Tourists driving in the South Island

[madbikeboy]

Just cut and pasted this from Stuff.co.nz, originally reported in the Southland Times. Clearly, these fuckers all deserve a bullet...


Article.
A Chinese tourist thought he could overtake on blind corners because there were no yellow lines and said he did not know to stop for police using flashing lights.

Zhiang Ding, 29, of Chongqing, was one of four tourists - including one whose keys were removed from his rental vehicle by a member of public - to appear before Judge Christina Cook in Queenstown District Court this morning.

Ding was fined $1000 and disqualified for six months for dangerous driving on State Highway 6 on Sunday.

A member of the public called police when Ding repeatedly crossed the centre line and tried overtaking on blind corners, in Garston, at Athol, Kingston and along the Devil's staircase.

He reached a speed of 134kmh and failed to stop for police using flashing lights. He was eventually stopped when he reached a traffic queue at Frankton.

Lawyer Sonia Vidal said Ding believed overtaking was permitted anywhere if there were no yellow lines and he claimed he did not know flashing police lights meant he should stop.

Judge Cook said she was concerned Ding continued crossing double-yellow lines on the Devils staircase, a stretch of road with multiple blind corners.

"This is a prolonged piece of dangerous driving," she said.

"Whatever the practice is in China, it's common sense you would not overtake a vehicle on a corner where you cannot see the other cars. You should not be driving the roads in New Zealand if you are not familiar or competent to drive in a safe way."

Chinese citizens Yusi Yang, 30, of Chongqing, and Qian Li, 34, of Hangzhou, and Indian national Pratik Shah, 24, of Mumbai, also appeared.

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Yang, a Communist Party member, was fined $900 and disqualified for seven months for dangerous driving on the Cardrona Valley Rd, also on Sunday.

He was in a queue of traffic approaching the Cardrona ski field turnoff, pulled out and overtook six cars on double yellow lines while approaching a blind corner.

He stopped after the manoeuvre and member of the public also stopped and removed the keys from Yang's rental car.

Lawyer Liam Collins said Yang had made the effort of reading the New Zealand road code before going on honeymoon. During the manoeuvre other vehicles had failed to allow Yang back into the left lane, he said.

Li's case was adjourned until this afternoon for victim impact reports and reparation reports. She is charged with three counts of careless driving causing injury after a head-on crash in Gibbston on Saturday.

Two British tourists in the oncoming car were seriously injured.

Shah, on honeymoon in New Zealand, was fined $750 and disqualified for six months for dangerous driving on the Te Anau-Mossburn Rd, on Sunday.

He overtook a tourist bus returning from Milford Sound on a straight but failed to see an oncoming car, forcing the bus to brake hard and the oncoming car to take evasive action.

Sergeant Rob Mills said a bus-load of 16 American tourists were adamant it was a very close call and Shah appeared to have no appreciation of the potential consequences.

Brazilian national Juliana Oliveira Machado, 28, of Fernhill, also appeared charged with dangerous driving after an incident on her first day behind the wheel in New Zealand.

She was fined $700 and disqualified for six months for dangerous driving on Coronet Peak Rd, on December 16.

She drove on the wrong side of the road and an oncoming vehicle and Machado were forced to stop to avoid a crash. She told police she thought she was driving slowly to be safe and she had no explanation for driving on the wrong side.

- The Southland Times

[EJK]

Bloody asians!

[willytheekid]

Bad fucking joke aint it

I believe the stats show over 20% of serious accidents in the south involve a foreign driver ...but lets just keep hammering the speed issue, and treating the average kiwi like they are criminal scum for going 5k over or such BS!

...just how many more dead Kiwis will it take before tthe Gov't & cops FINALLY step up to address the glaring problem. (There still thinking of ways to make a profit from such an exercise Im guessing)


But HUGE!! props to the folks taking keys off these potential killers! (...if they resist?...are you allowed to beat the ignorance out of them?)

[madbikeboy]

Bloody asians!

Cheeky sod, must be your Asian sense of humour.

