Foreign drivers crash 'like rest of us'

The wreckage of a car that hit a logging truck head-on near Tokoroa killing three occupants. Photo / Supplied

Inquest hears plea to stop blaming tourists as figures show drop in accident rate.

An inquest into the horrific deaths of seven tourists has heard an appeal to Kiwis to stop blaming foreign drivers for the carnage on our roads.

Newly released statistics reveal that despite public perception, the number of crashes involving foreign drivers has dipped slightly in the last decade, though the proportion of tourist crashes on our roads edged higher in the past two years.

Overseas licence holders were involved in 5.7 per cent of all fatal and injury crashes since 2010 with actual crash numbers falling slightly since 2004 - from 597 to 564 last year - despite a 25 per cent jump in tourist numbers.

The figures were revealed yesterday at a dramatic Hamilton inquest into two crashes which killed seven tourists earlier this year.

Utah tourists Tamara Garlick Barnett, and friends Mitchell Peterson and his wife, Ruth-Ann, were killed instantly when a truck T-boned their vehicle on the outskirts of Hamilton on March 11.

Tamara's husband, Richard, told police he couldn't remember the crash and pleaded guilty to three charges of careless driving causing death.

Yesterday, truck driver Timothy Manderson told Coroner Gordon Matenga he could only slam on his brakes when Mr Barnett's SUV turned into his path.

And just north of Tokoroa in February, four members of the Lee family were killed after their vehicle collided head-on with a logging truck. Warren Lee, 53, Aesoon Lee, 52, and their daughter Julia, 20, died in the crash. Julia's brother Griffin, 17, died in hospital later.

Taupo Serious Crash Unit Constable Bayley Orr said Julia had been driving in the wrong lane "for some time" before rounding a bend on State Highway 1 and crashing into a truck.

However, NZ Transport Agency regional director southern Jim Harland - who is chairman of the Visiting Drivers Project - told the coroner crash data involving foreign drivers over the past decade should counter public perceptions that crashes involving foreign drivers were on the rise.

"We've had a lot more people arriving yet [tourist] driver crashes haven't been increasing and that's important."

Although the drop in crash numbers was low, Mr Harland said he hoped it would show that tourist crashes had not spiked, despite widespread panic after high-profile tragedies over the past 12 months.

The new figures were detailed in the Overseas Driver Crashes 2015 report.

Mr Harland said three million visitors had arrived in New Zealand in the past year and numbers were expected to increase.

"Given the majority of overseas visitors will be driving a vehicle ... that will mean we will have more and more overseas drivers on our roads."

Regional crash data showed overseas drivers were much more likely to crash in tourist hot spots or rural areas - particularly in the deep south and West Coast - because there was a greater concentration of them on roads there.

Foreign drivers often sank back into their home driving behaviour when there wasn't much traffic around, Mr Harland said. "People often refer to their instinctive behaviour. If you're following another vehicle you've got a better chance of making the right decision."

Australians, Germans and visitors from the UK were the most likely to be involved in tourist crashes.

"That partly reflects their [high visitor] numbers but also indicates a failure to adapt to our conditions. Driving on the right-hand side of the road is an issue for some but it's not the primary cause."

The main causes of tourist crashes were similar to those of New Zealand drivers, he said. "They're crashing for similar reasons to you and I but whenever they make a mistake, particularly on the wrong side of the road, that gets quite a lot of attention and it causes a lot of emotion."

Foreign drivers

• 2014 fatal crashes: New Zealanders (268), overseas licence holders (16).

• 2014 injury crashes: New Zealanders (8600), overseas licence holders (536).

• Number of foreign drivers involved in crashes fell from 597 in 2004 to 564 in 2014.

• Westland has highest crash rate involving foreign drivers (38%), then McKenzie District (27%) and Queenstown Lakes (25%).

• Australians most common foreign drivers involved in crashes since 2010 (353), then Germans (285), UK (271), China (226), India (215), and US (193).