Te Anau Crash

[caspernz]

Ok, so how many people have been killed and seriously injured in the last week and how many had absolutely nothing to do with those bloody foreigners you clearly have an issue with? The Karen Rutherford crash was in August last year and you have used the word supposedly re the Te Anau crash to imply something a bit too simplistic. I have no idea about the yank Doctor but if he was in court today I doubt the crash was this week either. Post #33 shows two crashes this week with dead and seriously injured and I am sure if I looked I could find at least another couple of them.

Yes, overseas drivers are an issue on our roads but they pale in to insignificance against locals.

What exactly do you think the Government should do? Testing wouldn't prove a bloody thing. The only solution to stop tourists being involved in crashes is to stop them driving. I am sure that would go down well with all the rednecks but you are kidding yourself if it is ever going to happen.

And then what are they going to do about those bastard motorbike riders?

Good to see some balance on the tourist driver topic. In essence my point of view is about the same, yes I see tourists doing dumb stuff, but our local kiwi drivers are far worse regardless of how one looks at the stats.

To use a triple fatality intersection involving an American tourist in recent years as an example. Yes he made an error, cost him dearly. Now I go thru this particular junction regularly. And the locals regularly roll the dice with thru traffic, just to save a few seconds. We can joke about the commuter rush in Auckland, but in reality country road commuters can be just as risky. So it's pretty rich for kiwis to tar tourists with the bad driver brush, when in reality the average kiwi driver isn't any better. And yes I'm a foreigner, albeit having lived in NZ for 3 decades.

[Zedder]

What exactly do you think the Government should do? Testing wouldn't prove a bloody thing. The only solution to stop tourists being involved in crashes is to stop them driving. I am sure that would go down well with all the rednecks but you are kidding yourself if it is ever going to happen.

The Government is doing something:https://www.nzta.govt.nz/planning-an...afety-project/

[Coldrider]

Maybe the Chinese could rebuild the road, under the Belt and Road infrastructure investment it wants to place in NZ.
Would kill two birds with one stone.

[Virago]

...Yes, overseas drivers are an issue on our roads but they pale in to insignificance against locals.

What exactly do you think the Government should do? Testing wouldn't prove a bloody thing. The only solution to stop tourists being involved in crashes is to stop them driving. I am sure that would go down well with all the rednecks but you are kidding yourself if it is ever going to happen...

I have no issue with most foreign drivers. The key issue is whether they have a similar licencing process and standard to us, and whether we have a reciprocal agreement. Sure, a large number of them are used to driving on the other side of the road, but it's no different to us driving in their countries.

For me it comes back to the Chinese. They generally have poorer driving skills than the average Kiwi, and all too often they are seriously dangerous. The irony is, we don't have a reciprocal arrangement with China - we can't drive on their roads with a NZ licence. Yet they are let loose on our roads - why? It appears that in NZ money is more important than safety.

But you're right, testing is unlikely to happen. Indeed, the government would welcome more of them on our roads. Let's get the real numpties out of the tour buses and get them behind the wheel. Hell, if they have an accident we'll even provide ACC coverage for them.

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-...ing-themselves

[Berries]

For me it comes back to the Chinese. They generally have poorer driving skills than the average Kiwi, and all too often they are seriously dangerous. The irony is, we don't have a reciprocal arrangement with China - we can't drive on their roads with a NZ licence.

Entirely agree. Makes a mockery of the comments about the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic and reciprocal arrangements that always gets dragged out when the subject is brought up.

Giving them a half hour driving test around Auckland airport will do absolutely nothing when they hit the open road a few days later. I don't know what the solution is short of banning them or forcing them in to autonomous rental vehicles when they finally start to hit the road.

[danchop]

the nelson crash raises my thoughts for a long time on just why the fuck are u-turns legal?Tourist uturns =death,local u-turns = death,cops u-turn=death...a u-turn is generally done in haste with little regard to assessing safety first,because assessing takes time!

[swbarnett]

the nelson crash raises my thoughts for a long time on just why the fuck are u-turns legal?Tourist uturns =death,local u-turns = death,cops u-turn=death...a u-turn is generally done in haste with little regard to assessing safety first,because assessing takes time!

The simple answer is that the sort of U-turn that gets results in an accident around a blind corner is NOT legal.

[Moi]

Recently watched someone do a 5-point turn with a 4x4 in Dominion Rd... both flows of traffic held up while this person proved their incompetence...

On a more sensible note: when I learnt to drive [45+ years ago] I had to do a 3-point turn for the test but was told by both the driving instructor and the testing officer who was the local borough's chief traffic officer that should be the last time I should do it. Both were quite adamant about either going round the block or backing into a driveway and turn out because you have a much better view of the road...

[Akzle]

the nelson crash raises my thoughts for a long time on just why the fuck are u-turns legal?Tourist uturns =death,local u-turns = death,cops u-turn=death...a u-turn is generally done in haste with little regard to assessing safety first,because assessing takes time!

just fucken learn to 180 J turn on the handbrake you fucken woofter.

[swbarnett]

On a more sensible note: when I learnt to drive [45+ years ago] I had to do a 3-point turn for the test but was told by both the driving instructor and the testing officer who was the local borough's chief traffic officer that should be the last time I should do it. Both were quite adamant about either going round the block or backing into a driveway and turn out because you have a much better view of the road...

All very well when there's a driveway close by. Sometimes you don't have a choice. I'll caveat that by adding that I will always continue on until I find a straight piece of road with good visibility.

[Berries]

U-turns are like very high speeds. There's a time and a place where they are not going to cause sudden death.

Talking of which, two fatal crashes within 20km of each other down this way in the last ten days. No slanty eyed Kraut Wop drivers involved though so no widespread media stirring. Funny that.

[Akzle]

U-turns are like very high speeds. There's a time and a place where they are not going to cause sudden death.

Talking of which, two fatal crashes within 20km of each other down this way in the last ten days. No slanty eyed Kraut Wop drivers involved though so no widespread media stirring. Funny that.

you should start a facebook about it

[Berries]

Unfortunately I can't do FB so will have to stick with KB.