The debate over foreign drivers and testing

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Ultimate Geek
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#1247036 26-Feb-2015 13:02

joker97: just saw the clip of the driver whose keys were confiscated.

i remember when i was driving in third world asian countries, some people don't keep to lane markings, rather veer between cars, because up to 3 cars can be in 1 lane, usually 2. cars bikes and motorcycles are everywhere, so there is no time they look at lane markings. so i don't think they [the some people who drive there] even realise lanes are there.

the can't drive category of NZ locals have other glaring issues, but the lane issue arise from those situations descrivbed

That reminds me of a couple of days stop over at Shanghai. We didn't drive, but were driven quite a lot, and there was bugger all lane discipline, but at the same time, no accidents. There were so many people, they all weaved in and out swerving around pedestrians, and just got on with it. It would have caused huge road rage if it happened here, but over there it seemed to be normal.

The clip on the news last night was something else though. It looked like the driver was nervous to be on what they considered narrow road, and didn't want to hug the left side of the road. The scary, and ironic, thing is that it unsighted the driver from oncoming traffic, and was incredibly dangerous.

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

frankv

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#1247121 26-Feb-2015 14:27

thegeekboy: Here's a real world example - and this wasn't picked up by the media as being a foreigner.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11403892

So - this was an accident caused by a person doing a u-turn across a 4-lane road in central Auckland - Ian McKinnon Drive (city end of Dominion Road)
They didn't look - and managed to hit a motorcyclist and a cyclist in the process.
That person was a chinese tourist in a rental car.

One of the real traps about being in a country where they drive opposite to normal is that you have ingrained habits as to which way to look. On several occasions, I was saved by passersby ("Achtung! Auto!") from stepping in front of a car because I had looked to the right, seen nothing coming (and had not registered that the cars on the near side of the road were going away from me to the right), and stepped forward with the intention of looking left when I got near the middle of the road.

I suspect that this habit is behind the accident listed above, and perhaps other crossroads accidents involving foreign visitors... they have looked left (as per normal in their own country), moved off, and then been hit from the right.

I think one of the messages that is needed for foreign tourists in NZ is "Look BOTH ways before entering an intersection".

Geektastic

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#1247167 26-Feb-2015 15:40

solival: I think it's just enough to install such things near crossroads (where most wrong lanes occur and speed is low) and problem solved. At least punctured tyre is better then dead people. Or they can even be redesigned to not damage tyres but make a noticeable push to remind driver that they are doing something wrong.

You'd need a different but similar device I think. This one looks as though it is one designed to prevent vehicles going the wrong way: the spikes are usually on pivots so if you drive right to left in this image, they just fold flat. If you drive the other way....not so much!

To prevent vehicles proceeding on a pedestrian crossing, you would need a hydraulic barrier such as are commonly found in Embassy vehicle entrances etc to prevent terrorists driving straight through. They take only a couple of seconds to rise and fall, but the cost per crossing would be high.

BlakJak

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#1247240 26-Feb-2015 18:10

Driver education is the problem, and it applies to all drivers regardless of nationality. Many NZ drivers are utter ...manure... behind the wheel, immigrant or not.
I consider myself a fair driver, but I make mistakes (and I give myself hell every time I recognise it).
I've also bent several cars in my time, and the memory of those accidents is a natural throttle and cautionary tale that I am not inclined to forget.

Even if we were to improve NZ Driver Ed (a much needed thing) this would not address the issues of immigrant drivers used to different conditions. Driving conditions here are so different to those found in the likes of Shanghai etc, that the ramifications of a moments inattention are going to be entirely different.

Just this week I had fun with:
- a scooter driver that indicated right and turned left
- An asian woman coming around a roundabout (where I was giving way prior to entering the roundabout) who wanted to stop and let me through for no apparent reason
- Several drivers talking on their phones while driving, most recently a late-20's white-european blonde in a Toyota (though I frequently see it across all demographics, it seems to more often be non-asians guilty of this. And a lot of tradies etc.)
- A middle aged white guy who decided to turn right when the oncoming traffic from the left was persistent, forcing him to stop half way across a busy road and obstruct it for traffic coming from his left; he subsequently decided to pretend to be a bus and use the bus lane, then bust into the lane to the right (where the bus lane was a compulsary left turn) when he realised he wanted to go straight ahead

... all off the top of my head. My daily commute is a 16km round trip in urban Auckland. :(

Whoever said this is just the result of increased publicity, is probably correct - Campbell Live reported that in terms of nationality represented in foreigners-involved accidents, the appearance of various nationalities was proportional to the number of times we deal with visitors from that country (so statistically, Australians are involved in the most accidents).

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Geektastic

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#1248286 28-Feb-2015 11:14

It would be a wise move to start putting up multi-lingual signs on some routes, I think.

MikeAqua

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#1248391 28-Feb-2015 12:43

Two interesting and potentially contradictory themes to this debate.

1) Foreign drivers are worse drivers (i.e. cause accidents)
2) Kiwis are worse drivers than overseas drivers.

Mike

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ScuL

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#1248395 28-Feb-2015 12:46

Geektastic: It would be a wise move to start putting up multi-lingual signs on some routes, I think.

At all UK ferries and entry points:

Ireland, constant reminders:

Australia, reminders on tourist routes:

Haere taka mua, taka muri; kaua e wha.

UKNZ

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Geek

#1248471 28-Feb-2015 14:39

Blakjack ... incident number 4, was in in birkenhead and was the car silver?

UKNZ

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#1248477 28-Feb-2015 14:48

Still dont see any proof at all (ie meaningful stat) that foreigners are a 'problem' at all.

The 'keep left' signs are only of limited value .. Ive driven in about 15 countries over a period of many years and the few occasions I slipped up were always on empty roads in the middle of nowhere where I was pulling back onto the road after filling up, getting lunch, that kind of thing, and just slipped into the wrong mindset for a second. Its just one of those things, can't be prevented really.

TLD

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Ultimate Geek
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#1248494 28-Feb-2015 15:45

The Fairfax Media inspired keep left sign ;-)

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

BlakJak

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#1248620 28-Feb-2015 20:29

UKNZ: Blakjack ... incident number 4, was in in birkenhead and was the car silver?

Symonds St in the CBD. The compulsary left turn is onto Grafton Bridge.

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JWR

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Ultimate Geek
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#1248628 28-Feb-2015 20:54

From the NZ Herald...

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11409671

I hope the full weight of the law comes down on this thug.

It seems, to me, to be a case of any excuse/justification to hit someone.

Handle9

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#1248635 28-Feb-2015 21:09

Handle9:
TLD:
surfisup1000:

Who was specifically being racist?

The statistics. Just telling it like it is.

Could you please provide these statistics for the rest of us to see?

Still waiting on the statistics you mentioned.

TLD

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Ultimate Geek
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#1249060 1-Mar-2015 22:17

Handle9:
Handle9:
TLD:
surfisup1000:

Who was specifically being racist?

The statistics. Just telling it like it is.

Could you please provide these statistics for the rest of us to see?

Still waiting on the statistics you mentioned.

Statistically speaking, some geekzoners are easier to lead by the nose than they ought to be

There's also a theory that brontosauruses are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle, and thin at the other end.

If you want any more statistics I'll write some tomorrow.

Trevor Dennis
Rapaura (near Blenheim)

Geektastic

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#1249226 2-Mar-2015 10:38

Is stopping a car and taking the keys by force not tantamount to theft, car jacking, highway robbery etc?

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