Wednesday’s fatal accident involving a tourist driver was probably preventable, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.
Dogandlemon.com editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, says:
“Many of these accidents follow the same sad pattern: a tired driver who’s just flown into the country, a rental car, unfamiliar roads, then death.”
“A large percentage of these accidents could be avoided if tourists were prevented from renting cars within 24 hours of arriving from overseas.”
“Every expert on the subject says the same thing: travelling from one country to another tires you out, disorients you and makes you a high risk motorist. Even flying from Australia makes you a much higher risk motorist.”
“Driving tired is as dangerous as driving drunk. Drunk people would not be allowed to rent a car. Why should tired drivers be allowed to rent a car?”
Although many tourist crashes occur towards the end of their stay, a significant number of serious collisions occur within 24 hours of the tourists’ arrival.
Wednesday’s accident killed David Banks, 64, who died after a two-car collision near the intersections of Totara Rd and State Highway 1, near Oakleigh, about 2pm. Mr Banks and his 61-year-old wife had flown from Australia about 4am on Wednesday, and were on their way to the Bay of Islands.
Matthew-Wilson describes the tourism industry’s response to these accidents as “pathetic.”
“Under the tourism industry’s Code of Practice, which is voluntary, tourists are given a list of questions such as: ‘I feel well prepared to drive in NZ Yes/No.’”
Matthew-Wilson asks: “Does anyone seriously expect tourists to say they’re not safe to be behind the wheel of a rented car? Of course not. Even assuming that the driver understood the meaning of the questions after a long flight from another country, he clearly thought he was safe to be behind the wheel of a car.”
“We don’t need to ask tourists silly questions. We need to stop them getting behind the wheel of a vehicle within 24 hours of arriving from overseas. Otherwise, we can expect another summer of terrible accidents, many of which were preventable.”
