Tourist drivers remain a major menace on New Zealand roads, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.
Dogandlemon.com editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, was commenting after three different tourists lost their licences due to being caught speeding at up to 180km/h on State Highway 8 between Omarama and Twizel on Wednesday.
“Clearly, these incidents are just the tip of the iceberg. How many other tourists were also driving unsafely but weren’t caught?"
Matthew-Wilson says it’s a miracle that tourist deaths are as low as they are. In the worst year, 2018, 37 foreign drivers died on our roads. This was nearly 10% of the road toll.
In 2023, there were 13 fatal crashes involving overseas drivers, 84 serious injury crashes, and 340 minor injury crashes: a total of 16 road deaths. The road toll for foreign drivers roughly matches the number of visitors: the higher the number of visitors, the higher the road toll.
Many road deaths involve drivers crossing the centre lane and colliding head-on with an oncoming car. Four South Korean skiers died after being thrown around inside their vehicle following a head-on crash in South Canterbury last year. They were not wearing seatbelts.
In March of this year, 12 people were injured when the driver of a touring Canadian hockey team drove into an oncoming vehicle in crash on State Highway 5 between Napier and Taupō.
It’s also common for overseas drivers to fail to notice intersections. In 2023, Canadian politician Helen Poon was killed when she drove through an intersection without stopping and collided with a large four-wheel drive. The intersection had been vandalised, which may have contributed to the accident. But Matthew-Wilson points out there are easy ways of improving the safety of rural intersections.
“There’s a pattern in many tourist accidents: a combination of fatigue, inexperience, unfamiliarity, distraction, plus, often, recklessness and unsafe roads. If we can eliminate one or more of these factors, we can prevent many of these accidents.”
Matthew-Wilson believes tourists should be prevented from renting cars within 24 hours of arriving from overseas.
“Every expert says the same thing: travelling from one country to another tires you out, disorients you and makes you a high-risk motorist. Driving tired is as dangerous as driving drunk. Drunk people would not be allowed to rent a car. Why are tired drivers allowed to rent a car?”
Matthew-Wilson believes many tourists are in far too much of a hurry.
“Many tourists from Asia have only a few days to enjoy our wonderful country. Therefore they drive fast to take in as many scenic spots as possible.”
Matthew-Wilson gave the example of driver from Japan, who had arrived in the country on the same day, and was one of those caught driving at 180kph on State Highway 8 near Twizel.
“He was trying to get to Queenstown to see the sights before it [got] dark,” said Senior Sergeant Karl Hemmingsen.
Although many tourist crashes occur at the end of their stay, a significant number of serious collisions occur within 24 hours of the tourists’ arrival.
Matthew-Wilson gave the 2014 example of Hong Kong national Shu Na Lo, 27, who killed his mother and seriously injured his sister after falling asleep behind the wheel of a rental car he had hired directly after arriving from a flight from Australia.
Matthew-Wilson points out that many drivers from India and Asia pose a special risk because many have little experience with our rural roads or with speed.
“In many countries such as Japan, there are traffic jams most of the time. Therefore, city drivers rarely get the opportunity to drive at speed. However, when they leave the cities, many drivers get a rush of freedom and start driving at utterly reckless speeds. The three incidents on Wednesday highlight this habit."
"Worst of all, many of New Zealand’s rural roads require great skill. Clearly, many drivers lack this skill.”
A 2019 study by the University of Otago highlighted a 'serious gap' in the knowledge of New Zealand’s road rules among self-driving international visitors.
A total of 284 international visitors were approached, 58 of whom declined to complete the survey. Of those 58, 31 were from China and said they were unable to complete the survey because they did not understand much English.
In the study, only seven of the 226 participants from 34 countries clearly understood New Zealand driving rules.
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.”
“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.”
Matthew-Wilson’s 14,000-word report on tourist accidents, Driven to Distraction, published several years ago, also called for all drivers to pass a computerised awareness test before being allowed to rent a vehicle.
“Don’t tell me it can’t be done. It has been done. A similar, mechanical test, developed in 1930s London to test bus drivers, was so effective it was still being used by the Royal Air Force to test prospective pilots at the beginning of the 21st century.”
Matthew-Wilson adds:
“The government always likes to play down the significance of tourist accidents, claiming such accidents are not that serious or that frequent, but the people who live around tourist areas know otherwise. Many of these tourist drivers should not be allowed on the road.”
Matthew-Wilson believes many tourists drive because of a perceived lack of suitable alternatives.
“Even if tourists don’t drive, New Zealand’s tourist industry has far too many cowboy operators. A properly functioning rail network would offer brilliant transport for the majority of tourists. For the remainder of tourists, the government should ditch its grand highway projects, and instead spend the money on improving the safety of our Third World roads.”
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Matthew-Wilson’s plan to help reduce tourist accidents:
1. Restrictions on the renting of vehicles to travellers within 24 hours of their arrival from overseas.
2. An interactive, computer-based competency assessment that must be completed before a vehicle can be rented to a traveller recently arrived from overseas.
This same test should apply before a vehicle ownership can be transferred, if the purchaser of the vehicle is using a foreign passport or international driver’s licence.
Matthew-Wilson’s proposed test would require drivers to follow a simple moving object on a touch computer screen. This would test hand-eye coordination and general alertness. A similar, mechanical test was successfully used by London Transport in the 1930s to screen prospective bus drivers. The test was so successful that it was still used by the Royal Air Force in the early twenty-first century for evaluating pilots.
3. Changes to road engineering, with improved signage, rumble strips, median barriers and roadside fencing installed wherever practicable on all high-risk rural roads, not just the few roads selected by the government for special treatment.
4. Improvements to the rental vehicle fleet: a requirement that all rental vehicles meet reasonable crash standards.
5. Encouragement of alternatives to self-driving
