surfisup1000:

Who was specifically being racist? 

BridgetC: While 5% of crashes being caused by foreign drivers is the national average, in Otago/Southland (where I grew up) this figure is closer to 95% (Can't find actual numbers right now).

New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) safety directions chief adviser Lisa Rossiter said its crash statistics for the past 10 years showed foreign drivers were involved in about 6 per cent of all fatal or injury crashes in New Zealand, and were at fault in about 2 per cent.

The tourist hot spots of Otago and the West Coast fared worst. A foreign driver was identified as a factor in 13 per cent of fatal crashes on the coast, and 5 per cent of fatal crashes in Otago from 2004 to 2013.

The latest figures on crashes involving foreign drivers are from 2009-2013 show that nationally only 6 per cent of crashes involved an overseas driver.

 

However, the proportion varied enormously with the worst affected region - Westland - reporting more than one in three crashes (37 per cent) involved an overseas driver. In cities including Christchurch, Dunedin, Wellington, Auckland and Hamilton, only 3 to 5 per cent of crashes involved a foreign driver.

MikeAqua: I worked for years in rental cars in my 20's. 

My impression was that tourists are no more likely to crash than kiwis.  As people we are prone to confirmation bias - remembering the events that support our views.

The media debate is unhelpful, because it isn't informed by a meaningful measure e.g. an accident rate that takes into account km driven.  Even in the national stats we have, tourists are only at fault in 1/3 of the fatal accidents they are involved in - i.e. most of these accidents were caused by kiwi drivers.

The much publicised accidents are generally not explainable by the drivers being foreign - e.g. a tourist driver running a stop sign has caused 3 fatal accidents I know of.

BridgetC: While 5% of crashes being caused by foreign drivers is the national average, in Otago/Southland (where I grew up) this figure is closer to 95% (Can't find actual numbers right now).

Something drastically needs to be done, I went home recently and found myself almost too scared to get behind the wheel of a car. The number of drivers who don't understand how to drive on our roads be it the terrain / conditions / road rules is terrifying.

There have been several times down south where I have actually had to pull of the road and let other drivers get ahead of me. Or sit behind a truck or other slower vehicle going through the gorges because, hey at least then I'm not going to be the first car involved in a head on collision.

Handsomedan: I think the easiest thing is simply to impose a total ban on Johnny Foreigner. 

Don't let them come to our country and spoil it with their jibber jabber and poor driving. 

We don't need their foreign money. We have sheep and milk and we can make money enough for everyone from that. 

Also, I think we should hold John Key personally responsible for this epidemic of bad driving. 

Didn't get this kind of thing under Helen Clark. 





But in all honesty, driving is 90% reflex...if your reflex is to drive on the "wrong" side of the road (particularly after exiting a corner or whilst driving on a long and largely empty highway), then no amount of testing, examinations or recriminations is going to change that. 

I can't imagine how hard it must be to exit a corner or a T-junction and end up on the correct side of the road, if the county you're in drives on the other side of the road.