Aussie govt calls for driving test for tourists

CANBERRA — A member of the Australian government on Tuesday called for international visitors to the country to pass a driving test before they can rent a car. Sarah Henderson, a member of parliament for the governing Liberal National Party, on Tuesday announced a push for a more stringent approach to international driver’s licenses.

In addition to implementing a driving test, she also suggested that all international visitors renting a car be subjected to a compulsory safety video.

“It is a real danger that these international tourists are coming across from other parts of the world, getting into a hired car ... and they really are a moving time bomb,” Henderson told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday.

“I just don’t think it’s good enough that there’s no verification of someone’s driving experience when they arrive in Australia.”

“On a weekly basis, we are hearing of incidents involving international drivers on the wrong side of the road, stopping in the middle of the road taking photographs of koalas ... (and) running through stop signs.”

Henderson’s southwestern Victorian electorate of Corangamite is home to the iconic Great Ocean Road, one of the state’s most popular destinations for international visitors.

Statistics compiled by VicRoads, the state’s roads authority, found that 20 percent of crashes on the Great Ocean Road involved international drivers.