Queenstown crash prompts more criticism of tourists' driving skills

Glen Collins' tow truck was thrown into a stationary Holden Colorado after a tourist driver pulled out in front of him at Arrow Junction near Queenstown yesterday. Photo / Meena Amso

A tow-truck driver involved in a three-vehicle crash at a notorious junction near Queenstown yesterday is calling out tourist drivers.

Glen Collins, who works for Parks Garage and Towing based in Christchurch, said he picked up three to four written-off cars a week from the resort and called Wakatipu roads the most dangerous.

''I drive these roads every week, every day just about, and they're the worst roads I drive.

''It's just purely the international tourists that do not know the road rules at all and basically shouldn't even be driving.

''They are just a major, major hazard.''

Collins was travelling towards Cromwell yesterday and passing through Arrow Junction, where McDonnell Rd meets State Highway 6, when a Nissan Tiida driven by a Chinese tourist allegedly failed to give way.

The Tiida pulled out in front of Collins' 10-tonne tow truck in an attempt to turn right towards Queenstown.

Collins said he hit the Tiida on the driver's side, knocking the driver unconscious. The only passenger in the car was shaken but uninjured.

The impact from the crash bumped Collins' truck sideways into a stationary Holden Colorado driven by a woman who was giving way to the tow truck, waiting to turn right towards Arrowtown.

A St John spokesperson said one person sustained ''serious injuries'' and was taken to Lakes District Hospital. Three other people were uninjured.

Collins said in a few weeks' time he would be driving a 40-tonne truck and if that had been the case yesterday, it would have been a fatal crash.

Jessica Machray was travelling in a vehicle behind the Nissan Tiida with her partner and sister and they watched the crash happen.

''As we came up to the intersection it was very busy and we slowed down and we expected the car in front of us to stop, but they didn't.''

Collins said something ''seriously'' needed to be done about international drivers on New Zealand roads.

- Additional reporting by Meena Amso/The South Today