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Home / Travel

Winston Aldworth: Worst drivers in NZ aren't tourists, so stop the lynch mob

Winston Aldworth
By Winston Aldworth
Head of Sport·NZ Herald·
9 Mar, 2015 04:00 PM2 mins to read

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Tourists stop on the road to Milford Sound. Photo / Flickr Creative Commons

Tourists stop on the road to Milford Sound. Photo / Flickr Creative Commons

Winston Aldworth
Opinion by Winston Aldworth
Winston Aldworth is Head of Sport for NZME, working alongside New Zealand’s best sports journalists in the radio and publishing teams.
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Newsflash: The worst drivers on New Zealand roads are - drumroll, please - New Zealanders.

We drive too fast, we tailgate, we feel obliged to overtake the minute we see an overtaking lane and we mix alcohol - and text messaging - with driving. Sometimes while tailgating and overtaking all at once. In short, we're shockers.

Our latest bad habit? Following tourist drivers - sometimes even herding them off the road - and then snatching their car keys from them. The absolute worst: following up your theft of car keys by assaulting the driver.

These attacks on tourist drivers are one step removed from a lynch-mob carjacking. Sooner or later one of these incidents will play big in the media of the country where the visitors are from - and that will hurt our tourism industry.

A mate of mine says we suffer from what he calls the "Kiwi 'Peter Brock' Syndrome". As he puts it: "Kiwis all think they're amazing behind the wheel. In reality, we're terrible. Impatient, rude, aggressive. Self-appointed Kings of the Road. What do tourists know about driving, coming from their home countries with low road tolls and sensible driving practices?"

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Which is not to say all tourist drivers are great. But being a have-a-go hero is not the answer. Seen a bad driver? Call *555 and tell the cops.

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