Woeful tourist driving video takes off

A man whose shocking driving video took off on social media has issued a challenge to Transport Minister Simon Bridges to ‘‘take a drive with me and see how bad it is’’.

The video – viewed nearly 160,000 times on Facebook – shows the driver of a blue hatchback repeatedly crossing the centreline while traversing the Crown Range road near Queenstown on January 26.

Damon Forde, a freelance cameraman who runs company Live24 New Zealand, said the driving was ‘‘insane’’ and the Government wasn’t taking the tourist driver issue seriously.

‘‘That was pretty bad but I’ve actually seen worse,’’ Forde said yesterday.

‘‘I’d like to see the Transport Minister come down here and take a drive with me and see how bad it is. The invitation’s open.’’

Forde believed the rental car was driven by a tourist.

He followed the car from the Crown Range until it was stopped by police on State Highway 6 at Ladies Mile near Lake Hayes.

‘‘I just thought it would be better for me to stay behind him than someone else.’’

Forde said he twice tried to stop the car by waving it down but the driver just carried on. He was unable to recall the name of the rental car company.

After posting the video on January 28, Forde said he had been messaged by several tourists and overseas nationals telling him to stop ‘‘bashing’’ tourist drivers.

Forde said: ‘‘My facts are correct and I stand by that.’’

He was pleased at the attention the video was getting. ‘‘It just sort of sat there with a couple of hundred views [but] in the last four days it’s just gone insane.’’

The video has been liked and shared over 1000 times.

Forde captions the video: ‘‘Should overseas tourists be allowed to hire rental cars in New Zealand?’’

He goes on to say in the post he would like to see only people with a New Zealand-issued licence on the roads.

‘‘Driver was stopped by police and won’t be driving here again,’’ the post reads.

In the comments section Forde says he twice attempted to stop the ‘‘tourist’’ in a rental car but the driver ‘‘arrogantly just carried on’’.

A police spokeswoman said the driver was issued with a infringement notice for failing to remain in the correct line.

She said she could not give out information regarding the driver’s nationality.