Project to reduce crashes caused by tourist drivers
Associate Transport Minister Julie-Anne Genter has assured Waipapakauri Ramp man Peter Birchall that the Government recognises the risk posed by overseas drivers.
The minister told Mr Birchall, who was injured along with his wife and a friend in a head-on collision with a car driven by a tourist in the wrong lane, that a range of organisations, including central and local government, the tourism and rental vehicle sectors and others were working on the Visiting Drivers Project (VDP) to ensure all visitors had a safe and enjoyable holiday.
Funding for infrastructure improvements under the VDP was only available to councils in Otago, Southland and the West Coast, where crashes involving overseas drivers were proportionately high, but Northland was involved in other ways.
Many initiatives targeted visitors before they arrived, regardless of where they were travelling to, providing them with information when they were planning and booking their travel, including training for travel agents, safety leaflets in visas, websites and videos in multiple languages, and the Automobile Association’s online training programme.
Air New Zealand had a Driving in New Zealand app, which was available on long-haul flights, and videos on driving in New Zealand were available in a range of languages on all international flights.
“I am advised that rental vehicle companies comprising approximately 80 per cent of the total rental fleet have signed up to a voluntary Rental Vehicle Operators’ Code of Practice,” Ms Genter said.
“This establishes agreed standards and practices for operators to follow when informing visitors about driving in New Zealand. These practices include assessing visitors’ preparedness to drive in New Zealand, and providing safety material at rental counters and in the vehicles. The code is regularly reviewed and promoted to encourage industry uptake.
“These rental companies are nationwide, not just in the project regions.”
Meanwhile the NZTA had told her that painting arrows on West Coast Rd would be up to the Far North District Council, which could request funding, if that was required.
At a national level, the government was working hard to improve road safety, including via a new policy statement on land transport, which signalled its support for a much greater investment in safety improvements on high-risk state highways and local roads, such as signs, markings, rumble strips and median barriers.
Last year she had announced a $22.5 million Boost Programme to make high-risk sections of 30 regional state highways safer. That programme would include the installation of rumble strips, improved signage and barriers at high-risk locations on State Highway 1 between Cape Reinga and Awanui, and was additional to a $600m improvement programme for rural roads that was to be completed this month.
More generally, she had directed the Ministry of Transport to work with the crossgovernmental National Road Safety Committee to develop a new road safety strategy, based on best practice and evidence. The new strategy, which would outline steps that would “meaningfully” reduce death and serious injury rates over the next decade, would involve significant public consultation.
“I encourage you to participate in that process and put forward your ideas,” Ms Genter concluded.