[madbikeboy]

Bad fucking joke aint it

I believe the stats show over 20% of serious accidents in the south involve a foreign driver ...but lets just keep hammering the speed issue, and treating the average kiwi like they are criminal scum for going 5k over or such BS!

...just how many more dead Kiwis will it take before tthe Gov't & cops FINALLY step up to address the glaring problem. (There still thinking of ways to make a profit from such an exercise Im guessing)


But HUGE!! props to the folks taking keys off these potential killers! (...if they resist?...are you allowed to beat the ignorance out of them?)

We're not the only country to have an issue with foreign drivers, but it's telling that this is a single morning in the court...

[mada]

Sssssshhh guys, according to the PM John Key, theres absolutely nothing we can do to prevent terrorists, I mean tourists, who are killing and maiming in our country and backyard and pose a high threat on the roads. Training them wont work.

Meanwhile, it would be shocking to sit back and do nothing about preventing terrorists living half way around the world who pose no threat to us, are low risk to us. But training their corrupt just as blood thirsty cousins will work.

[willytheekid]

We're not the only country to have an issue with foreign drivers, but it's telling that this is a single morning in the court...

Very true!...but are we now the ONLY country in the world world with 20% of recorded accidents being attributed to tourists?? (Regarding the south island figures)

Its a friggin HUGE percentage when you consider how many road users are local compared to Foreign...yet its 20%!!
Makes ya wonder if we are truly are a "learn as ya go" nation (Just look at our JOKE license issuing/testing...no training!, just pass basic parking, speed control and bingo!..you can drive!....you can learn the rest as ya go)



...so bloody sad to be constantly reading about innocent drivers involved in such avoidable & fatal accidents.

[mada]

The funny thing about China is we can't actually drive on their roads with our licences. I looked into before heading away on my last trip there.

Yet, they can here despite the conditions being significantly fucking different, for example:

a) In China give way rules dont apply - you just pull out into the traffic and make a gap. Other drivers generally allow this and will let you in, but there are very few if any "give way or stop signs".

b) Pretty much the only thing that drivers follow the instructions of are traffic lights, even then they have green turning lights while pedestrians can cross and the cars will pull in and honk - so the peds need to move the fuck out of the way. Motorbikes and cyclists often go down the wrong way on streets. Pedestrians walk and pull their carts on highways and motorways. Vehicles, especially buses and taxis do not stick to lanes, and weaving in between traffic as fast as possible is pretty much a national sport.


c) When the lazy arsed police are not sitting around smoking cigs on the side pavement, they can be found sleeping in their cars. Practically all Chinese emergency services drive around with their lights flashing, ambulances, cop cars, you name it. Despite going to no emergencies. In China it's about "crime" aka dissent, prevention - with the lights warning people "we're here and watching". Drivers generally pay no attention to the emergency services unless their horns are blaring and their is a massive convoy or road block.

* Hong Kong and Taiwan are not as bad as the Mainland, but still have elements of what I mentioned above - such as emergency vehicles often driving around with flashing lights, and a bit of a "pull out, they'll give way" mentality.


It's absolutely retarded to allow people to come from such a different culture of driving onto our roads and think it will be all good with no form of assessment or training and that we cant do anything in the interests of saving a couple of bucks.

[Edbear]

We're not the only country to have an issue with foreign drivers, but it's telling that this is a single morning in the court...

Bad fucking joke aint it

I believe the stats show over 20% of serious accidents in the south involve a foreign driver ...but lets just keep hammering the speed issue, and treating the average kiwi like they are criminal scum for going 5k over or such BS!

...just how many more dead Kiwis will it take before tthe Gov't & cops FINALLY step up to address the glaring problem. (There still thinking of ways to make a profit from such an exercise Im guessing)


But HUGE!! props to the folks taking keys off these potential killers! (...if they resist?...are you allowed to beat the ignorance out of them?)

I think the fact that so many are coming before the courts is evidence that the Police are taking the problem seriously. It only appears that speed is the priority because that's what the media keep harping on about.

You see, speeding is a controversial topic and the media love to feed controversy - good for ratings. It's about time they focussed on the other issues and publicised those to the same extent.

