by Geraldine boy Sean Roberts after his father, Grant, was killed by a tourist driver on the Lindis Pass in 2012.
The total number of online signatures was more than 30,150 by yesterday afternoon. Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean has also thrown her support behind it.
''Sean and his brother Cody are still waiting to appear before a transport and industrial relations select committee, so perhaps it's an appropriate time for the matter to receive some urgency,'' Mrs Dean said.
Two British tourists were seriously injured following another head-on crash on Saturday, near Arrowtown.
''People are now calling at my offices and rightfully asking 'What is being done?''' Mrs Dean said.
''Whatever it is we're doing ... is not working.''
Mrs Dean said if nothing was done, New Zealand's scenic highways and country roads would become ''little more than a game of chance''.
''I don't say that lightly, as I have constituents describing it as such already,'' she said.
''Nearly every driver in the Waitaki has a tale to tell of witnessing, or dodging an accident situation involving people who do not know the country's road rules.''
Mrs Dean said she had discussed the issue with Prime Minister John Key and said New Zealand had a responsibility to make the country safe for tourists, visitors and locals.
''Tourists crash into other tourists, as well,'' she said.
''Whatever remedies we find, they have to be workable for everyone, not just one or two sectors.''
Ruby attended Ardgowan School, whose principal, Julie French, said the school had been working with the Ministry of Education to support pupils, staff and family.
''Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this very sad time.''
- Additional reporting Oamaru Mail.
