Tourist crashes: Boys who lost their father ask, 'Why can't we make sure tourists are safe?'

Sean, left, aged 10, and Cody, 9, Roberts during their appearance at the Transport and Industrial Relations select committee hearing at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Moves to prevent crashes involving foreign drivers have been encouraging but need to go further, say two boys who lost their father in such an accident.

A petition by Sean and Cody Roberts, 10 and 9, has been heard by a parliamentary select committee.

The boys helped gather more than 31,000 signatures on the petition, calling for tourists to be required to sit a practical test before driving in New Zealand.

The petition started after their father, Grant Roberts, died in a 2012 crash caused by a visitor who had been in New Zealand for one day.

After being submitted to Parliament last year, today the Transport and Industrial Relations select committee heard from the two boys, as well as their mother, Mel Pipson.

They were told their "incredibly brave" action was helping find an answer to a serious problem, and could help ensure other children did not suffer a similar tragedy.

Mrs Pipson said after her husband's death her eldest child, Sean, had asked her: "Why can't we make sure they [tourist drivers] are safe?"

That question eventually led to the petition.

She said her boys were happy with what had happened so far in terms of addressing the problem, including a code of best practice initiated by some vehicle hire companies.

The code would ensure rental companies gave visitors more information about driving conditions, increased screening of a visitor's driving experience when they hired a vehicle, and shared information when a visitor's contract was cancelled.

"It will help the foreign drivers, but it is not addressing the issue of driving on our roads," Mrs Pipson said.

"The code of practice was fantastic, but as we discussed at home, we would like to see along with that ... some kind of competency test.

"Not a long one, just some sort of competency test that they understand signs and rules."
"I understand that it's not going to be a driving test," Sean said. "But even if it was a 10-minute stimulator or movie that showed the [road] signs."

Asked by the committee what it had been like collecting signatures for the petition, Sean said it had been "amazing".

"We had support from people as far up as Auckland to as far down as Bluff, and some international support," Sean said.

Mrs Pipson said effective action on the problem could stop the recent spate of "vigilante action" against tourist drivers, including people assaulting and taking keys away from visitors.

After the meeting, Sean told media that it had been a good experience.

"They [the politicians on the committee] have told me that they are going to try and do all they can."

Asked if he was nervous, he said, "yes and no".

"Because it was a positive outcome at the end of the day."

Earlier in the meeting, Kevin Bowler, chief executive of Tourism New Zealand, said his organisation was not expert on road crash statistics, or reasons for accidents involving tourists.

Mr Bowler said Tourism NZ believed its greatest impact can occur in dealings with people who sell travel to New Zealand.

Greater training and materials could influence tourists to stop and think, "is self-drive for me?", Mr Bowler said.

A key priority related to the Chinese market, Mr Bowler said, where TNZ was looking to recruit a well-known person - or "key opinion leader" - to produce a driving awareness video for New Zealand.

This was not to single out Chinese drivers, but because it was one of our biggest markets and driving conditions were significantly different there, Mr Bowler said.

National MP and former Transport Minister Maurice Williamson asked if there was any credible set of statistics that showed that, by kilometres travelled, foreign drivers had more accidents than locals.

Mr Bowler said to his knowledge there were not.

In an earlier submission on the petition, the Automobile Association advised against a driving test for tourists at the border, saying small changes to highways in tourist hotspots would be far more effective.