[JimO]

The funny thing about China is we can't actually drive on their roads with our licences. I looked into before heading away on my last trip there.

Yet, they can here despite the conditions being significantly fucking different, for example:

a) In China give way rules dont apply - you just pull out into the traffic and make a gap. Other drivers generally allow this and will let you in, but there are very few if any "give way or stop signs".

b) Pretty much the only thing that drivers follow the instructions of are traffic lights, even then they have green turning lights while pedestrians can cross and the cars will pull in and honk - so the peds need to move the fuck out of the way. Motorbikes and cyclists often go down the wrong way on streets. Pedestrians walk and pull their carts on highways and motorways. Vehicles, especially buses and taxis do not stick to lanes, and weaving in between traffic as fast as possible is pretty much a national sport.


c) When the lazy arsed police are not sitting around smoking cigs on the side pavement, they can be found sleeping in their cars. Practically all Chinese emergency services drive around with their lights flashing, ambulances, cop cars, you name it. Despite going to no emergencies. In China it's about "crime" aka dissent, prevention - with the lights warning people "we're here and watching". Drivers generally pay no attention to the emergency services unless their horns are blaring and their is a massive convoy or road block.

* Hong Kong and Taiwan are not as bad as the Mainland, but still have elements of what I mentioned above - such as emergency vehicles often driving around with flashing lights, and a bit of a "pull out, they'll give way" mentality.


It's absolutely retarded to allow people to come from such a different culture of driving onto our roads and think it will be all good with no form of assessment or training and that we cant do anything in the interests of saving a couple of bucks.

exactly we were there for a month at the end of last year and the standard of driving is abismal, on one occasion a guy ran across the motorway and jumped the barrier and plowed into the side of the bus were in, he bounced off and lay on the side of the road, the bus kept going and a police car that was behind us drove straight past him as well

[mada]

exactly we were there for a month at the end of last year and the standard of driving is abismal, on one occasion a guy ran across the motorway and jumped the barrier and plowed into the side of the bus were in, he bounced off and lay on the side of the road, the bus kept going and a police car that was behind us drove straight past him as well

Yeh mate, life is very cheap there. The amount of near misses we had in taxis and on motorbikes with buses and trucks inches away from our faces. Everyone is in a hurry to make their next buck to survive. If I was to have a business in China I would make brake pads, they must go thru a hell of a lot of em.

We often think our Police in NZ are incompetent but Mainland Chinese Police are so shit they don't even deserve the title "Police" more like "Poo Lice".

Another difference in driving - 4) Horn's are usually used to warn people that you're coming or going to pass them on highways - so you get massive as trucks and buses tooting you as they approach and pass

or in the city to hurry up and drive through the pedestrians in front of the queue, rather than after someone cuts you off or is dangerous. Staying in the cities near main streets you can hear a car horn every 5 or so seconds. So if such drivers are here and hear horns they're most likely to not respond in the same manner that we would.

[Kickaha]

...just how many more dead Kiwis will it take before tthe Gov't & cops FINALLY step up to address the glaring problem. (There still thinking of ways to make a profit from such an exercise Im guessing)

It's less of a problem than the locals killing themselves

[Swoop]

This is the whole problem with "Tourist season".

Where do you apply for a licence to hunt the bastards?

[caspernz]

It's less of a problem than the locals killing themselves

That's kinda my take on this subject as well, but then I don't spend a lot of time on South Island routes popular with tourists...

[Grumph]

That's kinda my take on this subject as well, but then I don't spend a lot of time on South Island routes popular with tourists...

i live on one...and yes, frequently see last minute dives for the correct side of the road. During tourist season (and yes, i'd like to take out a licence please ) one of our problems in inland canty is bloody cycle tourists. bastards are always in the wrong place. At points of scenic interest like the gorge bridges the parked cars should be ticketed and the pedestrians too....I'm surprised there haven't been fatalities already.

But then in the off season, we have to deal with unlit farm machinery on the road going very slowly after dark....Lets see tourists deal with that.