Campaign aims to dispel bad Asian drivers myth

Road safety authorities want to dispel the myth that Asians are bad drivers as a campaign is launched to help international students adjust to New Zealand roads.

Police hope information aimed at Asian students' caregivers in Canterbury will reduce the "new migrant horror stories" that feed the popular belief about Asian drivers.

Asian motorists spoken to by the Herald told of frequent abuse and rude gestures from Kiwi drivers on the roads.

Land Transport New Zealand says some new Asian migrants have difficulties adjusting to the country's "unique" road rules.

"That tends to translate, if anything, into people being overly cautious," said Land Transport spokesman Andy Knackstedt.

"That's what tends to create the myth. If people are being overly cautious, that doesn't make them bad drivers. Certainly there's no evidence to say Asian drivers are over-represented in serious crashes, and if anything, they are under-represented."

National MP Pansy Wong, who came to New Zealand from Hong Kong in 1974, was amazed that Asian drivers continue to be tagged as bad drivers when she said statistics showed otherwise.

"It is that frustrating feeling. I find the [Asian] community tends to react in certain ways. Some laugh over it, others get upset. I think people [making the criticisms] need to examine themselves a bit more."

Because many new Asian migrants came from densely populated areas where they had less driving experience, they tended to be less confident behind the wheel.

Some New Zealand drivers might grow impatient and toot their horns, and that could make [new migrants] even more nervous," said Mrs Wong.

Pasefika Education and Employment Training Organisation (Peeto), which offers driver safety seminars for migrants, has found Asian drivers are often very skilful because they have come from cities where they have to contend with large volumes of traffic.

With fewer Asian students coming to New Zealand because of a recent downturn in international education, those arriving were more willing to learn, said Peeto tutor Judith Ayling.

"Before, there was a lot of young [Asian] people who really didn't want to know because they think they already know it all."

Mrs Ayling said the biggest challenge for Asian motorists was roundabouts.

"Every group I talk to has an issue with roundabout driving. They watch Kiwis go through them and that doesn't help at all because we don't do it right either."

Canterbury police, with other road safety authorities and educators, have begun producing free information packs for those who teach and care for international students.

Road policing manager Inspector Derek Erasmus said the project was chosen because road safety leaders regularly got calls from homestay providers who didn't know what to do with their students.

"They think the students are driving illegally, or are buying cars that any caring parent would think not appropriate," he said.

Mr Knackstedt urges critical Kiwi drivers to simply give Asian motorists a break.

"We need to show a bit of patience and courtesy and understanding. And if everybody could do that, we would all be better off."

 

NUMBERS GAME

* People of Asian ethnicity make up 6.6 per cent of the New Zealand resident population.

* Last year drivers identified as being Asian were involved in 8 per cent of injury traffic crashes where ethnicity was recorded, and 5 per cent of fatal crashes.

* Between 1988 and 2003, the percentage of fatal traffic accidents involving drivers with an overseas licence rose from 0.3 to 3.7 per cent, while it rose from 1.2 to 3.9 per cent for non-fatal injury accidents.

* The Asian population is projected to increase from 272,000 in 2001 to between 356,000 and 428,000 next year.

Figures supplied by Land Transport NZ, 2001 Census

 

BLACKLIST

* September 2005: Chinese student Xhong Hen Ding, 23, is killed and four other Asian students injured when a car rolls 200m down Christchurch's Port Hills and off a 20m cliff.

* May 2005: West Auckland mother Karen Jolly is killed when her car is struck by out-of-control "boy racer" Kok Kie. The 38-year-old is jailed for two years and ordered to pay $35,000 in reparation.

* April 2005: Huntly coroner warns of more accidents involving overseas drivers after an inquest into the deaths of Yuan Zhang, 20, and his girlfriend, Shuang Yang, 19, who died when their car crossed the centre line and collided with a light truck.

* February 2003: A 5-year-old girl is killed and her father seriously injured when Ding Yan Zhao, 19, crashes his car into a Waikato service station while trying to avoid police. Zhao is later deported after serving six months in prison.

* May 2001: Within a period of 11 days, three Asian students die in separate crashes near Christchurch, Nelson and Te Anau.