What to do with foreign drivers on New Zealand’s roads?
Another holiday period is almost upon us and tourists will soon arrive in droves at the country’s airports. Many will pass through immigration, head for rental car companies, grab the keys and hit New Zealand’s highways.
While statistics show tourists have been blamed for just 5% of New Zealand’s crashes, those figures are up to five times higher in South Island tourists spots. Not surprisingly, when avoidable fatal crashes occur, the public outrage builds.
In recent years there have been some horrific accidents in the region, in which tourist drivers have clearly been at fault. The death of Dunedin motorcyclist Riley Baker, killed in August when a Chinese tourist crossed a centre line near Shag Point and collided with him is the most recent and raw.
It has prompted renewed calls for more rigorous testing of foreign drivers before they can drive here.
A new code of practice is being trialled by some rental companies, in association with the Tourism Industry Association, aimed at ensuring tourists are properly educated and assessed before hiring a car. The drivers will have to fill out a questionnaire and could be asked to do a trial drive if the hire company is not satisfied with their answers.
Other rental companies are trialling a road safety app, which prompts drivers with audio messages about road safety and road conditions received from roadside beacons. But mandatory testing of all foreign drivers seems a long way off if the response from those tasked with making the decision is anything to go by.
Prime Minister John Key recently said the Government was working to ensure all drivers were safe on New Zealand roads but he did not support mandatory tests for tourists. Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss was also against the move and said the Government’s focus was on investment to make New Zealand’s roads safer.
That included a $600 million package of improvements for 90 high-risk sites in 14 regions.
Mandatory testing was considered, and rejected, by a parliamentary select committee last year. The Tourism Industry Association has said testing hundreds of thousands of tourists each year is not practical. Explain that to a grieving relative after a fatal road accident.
Interestingly, this week Mr Foss announced a new Government speed management guide, whereby the speed limit could rise to 110kmh on some roads.
Roads would need to have a median barrier, at least two lanes of traffic in each direction and no direct access to neighbouring properties before having their speed limit increased. Not surprisingly, Labour has opposed the move, saying an increase would result in 110kmh becoming the new norm on the country’s roads.
Raising speed limits has immediately become a political football but the ongoing issue of ill-prepared tourist drivers on the roads struggles to gain any unified traction from the top.
New Zealand has challenging road conditions. The majority of its 11,000km state highway network is single-laned roads. There are also about 83,000km of local roads, maintained by various local authorities.
The roads often are vastly different to what visiting drivers experience in their homeland. Distances may seem short on a map but the roads are sometimes narrower, cover hilly terrain, and vary from motorways to unsealed gravel roads. It is easy to underestimate travelling times and some drivers are quick to put the foot down in a bid to make up lost time.
Investment in road safety is one thing but it is unlikely to stop distracted or inexperienced drivers from crashing. Surely, a more proactive and educational approach is needed. Identifying at-risk drivers and, if necessary, keeping them off the roads is a sensible way to provide safer travelling for all road users.
