Tourist driver plea presented

A petition asking the Government to pass legislation requiring tourists to sit a New Zealand drivers licence if they are staying in the country longer than three months will be presented to Parliament next week.

The online petition was started by Tauranga women Judy Richards whose 23-year-old son Rhys Middleton was killed by a foreign driver last year.

Ministry of Transport statistics show 25 lives, which included two Northland women, were lost in 2016, due to foreign driver error.

In April Kylee Ann Rakich, 29, was eight months pregnant when she and her friend Virginia Keogh, 44 were killed by an American driving on the wrong side of the road near Kerikeri.

The 25 deaths equates to six percent of last year’s 326 road toll.

It is estimated the social costs are more than $4 million for each death and between $430,000$760,000 for each serious injury.

Currently people visiting New Zealand are allowed to drive up to a year if they hold a valid licence for their home country.

The Overseas Drivers in Crash report released last April, found a third of at-fault overseas licence holders failed to adjust to driving conditions in this country - including driving on the left. That number rose to half for fatal crashes.

Loss of control was the top contributing factor in most fatal and injury crashes involving foreigners.

Northland MP Winston Peters who will receive the parliamentary petition from Richards on February 14 says overseas drivers must meet the standards.

‘‘At the moment we are too slack... the time has come for more stringent standards to be imposed.’’

Northland Inc chief executive David Wilson says the issue raises many questions including whether New Zealanders should also be subject to stringent licensing rules overseas.

Replies to a social media request for opinions on how to make our roads safer show Northlanders have mixed views.

While many favoured some kind of test, the practicalities of how it would be implemented and policed were raised as was Kiwi’s own driving standards.

Among ideas were educational in-flight videos which could also be used at rental outlets.

Chris Pegman’s family are have a cracking time at Urupekapeka Island in the Far North. The Kerikeri photographer grabbed this shot of Rosie, Emily, Chris and Kerrie taking a fun break on their way to the top. ‘‘We couldn’t think of a better place to...