Confiscated tourist keys

[zooter]

All day long I hear on the radio about driving complaints, about THE most common thing to hear on the air.

And I'd put money on a full 90%+ being cars registered to rental companies.
Mostly being driven on the Lindis Pass, in the Kawarau Gorge and the Crown Range road.

Close those roads and ban rental cars and the problem would be gone..

What about the Kingston to Queenstown Rd? I passed about 20 cars on my 150cc Vespa one time, always with clear line of sight I swear. They were all held up by two or three rentals doing snail pace. The whole lot had passed me in the preceding 30 or 40 km, that's how slow they were going when they got to the lakeside twisties.

[Berries]

Something smells.

If we are the worst drivers in the history of developed countries how can tourists be an issue?

There are only 3 explanations

A- Were not as bad as they say.
B- We have the worst roads in the world
C- People with poor skills are searching for spots to drive where insurance companies don't know their names.

You missed D, the big tourist problem is with drivers from undeveloped countries like India and dare I say it China where driving standards are pretty much rickshaw and tuktuk. Take those two out of the equation and you are left with Israelis, Americans and mainland Europeans who generally have decent driving skills but can occasionally make an honest mistake and be on the wrong side of the road. Then you have the Australians and Brits who are the most common people to crash due to their numbers and the familiarity they think they feel because they speak the same language and the signs are in English. But they forget about point B.

Those are not difficult roads to drive on... though the Crown Range was fun in the days before it was sealed...

It's even more funnerer now it is sealed. And the slow tourists are simply mobile chicanes that add further interest, I look forward to catching up with them and the queues they cause when on two wheels so I can practice my Akaroa style multi vehicle overtakes.


Some good comments at the bottom of this page of the ODT - Aussie aussie aussie.

[speights_bud]

I did a straight swap in the UK for my kiwi license. Just pay a fee and voila! Full european license car, bike and self laying tracks!

Brother in law swapped his restricted kiwi licence for a full UK licence when he moved there 8 years ago, married a bird there. He just drives on his UK licence when he's back in Nz visiting. Never had to sit a full test in either country....

[BlackSheepLogic]

when at the AA i was told that I could hand in my german drivers license and I would on the spot get a NZ driver lisence.
WTF..... i looked at the Lady and asked her if she was joking...Surely I say there must be a test, a driving around the block kind o test, or maybe a few multiple questions type o test, something....please assure me. Nope....nothing....nada....zilch...nix.

Most of the time it done though a reciprocal agreement, which would allow NZ could do the same in Germany.
I've traded my license in the past for a UK license. In the US I had to take the full test. Either way, it really is not hard to pass a license and I don't think it magically makes a driver better.

She asked me if I wanted a NZ driver lisence and if I would just hand her over mine from Germany and she would get it done pronto on the spot. I have been terrified of NZ driver ever since....really really scary, it was that easy.

If you feel overwhelmed to drive safely on the NZ roads, then I suggest working with a licensed driving instructor. They will go out with a student even if that student has a full license.

[Swoop]

All day long I hear on the radio about driving complaints, about THE most common thing to hear on the air.

Is this on the "work" radio?

I did a straight swap in the UK for my kiwi license. Just pay a fee and voila! Full european license car, bike and self laying tracks!

That is handy. In fact, very handy, for the German Army when they go on overseas "vacations" throughout Europe.

[BlackSheepLogic]

Fully 25% of major crashes in Southland involve foreigners driving rentals. It used to be the cops would take their keys, but the lawyers got involved and the cops had to back down. They were relying on two distinct pieces of law to jump from dangerous driving to instant licence suspension. Scumdog can full in the blanks.

Tourists do get a lot of media attention when there's an accident and inevitable the public dams the tourist. There's certainly mistakes some tourist make by so do other road users. Also, the primary party at fault my not have been the tourists .

Where in the world a tourist is coming from probably makes a difference. In some countries I've been in traffic never moved faster that 30Km/h and I could see tourists from those places overwhelmed. But we lump all the tourists into one bucket to avoid a implied racial prejudice.

Defensive driving by all road users would make our roads safer but few seek out the training.

[jasonu]

Fully 25% of major crashes in Southland involve foreigners driving rentals. .

Any stats or actual proof to back up this statement?

My bet is the actual percentage amount of foreigner visitor accidents hasn't changed by more than the actual percentage increase of road users or percentage increase of foreigners using NZ roads. Now that in recent times the crap NZ media has found that reporting on all of these incidents is selling more papers, advertising slots etc you will hear about EVERY INCIDENT involving said foreigners weather it is their fault or not.

[Moi]

zooter said: Fully 25% of major crashes in Southland involve foreigners driving rentals.

Any stats or actual proof to back up this statement?

But don't Southlanders consider people from Otago to be foreigners?

[jasonu]

Close those roads and ban rental cars and the problem would be gone..

Along with a huge amount of tourist cash. They will never do that.

[scumdog]

Is this on the "work" radio?

What else?? and why do you have to ask

[buggerit]

I reacon if we gave rental companies the choice of $1000 relicencing for their vehicles, or come up with a system to assess clients
driving ability, we may see an improvement.

[Akzle]

Defensive driving by all road users would make our roads safer but few seek out the training.

having done 'defensive driving' through the aa, im saddened and scared at the fuckwits doing it and the fuckall content of it, mostly clueless teenage/girls doing it to get time off their restricted so they can drive mums suv.

What we need is offensive driver training. Mandatory.

[scumdog]

...mostly clueless teenage/girls doing it to get time off their restricted so they can drive mums suv.

Lemme guess - you were one of those teenage girls?

[Swoop]

What else?? and why do you have to ask

I thought the cricket games would have been broadcast over that frequency.

[Akzle]

Lemme guess - you were one of those teenage girls?

no. My mum doesnt have an suv.